The Best Cinematographers Ever!
by ggiordi | created - 13 Nov 2018 | updated - 13 Nov 2018 | Public
1. Sven Nykvist
Cinematographer | The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Sven Nykvist was considered by many in the industry to be one of the world's greatest cinematographers. During his long career that spanned almost half a century, Nyvist perfected the art of cinematography to its most simple attributes, and he helped give the films he had worked on the simplest and...
9183 points
2. William H. Daniels
Cinematographer | Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Oscar-winning director of photography William Daniels was a master of black-and-white cinematographer most famous for the 21 films he shot that starred the immortal Greta Garbo between 1926 and 1939. Among the Gabro classics he lensed were The Torrent (1924), Flesh and the Devil (1926), Love (1927)...
8692 points
3. Joseph Walker
Cinematographer | You Can't Take It with You
Frank Capra's favorite cinematographer began his working life as an electrical engineer who collaborated with Lee De Forest on building the first wireless transmitter. However, it was his interest in moving picture photography which led him to work in film laboratories where his numerous pioneering...
8514 points
4. Charles Lang
Cinematographer | Sabrina
One of the outstanding cinematographers of Hollywood's Golden Age, Lang spent most of his career at Paramount (1929-1952), where he contributed to the studio's well-earned reputation for visual style. Lang was educated at Lincoln High School in L.A., then proceeded to the University of Southern ...
8319 points
5. Ernest Haller
Cinematographer | Gone with the Wind
Distinguished American cinematographer Ernest Haller started in the industry in 1914 as an actor with Biograph after leaving his first job as a bank clerk. Within one year he discovered his true calling: being on the other side of the camera. By 1920, he had become a full director of photography ...
7267 points
6. Roger Deakins
Cinematographer | Blade Runner 2049
Roger Deakins is an English cinematographer best known for his work on the films of the Coen brothers, Sam Mendes, and Denis Villeneuve.
He is a member of both the American and British Society of Cinematographers.
Deakins' first feature film in America as cinematographer was Mountains of the Moon (...
7126 points
7. Tonino Delli Colli
Cinematographer | Der Name der Rose
Tonino Delli Colli was born on November 20, 1922 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a cinematographer and actor, known for The Name of the Rose (1986), Life Is Beautiful (1997) and Once Upon a Time in America (1984). He was married to Alexandra Delli Colli. He died on August 16, 2005 in Rome, Lazio, ...
7091 points
8. Robert Burks
Cinematographer | Vertigo
The favorite cinematographer of legendary director Alfred Hitchcock began working at Warner Bros. when he was 19 years old. He climbed his way up from camera operator to assistant camera man and eventually took over the Special Photographic Effects unit at Warners on Stage 5 in 1944. He became an ...
6369 points
9. Victor Milner
Cinematographer | Reap the Wild Wind
Pioneering cinematographer Victor Milner acquired his fascination with the celluloid media during the days of the nickelodeon. After working as a lab assistant for a film equipment manufacturer, he joined Pathe Weekly News in the capacity of projectionist and newsreel cameraman. Among other events,...
6104 points
10. Giuseppe Rotunno
Cinematographer | All That Jazz
Giuseppe 'Peppino' Rotunno entered the film industry as a still photographer at Cinecitta but lost his job due to his anti-fascist views. Conscripted and sent to Greece in 1942, he then served as a newsreel cameraman with the Italian army film unit. A year later, he was captured during the German ...
6103 points
11. Arthur Edeson
Cinematographer | Casablanca
Arthur Edeson is an American cinematographer who was a pioneer of his craft. His career spanned four decades and encompassed many films now regarded as classics.
Born in New York in 1891, Edeson first worked as a still photographer. In 1911 he entered the movie business at Eclair Studios, a ...
6069 points
12. John F. Seitz
Cinematographer | Double Indemnity
Distinguished veteran cinematographer John F. Seitz had eighteen patents for various photographic processes to his name. These included illuminating devices, processes for making dissolves and the matte shot, which he perfected during filming of Rex Ingram's Trifling Women (1922). Seitz started ...
6046 points
13. Yûharu Atsuta
Cinematographer | Sanma no aji
Yûharu Atsuta was born on January 1, 1905 in Kobe, Japan. He was a cinematographer, known for An Autumn Afternoon (1962), Late Autumn (1960) and Early Summer (1951). He died on December 7, 1992 in Japan.
