About Robert Drew
Robert Lincoln Drew (February 15, 1924 – July 30, 2014) was an American documentary filmmaker known as a pioneer—and sometimes called the father—of cinéma vérité, or direct cinema, in the United States. Two of his films, Primary (1960) and Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment (1963), were named to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress. In 1993 he was a recipient of the Career Achievement Award from the International Documentary Association. == Biography == Robert Drew was born in Toledo, Ohio. His father, Robert Woodsen Drew, was a film salesman and a pilot who ran a seaplane business. Drew grew up mostly in Fort Thomas, Kentucky. In 1942 he left high school to join the U.S. Army Air Corps as a cadet and qualified for officer's training. At the age of 19, he was a combat pilot in Italy flying the P-51 dive bomber, completing 30 successful combat missions. During that time, he met Ernie Pyle, an important experience for a pilot who would become a journalist. Drew was shot down behind enemy lines, where he survived for more than three months.
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