Donald Eugene Thorin, ASC (October 12, 1934 â February 9, 2016) was an American cinematographer.
Thorin was born in Omaha, Nebraska, and graduated from Creighton University. In 1957, he went to Hollywood and started working as mailroom at 20th Century Fox. Later he moved to camera department as camera loader, and started his cinematographer career from the 2nd camera assistant on The Young Lions. He also worked as a commercial desginer.
During the 1970s, he worked as a camera operator for notable cinematographers like Richard H. Kline, Jordan Cronenweth, Haskell Wexler, Owen Roizman and Gordon Willis. Thorin's first feature film as cinematographer was Thief (1981), the directorial debut of Michael Mann. Thorin's slick, neo-noir photography was singled out in praise by critics at the time.
He worked with Taylor Hackford (An Officer and a Gentleman, Against All Odds), Michael Ritchie (Wildcats, The Golden Child, The Couch Trip), Martin Brest (Midnight Run, Scent of a Woman), and Steve Oedekerk (', Nothing to Lose). Thorin was also cinematographer on well-known films such as Purple Rain, Lock Up and Tango & Cash, Boys on the Side, The First Wives Club, and Shaft. Critic Odie Henderson called his work on Purple Rain "awe-inspiring, both in shot composition and lighting."
He joined the American Society of Cinematographers in 1986.
Throin was married to his wife Dagmar for over 40 years. He was the father of cinematographer and TV director Donald E. Thorin Jr. (born 1957), and camera operator Jeffrey Thorin (born 1961).
Aged 81, Thorin died in Tucson, Arizona on February 9, 2016.