6000 points
14. Milton R. Krasner
Cinematographer | An Affair to Remember
Milton Krasner entered the film industry as an assistant cameraman in 1917, and while working at the Vitagraph and Biograph studios in New York City was promoted to camera operator. Graduating to lighting cameraman in 1933, he was assigned mostly second features until the mid-'40s, when his ...
5964 points
15. Sol Polito
Cinematographer | The Adventures of Robin Hood
Sol Polito, the Oscar-nominated cinematographer who helped create the distinct visual character of Warner Bros. films in the 1930s and 1940s, was born Salvador Polito on November 12, 1892, in Palermo, Sicily. While still young he emigrated to the US with his family, which settled in New York City, ...
5907 points
16. Gregg Toland
Cinematographer | Citizen Kane
Born in Illinois in 1904, the only child of Jennie and Frank Toland, Gregg and his mother moved to California several years after his parents divorced in 1910. Through Jennie's work as a housekeeper for several people in the movie business, Gregg may had gotten a $12-a-week job at age 15 as an ...
5777 points
17. Rodrigo Prieto
Cinematographer | Brokeback Mountain
Rodrigo Prieto is a Mexican cinematographer. He is best known for Brokeback Mountain (2005), Babel (2006), Argo (2012), The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), and Silence (2016).
He also worked with Alejandro González Iñárritu on the acclaimed Amores perros (2000), 21 Grams (2003), and Biutiful (2010).
...
5720 points
18. Gordon Willis
Cinematographer | Zelig
Gordon Willis was an American cinematographer. He's best known for his work on Francis Ford Coppola's Godfather films, as well asWoody Allen's Annie Hall (1977) and Manhattan (1979).
His work on the first two Godfather films turned out to be groundbreaking in its use of low-light photography and ...
5676 points
19. Roland Totheroh
Cinematographer | The Gold Rush
Rollie Totheroh worked as cinematographer on Charles Chaplin's movies for over 30 years, right from the earliest shorts in 1915 to Monsieur Verdoux (1947), including all of Chaplin's masterpieces: The Kid (1921), The Gold Rush (1925), City Lights (1931), Modern Times (1936) and The Great Dictator (...
5656 points
20. James Wong Howe
Cinematographer | The Thin Man
Master cinematographer James Wong Howe, whose career stretched from silent pictures through the mid-'70s, was born Wong Tung Jim in Canton (now Guangzhou), China, on August 28, 1899, the son of Wong How. His father emigrated to America the year James was born, settling in Pasco, Washington, where ...
5646 points
21. Harold Rosson
Cinematographer | The Asphalt Jungle
Harold G. "Hal" Rosson, a cinematographer known for his subtle and imaginative lighting, was born in Genaseo, New York, on August 24, 1895, although some sources cite his birthday as April 6, 1895, or in 1889.
Rosson entered the movie industry in 1908 as an actor at the Vitagraph Studios in Brooklyn...
5558 points
22. Harry Stradling Sr.
Cinematographer | My Fair Lady
Multi-Academy Award-nominated cinematographer (13 in all), Harry Stradling was unique in that he established his reputation both in America and in Europe. He was the nephew of Mary Pickford's cameraman Walter Stradling, who provided the connections for his first job in Hollywood. Walter died in ...
5544 points
23. Henri Decaë
Cinematographer | The Boys from Brazil
Although Henri Decaë gained fame as a cinematographer, he actually entered the film industry as an editor and soundman. Serving as a cameraman in the French army during WW II, upon his release he began making documentaries and directing and photographing industrial and commercial films, then in ...
5338 points
24. Burnett Guffey
Cinematographer | Bonnie and Clyde
Entering films in 1923 as an assistant cameraman, Burnett Guffey was picked by John Ford to handle second-unit photography on The Iron Horse (1924). After that film, however, Guffey returned to his assistant cameraman position, a job he held until 1928, when he became a camera operator. In that ...
5108 points
25. Karl Freund
Cinematographer | Metropolis
Karl Freund, an innovative director of photography responsible for development of the three-camera system used to shoot television situation comedies, was born on January 16, 1890, in the Bohemian city of Koeniginhof, then part of the Austria-Hungarian Empire (now known as Dvur Kralove in the Czech...
