Dith Pran, RIP

March 30, 2008 9:23 AM

Dith Pran, the photojournalist whose story inspired the film The Killing Fields, has died.
posted by flapjax at midnite (37 comments total)

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posted by WPW at 9:30 AM on March 30, 2008

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posted by aheckler at 9:32 AM on March 30, 2008

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posted by Dizzy at 9:32 AM on March 30, 2008

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posted by cazoo at 9:32 AM on March 30, 2008

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posted by languagehat at 9:36 AM on March 30, 2008

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posted by amyms at 9:37 AM on March 30, 2008

And a genuinely sweet and gentle and humorous man, completely unaffected by his celebrity.
posted by etaoin at 9:41 AM on March 30, 2008

Pancreatic cancer. Jesus. Hadn't he been through enough for one life?
posted by maudlin at 9:41 AM on March 30, 2008

I like what he said about how Cambodians feel like their body is just a home that they inhabit for a short period of time. When the house gets termites, it's time to move. What a guy. Classy to the very end.


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posted by msali at 9:44 AM on March 30, 2008

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posted by DenOfSizer at 9:44 AM on March 30, 2008

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posted by beagle at 9:46 AM on March 30, 2008

He gave a talk at a local high school here around four years ago. I was so excited to see him in person.
Never have tired of watching the movie. It'll be even harder though, with so many associated with its making, no longer with us.


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posted by skyper at 9:55 AM on March 30, 2008

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posted by longdaysjourney at 9:58 AM on March 30, 2008

Is the original magazine article that started it all available online? The 75-page book version seems to be out of print.
posted by stbalbach at 9:59 AM on March 30, 2008

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posted by LeeJay at 10:02 AM on March 30, 2008

I like what he said about how Cambodians feel like their body is just a home that they inhabit for a short period of time.

You might like these pieces from the CBC program Dispatches about efforts to try Khmer Rogue figures and the schism between the international war crimes tribunal's idea of justice and that of the Cambodian peoples'.

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posted by Alvy Ampersand at 10:32 AM on March 30, 2008

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posted by kaibutsu at 10:34 AM on March 30, 2008

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posted by clavdivs at 10:43 AM on March 30, 2008

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....and a second on what maudlin said. That is the worst.
posted by paddysat at 10:45 AM on March 30, 2008

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posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:11 AM on March 30, 2008

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posted by LeLiLo at 11:20 AM on March 30, 2008

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posted by emperor.seamus at 12:12 PM on March 30, 2008

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posted by ottereroticist at 12:20 PM on March 30, 2008

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posted by Ludi at 12:29 PM on March 30, 2008

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posted by any major dude at 12:29 PM on March 30, 2008

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posted by Smart Dalek at 12:44 PM on March 30, 2008

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posted by scblackman at 1:08 PM on March 30, 2008

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posted by billypilgrim at 2:47 PM on March 30, 2008

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posted by Durn Bronzefist at 3:07 PM on March 30, 2008

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posted by cybercoitus interruptus at 5:32 PM on March 30, 2008

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And one for Dr. Haing S. Ngor, who survived Cambodia, portrayed Dith Pran in the film The Killing Fields, only to be murdered in Los Angeles.

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posted by bwg at 5:42 PM on March 30, 2008

I'm almost sure that on Friday, I heard a bit of an interview with Sydney Schanberg on NPR wherein he described his separation from and eventual reunion with Dith Pran. He also talked more about Dith Pran's life since coming to the US and a bit about what were to be his final days. For the life of me, I can't find it on NPR or PRI's websites though.

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posted by !Jim at 5:49 PM on March 30, 2008

Great film
posted by RyanB at 5:49 PM on March 30, 2008

What bwg said.

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posted by snsranch at 5:52 PM on March 30, 2008

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posted by jaruwaan at 6:14 PM on March 30, 2008

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_{(One of my guilty pleasures at Phnom Penh was to look-up buildings/ junctions from the movie, Killing Fields.)}
posted by the cydonian at 4:52 AM on March 31, 2008

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posted by Lucie at 6:52 PM on April 4, 2008