17 Facts About Leon Gast

Leon Jacques Gast was an American documentary film director, producer, cinematographer, and editor.

Leon Gast co-directed the 1983 film Hell's Angels Forever, which focused on the notorious motorcycle club Hells Angels.

The Angels are believed to have learned that Leon Gast put material in the documentary which they didn't prefer.

Leon Gast is known for his still photography which has appeared in such magazines as Vogue, Esquire, and Harper's Bazaar.

Leon Gast would make album covers for Fania All-Stars which would lead him to make Our Latin Thing.

Leon Gast is best known for his documentary When We Were Kings, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

Leon Gast went to Kinshasa and was still a photographer who had one documentary which was on Latin music.

Leon Gast was hired to create a documentary about a three-day music festival that was happening in Kinshasa when the fight was occurring.

Leon Gast turned his attention to the fight and centered the documentary on Ali.

When Leon Gast returned from Kinshasa, he had 300,000 feet of 16mm film.

Leon Gast won an award for the documentary and was eventually premiered at Radio City Music Hall.

Leon Gast spent close to two decades on When We Were Kings.

Leon Gast has been awarded the lifetime achievement award at the Golden Door International Film Festival in 2012.

Leon Gast is one of a small group of New Jersey natives to have won an Oscar.

Leon Gast's 2010 project is a documentary entitled Smash His Camera, a film about paparazzo photographer Ron Galella.

Leon Gast directed his second documentary on a boxing legend, Manny, with Ryan Moore.

Leon Gast died from complications of Alzheimer's disease at his home in Woodstock, New York, on March 8,2021.