Theo Kingma, who served as president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association from 2013-15, died unexpectedly Friday at his home in Los Angeles, the organization announced. He was 58.
No cause of death was given.
Born in Amsterdam on Feb. 25, 1967, Kingma began his film career as a projectionist at cinemas in his hometown, then worked as a production assistant on Dutch features and on Robert Altman’s Vincent & Theo (1990), which was filmed in part in the Netherlands.
He moved to Hollywood in 1989 and was a correspondent for the Dutch magazine Hitkrant before joining the HFPA in 1992 and photographing movie premieres, news conferences and other Hollywood events.
He served on the HFPA board of directors multiple times and was elected president twice.
During his time as president, Kingma led discussions that ended a long-running dispute between the HFPA and Dick Clark Productions over production of the Golden Globes. He began the association’s participation at Comic-Con in San Diego, introduced roundtable interviews with a broad range of non-entertainment subjects such as Lech Walesa, Julian Assange and Niki Lauda and supported HFPA member attendance at set visits and news conferences.
In 2015, terrorists attacked the Paris office of the weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo, murdering 12 people and injuring 11 others just days before the 2015 Globes. During the broadcast that year, Kingma spoke out in support of freedom of speech and the protection of journalism: “The freedom of artistic expression … is a beacon across the globe. … We stand united everywhere from North Korea to Paris.”
Known for his dry sense of humor and happy demeanor, Kingma was an active supporter of the HFPA’s philanthropy program and led efforts for it to make a $2 million donation to Los Angeles City College to support its Cinema and Television program. Kingma went on to serve on the LACC Foundation board of directors for many years.
Since 2017, he was CEO of Film Expo Group, which organizes ShowEast in Miami, CineEurope in Barcelona and CineAsia in Bangkok. He also continued as a Globes voter and as a founding member of the Golden Globe Foundation.
Kingma’s photographs appeared in publications in the Netherlands, Germany and Australia. He twice organized World Press Photo contest exhibitions in Beverly Hills and loved visiting Cuba.
The HFPA noted that in 2014, shortly after the death of Robin Williams, Kingma asked the assembled guests at the organization’s annual grants dinner not to remember Williams with silence but with applause for the performances and joy he had brought to so many.
“So, we ask that all of Theo’s friends and colleagues join us in celebrating his life and accomplishments and share a laugh in memory of the many times he has brought us joy,” it said in a statement.
Survivors include his mother, Nel, his sister, Tessa, and his niece, Sveva. Donations in his memory may be made to the Pablove Shutterbugs photography program, an organization to which he contributed frequently.