Vale Michael Anthony “Mike” Boland, a Gemini Award winning documentary cinematographer, director and book author, has died at the age of 75.
The news was announced on Oct. 5 by Boland’s daughter, Tarryn, who said in a social media post that he “died peacefully at St. Joseph’s Medical Centre, Toronto. Fly high. You are at peace now. Love you forever.”
Boland was the director of photography for documentary series such as Ken Dryden’s Home Game, Patrick Watson’s Struggle for Democracy and Millennium: Tribal Wisdom and the Modern World.
Before joining the film and television industry in the late 1970s, Boland was a hockey player. Boland attended St. Michael’s College in Toronto, a factory for National Hockey League (NHL) players such as the Mahovlich brothers. Boland also attended the University of Toronto, where he played on the school hockey team. He played most of his professional hockey in the American Hockey League (AHL) during the Slapshot era. Boland only broke through to the NHL for two games with the Philadelphia Flyers during the 1974-75 season, but continued his professional career in the World Hockey Association (WHA) and as the second Canadian to play professionally in Finland.
Boland’s final hockey venture was playing in Australia. Once this opportunity ended, Boland found work as an apprentice camera operator for a local television station in Melbourne. This marked the beginning of his true calling.
Boland brought his physicality to his work as a director of photography. He was known as the “human Steadicam” for his work as a documentarian.
Mike made an indelible mark on scores of documentary films in Canada. His series work included the CBC’s The Fifth Estate and The Nature of Things, and doc series like Home Game, The Struggle for Democracy, The Fifties, Legends of Hockey I&II, Out in the Cold, Empire of the Word, and Millennium: Tribal Wisdom and the Modern World for which he won a Primetime Emmy and a Gemini Award with fellow cinematographer Vic Sarin. Dozens of one-off documentaries included The Al Qaeda Code, The Climb, Sarah McLachlan: A Life of Music, Jean’s Marines, Riddle of the Polar Sky, In the Shadow of a Saint: The Ken Wiwa Story, and Niagara: A History of the Falls.
Mike brought his hockey experience together in the landmark sports documentary, The Boys on the Bus, the film about the 1986-87 Edmonton Oilers. He co-directed the documentary with journalist Bob McKeown. The film is enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Boland’s memoir, Through the Lens of My Eye: Life as a Documentary Cameraman, about his life as a non-fiction cinematographer, was published in 2012.
Boland is survived by his daughter, Tarryn Gillies, as well as his sister Barbara, and granddaughter, Amber.