4989 points
26. Néstor Almendros
Cinematographer | Days of Heaven
One of the highest appraised contemporary cinematographers. He was born in Spain but moved to Cuba by age 18 to join his exiled anti-Franco father. In Havana, he founded a cineclub and wrote film reviews. Then, he went on to study in Rome at the Centro Sperimentale. He directed six shorts in Cuba ...
4974 points
27. Oswald Morris
Cinematographer | Fiddler on the Roof
Oscar-winning cinematography Oswald Morris was one of the most outstanding directors of photography of the 20th Century, making his reputation by expanding the parameters of color cinematography. Born in November 1915 in Hillingdon, Middlesex, England, a month short of his 17th birthday, he became ...
4908 points
28. Joseph LaShelle
Cinematographer | Laura
Trained as an electrical engineer, Joseph LaShelle entered the film industry as a lab assistant with Paramount in 1920 in order to finance entry to Stanford University. Having worked his way up to superintendent of the Paramount printing room after three years, he decided to stay on. By 1925, he ...
4871 points
29. Franz Planer
Cinematographer | Roman Holiday
Descended from a wealthy family of landowners in what was then Austria-Hungary, Franz Planer understood the importance of photography as an art form early in his life. He first stood behind the camera as a portrait photographer, working out of Vienna from 1910. He soon branched out, filming ...
4839 points
30. Boris Kaufman
Cinematographer | On the Waterfront
Boris Kaufman, the Oscar-winning cinematographer who shot Jean Vigo's oeuvre and helped introduce a neo-realistic style into American films, was born on August 24, 1897, in Bialystok, Poland, then part of the Russian Empire. The youngest son of librarians, the Soviet directors Denis Kaufman (a.k.a. ...
4705 points
31. Edward Klosinski
Writer | Trois couleurs: Rouge
Edward Klosinski was born on January 2, 1943 in Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland. He was a cinematographer and writer, known for Three Colors: Red (1994), Three Colors: White (1994) and Europa (1991). He was married to Krystyna Janda. He died on January 5, 2008 in Milanówek, Mazowieckie, Poland.
4649 points
32. Russell Metty
Cinematographer | Spartacus
Cinematographer Russell Metty, a superb craftsman who worked with such top directors as John Huston, Stanley Kubrick, Steven Spielberg and Orson Welles, was born in Los Angeles on September 20, 1906. Entering the movie industry as a lab assistant, he apprenticed as an assistant cameraman and ...
4644 points
33. Robert Richardson
Cinematographer | Kill Bill: Vol. 1
Robert Richardson has won three Academy Awards and earned seven Academy Award nominations for his cinematography. His work on director Oliver Stone's JFK earned him his first Oscar. His second and third came with The Aviator and Hugo directed by Martin Scorsese. These two films also garnered him ...
4617 points
34. Sidney Hickox
Cinematographer | To Have and Have Not
Hickox started out as assistant cameraman at the Manhattan Biograph Studios in 1915, followed by two years of wartime photographic work with the U.S. Naval Air Service. He joined First National after 1919, graduating to director of photography by 1927. When Warner Brothers absorbed that company in ...
4536 points
35. George Barnes
Cinematographer | Rebecca
Veteran cinematographer George S. Barnes had a well-earned reputation for reliability and a knack for combining artistry with economic efficiency. As a result, he was seldom out of work.
Having started as a still photographer for Thomas H. Ince in 1918, Barnes quickly rose through the ranks to ...
4535 points
36. Janusz Kaminski
Cinematographer | War Horse
Janusz Kaminski is a Polish cinematographer and film director. He has established a partnership with Steven Spielberg, working as a cinematographer on his movies since 1993. He won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for his work on Schindler's List (1993) and Saving Private Ryan (1998).
His ...
4524 points
37. Conrad L. Hall
Cinematographer | Road to Perdition
Born in Tahiti, the son of writer James Norman Hall, author of "Mutiny on the Bounty," Conrad Hall studied filmmaking at USC. He and two classmates formed a production company and sold a project to a local television station. Hall's company branched out into making industrial films and TV ...
