Larry Moody Loved The Life His Camera Captured
Lawrence P. Moody, a cameraman whose magnetic personality landed him gigs with celebrities LL Cool J and Gwyneth Paltrow, died Jan. 24 at the UCLA Medical Center. He was 49.
Moody acquired numerous nicknames over his short life, ranging from simply “Larry” to “L-Train” and “Ninja of jibcam.” He died of a heart ailment while holding the hands of his mother Dolores Washington and brother Tyhem Fleming, declaring his love for them.
Moody worked for several networks during his career, including Telemundo, Pacific Television, Fox Sports, AT&T Digital Media Center and National Mobile Television. His specialty was operating a Jib Camera, a device that works like a see-saw with a “jib” or a boom device with a camera on one end, and a counterweight and camera controls on the other. Although Moody was quite skilled with the complicated equipment, he said in a 2013 Internet post, “I am looking for new ways to improve and capture amazing images.”
In 1999, Moody began a career with the horse racing network TVG. He became a member of the Society of Operating Cameramen and the Brotherhood of Professional Operators.
In a special on-air tribute, TVG’s Todd Schrupp said recently:
“When TVG first started we had a basketball game, a pickup basketball game on Monday that a lot of people would go to – to kind of build the comradery. Chris Harrison who now hosts The Bachelors was one of the persons who would show up at that. So was our camera operator Larry Moody. He was always someone who would go down to the low post, so much so that I gave him the nickname L-Train and it stuck.
“The TVG family loved you and will miss you greatly,” said Schrupp, who noted Moody’s work with LL Cool J and his love of both the New York Giants and Yankees.
Moody captured the runway, red carpet walk of Paltrow in 1999 when she won Best Actress for Shakespeare in Love at the 71st Academy Awards.
Lawrence Percell Moody was born in Trenton, NJ on March 18, 1967, to Percell Moody and Dolores (Moody) Washington. He attended schools in New York, graduating from New Rochelle High School in 1985. After attending one year of college, he decided to join the U.S. Navy in 1988. He served aboard the USS Eisenhower in the Mediterranean, and in 1991, he returned to the states for Reserve duty in Pennsylvania. After serving in the military, Moody used his GI bill to study at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, and earned a Film/Television Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1996.
Moody constantly worked on perfecting his craft while on the West Coast, taking an Assistant Camera course at WGW Studios, Trained for EOS 500 at the Canon Pro Workshop and the Tiffen SteadiCam course. His goal was to “make sure he knew every camera they put out,” said his mother.
Music was another passion of Moody who played the base guitar, often donning a T-shirt that said “I am music.”
Survivors include his mother, Dolores Washington of Baldwin Place, NY; two brothers, Tyhem Fleming of Boston and William Terron Fleming of New York City; a sister, Sherri Moody Smith of Akron, Ohio; and a host of cousins, nephews, nieces and great nieces.
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