Unforgettable Mike deGruy

By Mike Takeuchi for the Santa Barbara News-Press

I can't believe he's gone. Not yet a month ago, Mike deGruy and I were sharing an enlightening conversation on our passions when it was interrupted by a phone call. The Santa Barbaran, a multiple Emmy and BAFTA award-winning underwater cinematographer apologized because he had to take the call. After all, who rejects a call from Oscar-winning director James Cameron, especially if it concerns a collaboration they were going to be working on?

Other than a too-brief interlude at a press conference, that was the last time we spoke.

The ringing phone of the early morning call jarred me from a deep sleep last Saturday morning when the Executive Director and my boss at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival Roger Durling personally delivered the terribly bad news that our good friend deGruy died along with fellow filmmaker Andrew Wight in a helicopter crash in eastern Australia while scouting locations for a film that they were working on for Cameron and National Geographic.

I knelt down, unable to breathe, like I was punched in the gut.

My first reaction was that this couldn't be, I was just talking to him a few weeks ago. But a quick glance at the internet confirmed it was true. For the surreal rest-of-the day and throughout the weekend, hugs and tears were shared by all those who knew him. Even the Hollywood types who didn't know him and often seemed devoid of any sympathy, expressed their condolences to those of us who were reeling.

What followed over the next 24 hours on the internet were several stories, including pieces from the New York Times, the Guardian and dozens of others from around the world. Of course, all of the articles extolled his work in Cameron's "Last Mysteries of the Titanic" and the award-winning series from David Attenborough and Discovery's "Blue Planet: Seas of Life" (in which many could be seen on his website mikedegruy.com) which were nice, but understandably couldn't touch upon Mike as a man and a friend.

I knew him as an effervescent guy regularly clad in a fleece top, blue jeans and with a perpetual smile on his face that always left me feeling considerably much better after parting. When we worked together on the Film Festival's Field Trip to the Movies project for the last few years, he was constantly willing to take suggestions while offering his own wisdom on making the free program for Santa Barbara County fifth- and sixth-grade students better.

"Why don't we try this?" "What do you think if we ..." were the constant refrains of someone who never lost his wonder for life. And when he hit the stage to deliver the lesson along with the likes of Cameron two years ago and Oscar-winner Lee Unkrich ("Toy Story 3" ) last year, it was like 2,000 kids were attracted to his enthusiasm like a magnet and then reciprocated.

While he was great with the studio films, Mike was especially in his element with nature projects, like Cameron's "Aliens of the Deep," an incredible underwater piece that elicits as much pride from the vaunted filmmaker as the work he did with the Academy Award-winning "Titanic."

Mike and I often spoke of our mutual love for the outdoors. One memorable night we were joined by my wife Munch and his wife Mimi on discussing travel and the outdoors amidst the shallow cocktail party conversations where people started sidling up and eavesdropping as he spoke.

In our last extended conversation early in January, along with sharing some personal thoughts, my late friend continued to inspire me. Ever the teacher and caretaker of the Field Trip program, Mike offered some last-minute instructions to ensure that the kids remained engaged and involved. They were words that I will forever take to heart, not so much for their content, but for the passion behind it.

My deepest sympathies go out to Mimi, his children Max and Frances, and anyone who has ever been touched by this truly great individual.

For a more detailed and extremely moving tribute to Mike, click here: http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2012/02/17/remembering-mike-degruy-and-andrew-wight-extraordinary-explorersfilmmakers/