4481 points
38. Joseph MacDonald
Cinematographer | My Darling Clementine
Versatile Mexico City-born cinematographer Joseph Patrick MacDonald was initially trained as a mining engineer at the University of Southern California. He served a lengthy apprenticeship, starting as assistant cameraman at First National in the early 1920's before eventually graduating to first ...
4439 points
39. Douglas Slocombe
Cinematographer | Rollerball
London-born Douglas Slocombe has long been regarded as one of the film industry's premiere cinematographers, but he began his career as a photojournalist for Life magazine and the Paris-Match newspaper before World War II. During the war he became a newsreel cameraman, and at war's end he went to ...
4324 points
40. Joseph Ruttenberg
Cinematographer | Gaslight
Four-time Oscar-winning cinematographer Joseph Ruttenberg was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. In 1893, at the age of four, his family moved to the United States, eventually settling in Boston. After schooling, he got his first job in 1907 working as a newsboy and personal runner for William ...
4322 points
41. Sam Leavitt
Cinematographer | Anatomy of a Murder
Sam Leavitt was born on February 6, 1904 in New York City, New York, USA. Sam was a cinematographer, known for Anatomy of a Murder (1959), The Defiant Ones (1958) and Cape Fear (1962). Sam died on March 21, 1984 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.
4310 points
42. Jean Rabier
Camera_department | Ascenseur pour l'échafaud
Jean Rabier was born on March 16, 1927 in Montfort-l'Amaury, Île-de-France, France. He was a cinematographer, known for Elevator to the Gallows (1958), The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) and The 400 Blows (1959). He died on February 15, 2016 in Port-de-Bouc, Bouches-du-Rhône, France.
4306 points
43. Raoul Coutard
Director | Hoa-Binh
Raoul Coutard was born on September 16, 1924 in Paris, France. He was a cinematographer and director, known for Hoa Binh (1970), Alphaville (1965) and Z (1969). He died on November 8, 2016 in Labenne, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France.
4281 points
44. Rudolph Maté
Cinematographer | Gilda
One of the most respected cinematographers in the industry, Polish-born Rudolph Mate entered the film business after his graduation from the University of Budapest. He worked in Hungary as an assistant cameraman for Alexander Korda and later worked throughout Europe with noted cameraman Karl Freund...
4260 points
45. Russell Harlan
Cinematographer | To Kill a Mockingbird
Born Russell September 16, 1903 in Los Angeles, California to Frank and Bertha Harlan, who hailed from Iowa and Missouri. Russell was raised in Los Angeles along with his younger brother Richard (b. 1911). His paternal grandmother Sarah J. Harlan also lived with the family.
Harlan started in the ...
4213 points
46. Sven Nykvist
Cinematographer | The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Sven Nykvist was considered by many in the industry to be one of the world's greatest cinematographers. During his long career that spanned almost half a century, Nyvist perfected the art of cinematography to its most simple attributes, and he helped give the films he had worked on the simplest and...
9183 points
47. Subrata Mitra
Cinematographer | Pather Panchali
From 1997 until his death, Subrata Mitra taught cinematography at the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI) at Kolkata, India. Subrata Mitra won the National Award for his work in Ramesh Sharma's New Delhi Times in 1985, and the Eastman Kodak Lifetime Achievement for Excellence in ...
4208 points
48. William H. Daniels
Cinematographer | Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Oscar-winning director of photography William Daniels was a master of black-and-white cinematographer most famous for the 21 films he shot that starred the immortal Greta Garbo between 1926 and 1939. Among the Gabro classics he lensed were The Torrent (1924), Flesh and the Devil (1926), Love (1927)...
8692 points
49. Michael Ballhaus
Cinematographer | Goodfellas
Michael Ballhaus was a German cinematographer. He worked on many American films, including Baby It's You (1983), Old Enough (1984), After Hours (1985), The Color of Money (1986), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), Goodfellas (1990), Dracula (1992), The Age of Innocence (1993), Gangs of New York ...
4170 points
50. Joseph Walker
Cinematographer | You Can't Take It with You
Frank Capra's favorite cinematographer began his working life as an electrical engineer who collaborated with Lee De Forest on building the first wireless transmitter. However, it was his interest in moving picture photography which led him to work in film laboratories where his numerous pioneering...
