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Ronald Arnold Rosbeek passed away
* Den Haag, 2 March 1953 - † Den Haag, 29 January 2021 |
Read more at in70mm.com The 70mm Newsletter
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Written by: Thomas
Hauerslev |
Date:
02.02.2021 |
Ronald Rosbeek
passed away January 29, 2021 from complications from cancer. Picture from Emmy Rosbeek - Heida
I am sad to report the passing of a friend of in70mm.com, Mr. Ronald Rosbeek
(67) of Holland. News of his passing was announce today, and has shaken the
Dutch cinema- and film industry. He was a respected person with more than 100
cinema installations to his credit. He will be missed.
Ronald was diagnosed with cancer in December 2019, and despite the terrible diagnose, he continued to work
cheerfully in his workshop, and occasionally in
cinemas until two weeks ago. He passed away in a hospital Friday 29. January
2021.
Ronald began his life in cinemas around age 20 in 1973, and very quickly he
advanced into projection and further on into being a cinema technician. He remained a
cinema technician for the rest of his life.
Simply "Ronald" to his friends, he was also famous abroad. Many of his
innovations and improvements for the DP70 projector were highly sought after
items. Innovations like new adjustable motors, a three-bladed shutter, dowsers,
improved optical sound heads etc etc. His clients were in highly prestigious
cinema museums and cinematheques in the USA, Austria, Norway, Sweden, Scotland
and England, and of course in his native Holland, where he had his own business
called Rosbeek Techniek in his own home.
I cannot claim that I knew Ronald very well, but we had corresponded for some
years. We shared a common interest for the
Philips DP70 projector, and I really
felt his highly contagious passion for all things projectors.
In October 2019 we finally met for a few days at the
Schauburg Cinerama,
and I like to believe we hit it off immediately. My first impression of Ronald
was a very enthusiastic, joyful and happy man. He loved film projectors and the
history of analogue cinema. Ronald kindly allowed me to interview him about
his career. The interview was published in March 2020.
• Go to Ronald Rosbeek in Conversation
Ronald is survived by his wife Emmy Rosbeek - Heida, children and grand
children.
"His passion and joy for live we will
always remember. After all the fine years we’ve had together, we say goodbye
to my dear husband, my special dad, father in law and proud grandpa"
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More in 70mm reading:
Ronald Rosbeek in Conversation
A new film gate for the DP70
projector
in70mm.com Remembers
Internet link:
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Jerry Axelsson (Sweden) Remembers Ronald
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Ronald
and friends in Swedish Film House, Stockholm, Sweden. Picture: Jerry
Axelsson
I
became acquainted with Ronald about 10 years ago through a mutual friend and
archival colleague. During his first visit to Stockholm a short time there
after Ronald became an immediate good friend. We always had a lot to talk
about on both a professional and personal level. Ronald assisted and played
an important part with strategically planning and practical work to secure
analog film projection for the future at the Swedish Film Institute. His
profound knowledge, sense for perfection and attention to detail is what
separated Ronald from the rest on a professional level. We both shared a
great passion for film and analog film projection. We spoke on a regular
basis throughout the years. Shared many experiences and each others good
company.
Ronald's knowledge in the field of analog film is among the very best I have
ever seen. One of the last projects he did was the renovation and conversion
of the Philips DP70:s now residing at the Swedish Film House in Stockholm.
After decades of research he succeeded in building a solution for a
three-blade shutter to the DP70. This makes the projector viable with
handling frame rates from 16-30fps without flicker. A calm and steady image
in both 35mm & 70mm projection with new developed mechanics as well as
taking full benefit of the three-blade shutter. He called this project his
"Crown Jewel", the one they will remember me for he said.
I will miss him greatly as friend with his humour, good spirit and sense of
perfection for all he did
Jerry Axelsson / Cinema manager Swedish Film Institute, Stockholm 2021-02-02
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Stefan Scholz (Germany) Remembers Ronald
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Ronald
in Karlsruhe, Germany, October 2019. Picture: Thomas Hauerslev
It is really so sad, that my oldest friend in cinema, Ronald Rosbeek passed
away, and too early.
The first time I met him was in 1979 on a summer school trip to the
Netherlands. Mainly our ’68 generation teacher wanted to introduce us to
Amsterdam “Coffee Shops”, so cannabis and beers and free love, but there had
to be an official program around it. So we went to Haarlem and The Hague
also. Lots of museums to see, but I was more interested in Cinemas. And so I
met a young man in The Hague, about 7 or 8 years older than I was, running a
small workshop in an old cinema, I remember called Asta (Nielsen) cinema.
He was so nice to support me with Dolby test loops and a film reel, so I
could start playing at home with my stereo experiments. We talked a long
afternoon in English, and knew, we shared many interests in common. Back
then, we didn’t have mobile phones, internet or free (uncharged) European
phone calls, so there wasn’t much communication afterwards. Some years
later, travelling to friends in Holland, we met again, and still felt the
friendship from the 1979 afternoon, we both had nearly forgotten.
Ronald was great technician, an ingenious character, that had so many nice
ideas he not only theoretically thought of, but also realized in practical
projects. He was the man to know Philips projectors more than anybody else,
and really brought the AAII/DP70 projectors forward, from an unfinished
prototype produced from 1956 on to a fully engineered precision piece of the
finest.
I knew, he was suffering from cancer, and hoped so much, that I can make
trip to The Hague, but Covid and a personal accident in August last year
made this impossible.
Best regards
Stefan Scholz
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28-07-24 |
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