Dith Pran

Dith Pran (27 September 1942 - 30 March 2008) was a Cambodian photojournalist best known as a refugee and Cambodian genocide survivor and was the subject of the Academy Award-winning film The Killing Fields (1984). He was portrayed in the movie by first-time actor Haing S. Ngor (1940-1996), who won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance. Born in Siem Reap, Cambodia, near the Angkor Wat, his father worked as a public-works ... more

Dith Pran (27 September 1942 - 30 March 2008) was a Cambodian photojournalist best known as a refugee and Cambodian genocide survivor and was the subject of the Academy Award-winning film The Killing Fields (1984). He was portrayed in the movie by first-time actor Haing S. Ngor (1940-1996), who won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance. Born in Siem Reap, Cambodia, near the Angkor Wat, his father worked as a public-works official. He learned French at school and taught himself English. The U.S. Army hired him as a translator but after his ties with the United States were severed, Dith worked with a British film crew and then as a hotel receptionist. In 1975, Pran and New York Times reporter Sydney Schanberg stayed behind in Cambodia to cover the fall of the capital Phnom Penh to the Communist Khmer Rouge. Schanberg and other foreign reporters were allowed to leave the country, but Dith was not. Due to the suppression of knowledge during the genocide, Dith hid... less