8514 points
51. Otello Martelli
Cinematographer | La dolce vita
Otello Martelli was born on May 19, 1902 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a cinematographer, known for La Dolce Vita (1960), The Road (1954) and Carne de horca (1953). He died on February 20, 2000 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.
4098 points
52. Charles Lang
Cinematographer | Sabrina
One of the outstanding cinematographers of Hollywood's Golden Age, Lang spent most of his career at Paramount (1929-1952), where he contributed to the studio's well-earned reputation for visual style. Lang was educated at Lincoln High School in L.A., then proceeded to the University of Southern ...
8319 points
53. Karl Struss
Cinematographer | Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
Oscar-winning cinematographer Karl Struss was born on November 30, 1886, in New York City. He became a professional photographer after studying photography with Clarence H. White and became part of the group associated with the great photographer Alfred Stieglitz. His photographs, which he ...
4010 points
54. Ernest Haller
Cinematographer | Gone with the Wind
Distinguished American cinematographer Ernest Haller started in the industry in 1914 as an actor with Biograph after leaving his first job as a bank clerk. Within one year he discovered his true calling: being on the other side of the camera. By 1920, he had become a full director of photography ...
7267 points
55. Tony Gaudio
Cinematographer | The Adventures of Robin Hood
Tony Gaudio was born Gaetano Antonio Gaudio on November 20, 1883, in Cosenza, Italy, to a professional photographer. After attended art school in Rome, he became an assistant to his father and elder brother, who were portrait photographers. Eventually he segued into cinema, starting with "Napoleon ...
3965 points
56. Roger Deakins
Cinematographer | Blade Runner 2049
Roger Deakins is an English cinematographer best known for his work on the films of the Coen brothers, Sam Mendes, and Denis Villeneuve.
He is a member of both the American and British Society of Cinematographers.
Deakins' first feature film in America as cinematographer was Mountains of the Moon (...
7126 points
57. Robert Surtees
Cinematographer | Ben-Hur
Robert L. Surtees began his working life as a portrait photographer and retoucher, before becoming camera assistant at Universal in 1927. He spent a lengthy apprenticeship (15 years) working under such experienced cinematographers as Hal Mohr, Joseph Ruttenberg and Gregg Toland. Between 1929 and ...
3925 points
58. Tonino Delli Colli
Cinematographer | Der Name der Rose
Tonino Delli Colli was born on November 20, 1922 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a cinematographer and actor, known for The Name of the Rose (1986), Life Is Beautiful (1997) and Once Upon a Time in America (1984). He was married to Alexandra Delli Colli. He died on August 16, 2005 in Rome, Lazio, ...
7091 points
59. Robert Krasker
Cinematographer | The Third Man
A somewhat underrated figure in cinematographic history, Australian-born Robert Krasker handled some of the most memorable films made in Britain after the Second World War. In his youth he attended art classes in Paris and studied photography at the Photohaendler Schule in Dresden. He briefly ...
3888 points
60. Robert Burks
Cinematographer | Vertigo
The favorite cinematographer of legendary director Alfred Hitchcock began working at Warner Bros. when he was 19 years old. He climbed his way up from camera operator to assistant camera man and eventually took over the Special Photographic Effects unit at Warners on Stage 5 in 1944. He became an ...
6369 points
61. Barry Ackroyd
Cinematographer | The Hurt Locker
Barry Ackroyd was born on May 12, 1954 in Oldham, Lancashire, England, UK. He is a cinematographer and director, known for The Hurt Locker (2008), Captain Phillips (2013) and United 93 (2006).
3871 points
62. Victor Milner
Cinematographer | Reap the Wild Wind
Pioneering cinematographer Victor Milner acquired his fascination with the celluloid media during the days of the nickelodeon. After working as a lab assistant for a film equipment manufacturer, he joined Pathe Weekly News in the capacity of projectionist and newsreel cameraman. Among other events,...
6104 points
63. Fritz Arno Wagner
Cinematographer | M - Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder
Regarded as one of the foremost exponents of cinematic expressionism in the 1920's, Fritz Arno Wagner was trained at the Ecole de Beaux Arts in Paris and began in the film industry working for Pathé Freres in 1910. Within just two years, he was promoted to head Pathé's offices in Vienna, and, ...
