Neil Leifer is a filmmaker and former Sports Illustrated, Time and Life photographer Neil Leifer's photography career has spanned 60 years, since becoming a professional while still in his teens. Beginning in 1960, his pictures regularly appeared in every major national magazine, including Time, Life, Newsweek, the Saturday Evening Post, Look, and, most often, Sports Illustrated. Leifer became a staff photographer for Sports Illustrated in 1972; then for Time in 1978. In 1988 he was made a contributing photographer at Life magazine and spent the next two years dividing his time shooting for both Time and Life. When he left Time Inc. in 1990, his photographs had appeared on over 200 Sports Illustrated, Time, and People covers - at that point, the most ever published of one photographer's work in company history. He is the 2006 recipient of the prestigious Lucie Award for Achievement in Sports Photography. In 2008 he was honored for his outstanding contribution to Time Inc. journalism with The Britton Hadden Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2014, he became the very first photographer to be inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame. Leifer has traveled all over the world on sports assignments. He has photographed 16 Olympic Games (7 winter and 9 summer), 4 FIFA World Cups, 15 Kentucky Derbies, countless World Series games, the first 12 Super Bowls, and almost every important boxing title fight since Ingemar Johansson beat Floyd Patterson in 1959. He photographed his favorite subject, Muhammad Ali, on almost 60 different occasions, covering all of his biggest fights and over 30 one-on-one studio sessions. Neil is now a full-time filmmaker whose documentaries have appeared on HBO, ESPN, and PBS.
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Biography from IMDb.
- November 28, 1942 (83)
- New York City, New York, USA
- Director and producer
- 4 on MovieCove · 7 credits in all
What are Neil Leifer's films like?
Across a limited sample of 3 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Society and Ideas.
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 1 · Wry 0 · Earnest 2
Light 3 · Serious 0 · Dark 0
Grounded 3 · Stylized 0 · Heightened 0
Gentle 2 · Charged 1 · Intense 0
Steady 3 · Shifting 0 · Whiplash 0
A split, not a type: Straight-faced 2 · Some laughs 0 · Funny 1
Slow burn 2 · Even-paced 1 · Relentless 0
Casual 3 · Engaged 0 · Full focus 0
Easy watch 3 · Affecting 0 · Heavy 0
Resolved 3 · Open-ended 0 · Ambiguous 0
Moods and endings
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Neil Leifer's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 3 of their 4 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service, most on HBO Max (2).
Subscription and free streaming for Neil Leifer's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
7 credits, 4 with a MovieCove page; 1 appearance as themselves is hidden until asked for.
The Keepers of the Streak (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2015)
Midcredits score: 76th percentile of all films
Portraits of a Lady(2008)
Midcredits score: 45th percentile of all films (provisional, few ratings)
The Great White Hype(1996)
Midcredits score: 27th percentile of all films
Quiz Show(1994)
Midcredits score: 95th percentile of all films
Trading Hearts (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1988)
Yesterday's Hero (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1979)
Career shape
A full career of 6 titles from 1979 to 2015.
How do Neil Leifer's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 61st percentile, the median of all 4; across a limited sample of 3 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 40th percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up2
- 25th to 49th2
Shape of the crowd
1 of their 4 titles is Universally Loved.
- Universally Loved1
- Cult Classic1
- Crowd Pleaser1
- Mixed1
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Who does Neil Leifer work with?
People who share at least 2 of Neil Leifer's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; Brian Keane shares the most, 2.
Composers, cinematographers and editors
- Brian KeaneShared titles: Dark Light: The Art of Blind Photographers (2009), Portraits of a Lady (2008)See all 2 shared titles with Brian Keane
- Jonathan Cole WendellShared titles: Dark Light: The Art of Blind Photographers (2009), Portraits of a Lady (2008)See all 2 shared titles with Jonathan Cole Wendell
- Peter FranchellaShared titles: Dark Light: The Art of Blind Photographers (2009), Portraits of a Lady (2008)See all 2 shared titles with Peter Franchella