Hugo van Lawick
Hugo Arndt Rodolf van Lawick (April 10, 1937 – June 2, 2002) was a Dutch wildlife filmmaker and photographer. Through his still photos and films, he helped popularize the study of chimpanzees during Jane Goodall’s research at Gombe Stream National Park in the 1960s and 70s. His Serengeti films also brought the public’s attention to the lives of wild animals such as wild dogs, elephants, and lions.
He was born in Surabaya, Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), the son of Baron Hugo van Lawick. After his father died in service, his mother moved the family to Australia and then England. He later grew up in the Netherlands. In 1959 he went to Africa to photograph wildlife and worked as a cameraman for a filmmaking couple. A film he made for Louis Leakey’s lecture led National Geographic to hire him for more work. In 1962 he began filming the Kasakela chimpanzee community at Gombe Stream National Park.
He married Jane Goodall in 1964, and they lived in Tanzania for many years. They had a son, Hugo Eric Louis, nicknamed Grub, in 1967. They divorced in 1974. He married Theresa Rice in 1978 and they divorced in 1984. Van Lawick’s work through People of the Forest helped viewers meet members of Gombe’s chimpanzee family and their relatives. Over more than 20 years he recorded the lives of three generations of chimpanzees.
He made many wildlife documentaries and several 35mm feature films, including The Leopard Son (1996) and Serengeti Symphony. He mentored a new generation of wildlife filmmakers, and his Ndutu camp in the Serengeti became a training ground. He retired in 1998 because of emphysema and died in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in 2002 at the age of 65. He was buried at his Ndutu camp. He won eight Emmy Awards and was made an Officer in the Order of the Golden Ark in 1992.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 13:15 (CET).