3808 points
64. Giuseppe Rotunno
Cinematographer | All That Jazz
Giuseppe 'Peppino' Rotunno entered the film industry as a still photographer at Cinecitta but lost his job due to his anti-fascist views. Conscripted and sent to Greece in 1942, he then served as a newsreel cameraman with the Italian army film unit. A year later, he was captured during the German ...
6103 points
65. Lajos Koltai
Cinematographer | La leggenda del pianista sull'oceano
Lajos Koltai was born on April 2, 1946 in Budapest, Hungary. He is a cinematographer and director, known for The Legend of 1900 (1998), Malena (2000) and Fateless (2005). He has been married to Katalin Bordas since 1969.
3784 points
66. Arthur Edeson
Cinematographer | Casablanca
Arthur Edeson is an American cinematographer who was a pioneer of his craft. His career spanned four decades and encompassed many films now regarded as classics.
Born in New York in 1891, Edeson first worked as a still photographer. In 1911 he entered the movie business at Eclair Studios, a ...
6069 points
67. Gilbert Taylor
Cinematographer | Star Wars
Gilbert Taylor was born on April 21, 1914 in Bushey Heath, Hertfordshire, England, UK. He was a cinematographer and director, known for Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977), The Omen (1976) and Flash Gordon (1980). He was married to Dee Vaughan and Eileen Donnelly. He died on August 23, 2013 ...
3655 points
68. John F. Seitz
Cinematographer | Double Indemnity
Distinguished veteran cinematographer John F. Seitz had eighteen patents for various photographic processes to his name. These included illuminating devices, processes for making dissolves and the matte shot, which he perfected during filming of Rex Ingram's Trifling Women (1922). Seitz started ...
6046 points
69. Ernest Laszlo
Cinematographer | Logan's Run
Ernest Laszlo, the Academy Award-winning cinematographer best known for his creative collaborations with directors Robert Aldrich and Stanley Kramer, was born on April 23, 1898, in Budapest, Hungary, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
After emigrating to the US, he worked as a camera operator...
3612 points
70. Yûharu Atsuta
Cinematographer | Sanma no aji
Yûharu Atsuta was born on January 1, 1905 in Kobe, Japan. He was a cinematographer, known for An Autumn Afternoon (1962), Late Autumn (1960) and Early Summer (1951). He died on December 7, 1992 in Japan.
6000 points
71. Witold Sobocinski
Cinematographer | Frantic
Witold Sobocinski is a Polish cinematographer, academic teacher as well as former jazz musician.
As a cinematographer he is best known for The Promised Land (1975) and Frantic (1988).
Sobocinski cooperated with several notable directors, including Andrzej Wajda, Krzysztof Zanussi and Roman Polanski.
...
3605 points
72. Milton R. Krasner
Cinematographer | An Affair to Remember
Milton Krasner entered the film industry as an assistant cameraman in 1917, and while working at the Vitagraph and Biograph studios in New York City was promoted to camera operator. Graduating to lighting cameraman in 1933, he was assigned mostly second features until the mid-'40s, when his ...
5964 points
73. Lucien Ballard
Cinematographer | The Wild Bunch
Lucien Ballard, the cinematographer best known for his collaboration with director Sam Peckinpah on such films as The Wild Bunch (1969), was born in Miami, Oklahoma. Ballard became a wanderer after dropping out of the Ivy League University of Pennsylvania and the University of Oklahoma, journeying ...
3599 points
74. Sol Polito
Cinematographer | The Adventures of Robin Hood
Sol Polito, the Oscar-nominated cinematographer who helped create the distinct visual character of Warner Bros. films in the 1930s and 1940s, was born Salvador Polito on November 12, 1892, in Palermo, Sicily. While still young he emigrated to the US with his family, which settled in New York City, ...
5907 points
75. Tom Stern
Cinematographer | Changeling
Tom Stern was born on December 16, 1946 in Palo Alto, California, USA. He is a cinematographer and director, known for Changeling (2008), Flags of Our Fathers (2006) and Mystic River (2003). He was previously married to Françoise Combadière.
