12 Facts About Dith Pran

Dith Pran was a Cambodian-American photojournalist.

Dith Pran was a refugee and survivor of the Cambodian genocide and the subject of the film The Killing Fields.

Dith Pran learned French at school and taught himself English.

The United States Army hired him as a translator but after his ties with the United States were severed, Dith worked with a British film crew for the film Lord Jim and then as a hotel receptionist.

When Cambodians were forced to work in labour camps, Dith Pran had to endure four years of starvation and torture before Vietnam overthrew the Khmer Rouge on 7 January 1979.

Dith Pran coined the phrase "killing fields" to refer to the clusters of corpses and skeletal remains of victims he encountered during his 40-mile escape.

Dith Pran returned to Siem Reap where he learned that 50 members of his family had died.

Dith Pran gained worldwide recognition after the 1984 release of the film The Killing Fields about his experiences under the Khmer Rouge.

Dith Pran was portrayed in the film by first-time actor and fellow survivor Haing S Ngor, who won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance.

Dith Pran campaigned for recognition of the Cambodian genocide victims, especially as founder and president of the Dith Pran Holocaust Awareness Project.

Dith Pran was a recipient of an Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 1998 and the Award of Excellence of the International Center.

On 30 March 2008, Dith Pran died, aged 65, in New Brunswick, New Jersey, having been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer three months earlier.