David Breashears, a trailblazing mountaineer, acclaimed filmmaker and beloved Marblehead resident who climbed Mount Everest five times, died Thursday, March 14, at his home on Pond Street. He was 68.
Breashears was best known for his groundbreaking work in documentary filmmaking, particularly his 1998 IMAX film “Everest,” which he co-directed and served as cinematographer. The film, one of the most successful IMAX documentaries of all time, chronicled the harrowing 1996 Mount Everest disaster, during which Breashears and his team helped rescue stranded climbers.
Marblehead resident David Fanning, a close friend and collaborator, worked with Breashears on several films, including “Red Flag Over Tibet” and “Storm Over Everest.” Fanning, the former executive producer of “Frontline,” recalled their first meeting at WGBH, where they bonded over their shared interest in Tibet.
“David knew all this history, and I knew about this archive,” Fanning said. “We ended up making a film called ‘Red Flag Over Tibet,’ where we secretly filmed dissidents and prison camps in Tibet.”
Their friendship deepened over the years, with Fanning ultimately influencing Breashears’ decision to move to Marblehead.
“David really loved Marblehead,” Fanning said. “He would often stay overnight at my place because we’d have dinner and [he’d sleep on] the couch. One day, he came and said he’d bought a house a block away from us on Pond Street.”
Fanning fondly recalled their adventures in Tibet, where they navigated the challenges of avoiding Chinese authorities and smuggling their film out of the country.
“David was in charge. This was his territory, his landscape,” Fanning said. “We were not fooling around by talking to Tibetan dissidents in Lhasa under the eyes of the Chinese.”
“Storm Over Everest,” released in 2004, was a follow-up to the IMAX film, which Breashears felt was too superficial.
“David interviewed people around the world who were on the mountain during the 1996 disaster,” Fanning said. “The film is a significant historical correction to [the Jon Krakauer book] ‘Into Thin Air.’”
Breashears’ passion for filmmaking was closely tied to his love for mountaineering. He transmitted the first live television pictures from the summit of Everest in 1983 and performed the first live audio webcast from the summit in 1997.
In recent years, Breashears turned his lens towards documenting the impact of climate change on the glaciers of the Himalayas through his non-profit organization, GlacierWorks.
“David emphasized that the issue is not just ‘warming’ but ‘heating,’ impacting regions surrounding the Himalayas,” Fanning said.
A resident of Marblehead since 2005, Breashears was a cherished member of the community. Petra Langer, a close Marblehead friend, described Breashears as an incredible visionary and an outstanding person.
“He was brilliant, obviously, incredibly accomplished, handsome, and a very sweet person,” Langer said. “I imagine there are a number of people in Marblehead who will remember him with fondness and even love.”
Despite his global adventures and impressive achievements, Breashears remained grounded and connected to his adopted hometown. He once told the Marblehead Reporter that he was “baptized in the snows of Everest” and identified with lobstermen who similarly perform hard, cold work in the face of challenging conditions.
Judy Gates, Breashears’ next-door neighbor, shared heartwarming stories of their friendship.
“Once, we had Thanksgiving at my house, and David wasn’t there, but my kids slept over at his home because we needed extra room,” she said. “That’s the sort of friendship we had.”
Gates also recalled how Breashears would often be seen around town on his bicycle or stopping to chat with neighbors.
“He was a celebrity living next door, but he was also just a really good friend,” she said. “We would sit on our back porch, his or mine, and just enjoyed visiting each other and watching what we called sunsets.”