3574 points
76. Gregg Toland
Cinematographer | Citizen Kane
Born in Illinois in 1904, the only child of Jennie and Frank Toland, Gregg and his mother moved to California several years after his parents divorced in 1910. Through Jennie's work as a housekeeper for several people in the movie business, Gregg may had gotten a $12-a-week job at age 15 as an ...
5777 points
77. Jean Boffety
Cinematographer | Une histoire simple
Jean Boffety was born on June 7, 1925 in Chantelle, Allier, France. He was a cinematographer, known for A Simple Story (1978), The Twilight Zone (1959) and Quintet (1979). He died on June 25, 1988 in Paris, France.
3561 points
78. Rodrigo Prieto
Cinematographer | Brokeback Mountain
Rodrigo Prieto is a Mexican cinematographer. He is best known for Brokeback Mountain (2005), Babel (2006), Argo (2012), The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), and Silence (2016).
He also worked with Alejandro González Iñárritu on the acclaimed Amores perros (2000), 21 Grams (2003), and Biutiful (2010).
...
5720 points
79. Oliver T. Marsh
Cinematographer | Sweethearts
Oliver T. Marsh was born on January 30, 1892 in Kansas City, Missouri, USA. Oliver T. was a cinematographer, known for Sweethearts (1938), Bitter Sweet (1940) and Maytime (1937). Oliver T. was married to Elizabeth. Oliver T. died on May 5, 1941 in Hollywood, California, USA.
3512 points
80. Gordon Willis
Cinematographer | Zelig
Gordon Willis was an American cinematographer. He's best known for his work on Francis Ford Coppola's Godfather films, as well asWoody Allen's Annie Hall (1977) and Manhattan (1979).
His work on the first two Godfather films turned out to be groundbreaking in its use of low-light photography and ...
5676 points
81. Yoshio Miyajima
Cinematographer | Seppuku
Yoshio Miyajima was born on February 3, 1910 in Nagono, Japan. He was a cinematographer, known for Harakiri (1962), Kwaidan (1964) and Kanikôsen (1953). He died on February 21, 1998.
3456 points
82. Roland Totheroh
Cinematographer | The Gold Rush
Rollie Totheroh worked as cinematographer on Charles Chaplin's movies for over 30 years, right from the earliest shorts in 1915 to Monsieur Verdoux (1947), including all of Chaplin's masterpieces: The Kid (1921), The Gold Rush (1925), City Lights (1931), Modern Times (1936) and The Great Dictator (...
5656 points
83. Wally Pfister
Cinematographer | Inception
Wally Pfister is an American cinematographer and film director, who is best known for his work with Christopher Nolan. He is also known for his work on director F. Gary Gray's The Italian Job (2003) and Bennett Miller's Moneyball (2011).
He made his directorial debut with the film Transcendence (...
3455 points
84. James Wong Howe
Cinematographer | The Thin Man
Master cinematographer James Wong Howe, whose career stretched from silent pictures through the mid-'70s, was born Wong Tung Jim in Canton (now Guangzhou), China, on August 28, 1899, the son of Wong How. His father emigrated to America the year James was born, settling in Pasco, Washington, where ...
5646 points
85. Geoffrey Unsworth
Cinematographer | Cabaret
Goeffrey Unsworth was one of the great cinematographers of the 20th Century, the winner of two Oscars, five BAFTA awards, and three awards from the British Society of Cinematographers for his work as a director of photography. Born in 1914 in Lancashire, England, Unsworth started in the industry in...
3399 points
86. Harold Rosson
Cinematographer | The Asphalt Jungle
Harold G. "Hal" Rosson, a cinematographer known for his subtle and imaginative lighting, was born in Genaseo, New York, on August 24, 1895, although some sources cite his birthday as April 6, 1895, or in 1889.
Rosson entered the movie industry in 1908 as an actor at the Vitagraph Studios in Brooklyn...
5558 points
87. Gabriel Figueroa
Cinematographer | La perla
Gabriel Figueroa was born on April 24, 1907 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico. He was a cinematographer, known for The Pearl (1947), Maria Candelaria (1944) and The Young and the Damned (1950). He died on April 27, 1997 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico.
