reposted from his son, John....
Jim Riccardi, a long-time fixture in the Cleveland film and music
communities, died peacefully January 2nd at age 75.
Riccardi's work as an award-winning cinematographer/videographer
included
nearly 2,000 commercials and numerous feature films, television
programs,
documentaries, political spots, music videos and corporate shoots,
including
HBO's concert for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, The Drew Carey Show,
Newhart, Unsolved Mysteries, City, Nickelodeon's All That, and various
programs for the Discovery Channel, ABC Wide World of Sports, CBS/MTM,
MTV,
VH-1, NFL Films, and the BBC. He even scouted exterior locations in
1990
for a then-unknown NBC sitcom called Seinfeld. His feature work
included
Renegade Force (starring Cleveland native and Terminator 2 actor Robert
Patrick), The Year That Trembled, Night Owls of Coventry, My Summer
Story.
He also shot music videos for Cleveland-based acts Pere Ubu and Bone
Thugs &
Harmony.
In 1972, he started working at WVIZ Television, where he produced films
for
National Instructional Television's Inside/Out children's series, which
won
a national Emmy Award. During the same period, he started shooting for
WUAB
Television, then owned by United Artists Broadcasting, where he spent
the
next 14 years working on television spots for clients as varied as
Dan-Dee,
Mr. Hero, Medic, Rubbermaid, the Ohio Lottery as well as Mr. Coffee
commercials with Joe Dimaggio. His work carried him throughout the
United
States and into unusual environments from the inside of Air Force One to
Evel Knievel's rocket car. He returned to WVIZ briefly in 1980 to work
on
the Odyssey program The First Family, about the Lucy archeological
discovery
in Ethiopia. Back at WUAB, he eventually departed to become an agency
producer for Fox & Associates, which he left in 1988 to operate
independently, first as a partner in the JR Organization and later on
his
own with JRO Pictures. His projects included America's Most Wanted, The
FBI
Files, The New Detectives, a Kirby corporate program with William
Shatner,
multiple shoots with the Cleveland Indians and extensive work on a
documentary about the 1970 Kent State University shootings. He was
recognized in 1998 by Steven Spielberg and the Survivors of the Shoah
Visual
History Foundation for his contributions in documenting stories of
Holocaust
survivors. He recently taught at Cleveland State University's film
school.
A proficient pianist, harpsichord, harmonica and accordion player,
Riccardi
enlisted in the Army in 1955, where he was placed in the 8th Division
Band.
While stationed at Ft. Dix in New Jersey, weekend trips to New York City
exposed him to the emerging bebop scene. He toured post-war Europe with
the
Army band, playing official functions by day and jazz at officers' clubs
by
night with friend and 8th Division band mate, Kansas City blues and jazz
legend Clarence "Sonny" Kenner (deceased 2001).
Following the Army, Riccardi furthered his career in music by providing
live
piano accompaniment on the children's program Apple, a WEWS Television
program hosted by his John Carroll classmate and friend, Emmy-award
winning
writer and humorist, Jack Hanrahan (recently profiled in the Cleveland
Plain
Dealer). A musician's union member, he continued to play with various
all-occasion bands and ensembles, most recently with the Swing City Big
Band, the Strongsville City Jazz Orchestra and St. Brendan's String and
a
Prayer church ensemble.
Riccardi attended St. Clement grade school before enrolling at the newly
opened Gilmour Academy in 1947, where he went to class alongside his
friend,
noted Cleveland physician Dr. Donald Junglas. He then studied seminary
at
St. Gregory in Cincinnati, where he met classmate Father Robert Ward,
with
whom he would start his career in film, working on his first documentary
as
well as a John Carroll enrollment film in the late 1960s. After St.
Gregory, he completed his bachelor's degree at John Carroll University.
Son of Sam and Ann Riccardi, who owned a string of Cleveland-area
bowling
alleys and beauty salons respectively (including Memphis Bowl (now
Meszar's
Lanes), Bowling City, Bowl Arena (later called Stardust Lanes - the
fourth-largest bowling alley country), Riccardi worked as general
manager
for Riccardi Entertainment, Inc. while studying radio and television at
Kent
State University and completing additional course work at the Cleveland
Institute of Art by night.