3338 points
88. Harry Stradling Sr.
Cinematographer | My Fair Lady
Multi-Academy Award-nominated cinematographer (13 in all), Harry Stradling was unique in that he established his reputation both in America and in Europe. He was the nephew of Mary Pickford's cameraman Walter Stradling, who provided the connections for his first job in Hollywood. Walter died in ...
5544 points
89. Armand Thirard
Cinematographer | Le salaire de la peur
Armand Thirard was born on October 25, 1899 in Mantes-sur-Seine, Seine-et-Oise [now Mantes-la-Jolie, Yvelines], France. He was a cinematographer and actor, known for The Wages of Fear (1953), Diabolique (1955) and Remorques (1941). He died on November 12, 1973 in Colombes, Hauts-de-Seine, France.
3291 points
90. Henri Decaë
Cinematographer | The Boys from Brazil
Although Henri Decaë gained fame as a cinematographer, he actually entered the film industry as an editor and soundman. Serving as a cameraman in the French army during WW II, upon his release he began making documentaries and directing and photographing industrial and commercial films, then in ...
5338 points
91. Anthony Dod Mantle
Cinematographer | Slumdog Millionaire
Anthony Dod Mantle was born on April 14, 1955 in Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, UK. He is a cinematographer, known for Slumdog Millionaire (2008), Antichrist (2009) and The Last King of Scotland (2006).
3252 points
92. Burnett Guffey
Cinematographer | Bonnie and Clyde
Entering films in 1923 as an assistant cameraman, Burnett Guffey was picked by John Ford to handle second-unit photography on The Iron Horse (1924). After that film, however, Guffey returned to his assistant cameraman position, a job he held until 1928, when he became a camera operator. In that ...
5108 points
93. Norbert Brodine
Cinematographer | Letter to Loretta
Norbert Brodine was born on December 16, 1896 in St. Joseph, Missouri, USA. He was a cinematographer, known for The Loretta Young Show (1953), Merrily We Live (1938) and The Frogmen (1951). He was married to Catherine Ferguson. He died on February 28, 1970 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
3236 points
94. Karl Freund
Cinematographer | Metropolis
Karl Freund, an innovative director of photography responsible for development of the three-camera system used to shoot television situation comedies, was born on January 16, 1890, in the Bohemian city of Koeniginhof, then part of the Austria-Hungarian Empire (now known as Dvur Kralove in the Czech...
4989 points
95. William C. Mellor
Cinematographer | A Place in the Sun
Mellor began his career in the photographic labs at Paramount in the mid-20's. By 1934, he had graduated to full-time director of photography, working primarily on the studio's lesser productions. At the same time, he continued to serve his apprenticeship by assisting veteran cinematographer Victor...
3223 points
96. Néstor Almendros
Cinematographer | Days of Heaven
One of the highest appraised contemporary cinematographers. He was born in Spain but moved to Cuba by age 18 to join his exiled anti-Franco father. In Havana, he founded a cineclub and wrote film reviews. Then, he went on to study in Rome at the Centro Sperimentale. He directed six shorts in Cuba ...
4974 points
97. Robby Müller
Cinematographer | Breaking the Waves
Robby Müller was born on April 4, 1940 in Willemstad, Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles. He was a cinematographer and actor, known for Breaking the Waves (1996), Paris, Texas (1984) and Repo Man (1984). He died on July 3, 2018 in Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.
3212 points
98. Oswald Morris
Cinematographer | Fiddler on the Roof
Oscar-winning cinematography Oswald Morris was one of the most outstanding directors of photography of the 20th Century, making his reputation by expanding the parameters of color cinematography. Born in November 1915 in Hillingdon, Middlesex, England, a month short of his 17th birthday, he became ...
4908 points
99. Jacek Petrycki
Cinematographer | Günese Yolculuk
Jacek Petrycki was born on December 1, 1948 in Poznan, Wielkopolskie, Poland. He is a cinematographer, known for Journey to the Sun (1999), 14 dni. Prowokacja bydgoska (2008) and The Offsiders (2008).
3212 points
100. Joseph LaShelle
Cinematographer | Laura
Trained as an electrical engineer, Joseph LaShelle entered the film industry as a lab assistant with Paramount in 1920 in order to finance entry to Stanford University. Having worked his way up to superintendent of the Paramount printing room after three years, he decided to stay on. By 1925, he ...
4871 points
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