Les grands directeurs de la photographie (chefs op)
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- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
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 was being mentored by the veteran cinematographer Charles G. Clarke under whose auspices he gained valuable experience behind the camera. Subsequently, LaShelle worked as camera operator for Metropolitan Studios, Pathe and Fox in the 1930s, often in collaboration with Arthur C. Miller. In the wake of a decade-long apprenticeship, he was promoted to full director of photography in 1943, from there on gaining a reputation as one of Hollywood's foremost stylists. His chief talent lay in his ability to employ lighting, decor, close-ups and clever camera angles to convey a grainy realistic, natural look, especially vital to the ambience of films noirs.
Another aspect of LaShelle's artistry lay in suggesting a bigger budget than was sometimes in play. This was notably the case with Laura (1944), for which he won his only Oscar. Virtually every scene takes place indoors, without significant exterior footage beyond a few basic studio shots. In the absence of streets and traffic, LaShelle nonetheless succeeded in creating a believable Park Avenue jet-set, replete with elegant apartments and swank restaurants. He did much of his best work under contract at 20th Century Fox (1943-1954) and for expert directors like Martin Ritt (The Long, Hot Summer (1958)), Otto Preminger ("Laura", Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950) and Billy Wilder (The Apartment (1960), The Fortune Cookie (1966)). He retired in 1969 and died of natural causes twenty years later, aged 89.- Cinematographer
- Special Effects
- Editorial Department
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 expert in forced perspective techniques which were widely in use at the time as cost-saving measures, or on B-pictures. Burks did special effects work on major productions like Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), The Unsuspected (1947) and Key Largo (1948).
In 1949, Burks graduated to becoming a fully-fledged director of photography. His striking black & white work on The Fountainhead (1949) was particularly evocative in showcasing the stark, austere architectural lines of the film's chief protagonist, Howard Roark (Gary Cooper). On the strength of this, and his next film, The Glass Menagerie (1950), Hitchcock hired him to shoot his thriller Strangers on a Train (1951). From this developed one of Hollywood's most inspired collaborations, as well as a close personal friendship.
When his contract at Warner Brothers expired in 1953, Burks followed Hitchcock to Paramount and went on to play an integral part in creating the brooding, tension-laden atmosphere of the director's best work between 1954 and 1964. His range varied from the neo-realist, almost semi-documentary black & white look of The Wrong Man (1956) to the intensely warm and beautiful deep focus VistaVision colour photography of Vertigo (1958). His muted tones matching the claustrophobic setting of Rear Window (1954) stood in sharp contrast to the vibrant, full-hued colours used in the expansive outdoor footage of To Catch a Thief (1955) and North by Northwest (1959).
The experience Burks had gained in forced perspective miniatures in his early days at Warner Brothers, also stood him in good stead on 'Vertigo' (the mission tower), 'North by Northwest' (the Mount Rushmore scenes) and, later, 'The Birds'. Because of his expertise, Burks was often able to contribute ideas to shooting scenes more effectively. He was also an innovator in the application of both telephoto and wide angle lenses as a means to creating a specific mood. The Hitchcock-Burks partnership ended after Marnie (1964), and, under less-inspired directors (except for A Patch of Blue (1965)), his later work inevitably declined in quality. Robert Burks and his wife, Elysabeth, were tragically killed in a fire at their house in May 1968.
Robert Burks won the 1955 Academy Award for Best Colour Photography for 'To Catch a Thief'. He was also nominated for 'Strangers on a Train', 'Rear Window' and 'A Patch of Blue'.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Special Effects
Walter Wottitz was born in 1911. He was a cinematographer, known for The Longest Day (1962), Army of Shadows (1969) and The Widow Couderc (1971). He died on 1 November 1986.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
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 work for Ealing Studios as a camera operator, making his debut as a full-fledged cinematographer on Ealing's Dead of Night (1945). Slocombe is credited with giving Ealing's films the unique, realistic look it was famous for. He left Ealing and went freelance, not wanting to be tied down to a single studio, and divided his time between England and America. He won the BAFTA--the British equivalent of the Oscar--three times, for The Servant (1963), The Great Gatsby (1974) and Julia (1977). A favorite of director Steven Spielberg, he was noted for never having used a light meter while shooting Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), an almost indispensable tool for most cinematographers.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Director
Gilbert Taylor was born on 21 April 1914 in Bushey Heath, Hertfordshire, England, UK. He was a cinematographer and director, known for Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977), Flash Gordon (1980) and The Omen (1976). He was married to Dee Vaughan and Eileen Donnelly. He died on 23 August 2013 in Newport, Isle of Wight, England, UK.- Cinematographer
- Director
- Camera and Electrical Department
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 1947 made his first feature. His documentary background showed in the look of the films he photographed, and he worked often with directors Louis Malle and Claude Chabrol. From those early, gritty films, Decae evolved into one of the premier cinematographers of plush, big-budget extravaganzas.- Cinematographer
- Writer
- Director
Massimo Dallamano was born on 17 April 1917 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. He was a cinematographer and writer, known for A Fistful of Dollars (1964), Tierra mágica (1959) and What Have You Done to Solange? (1972). He died on 14 November 1976 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Gianni Di Venanzo was born on 18 December 1920 in Teramo, Abruzzo, Italy. He was a cinematographer, known for 8½ (1963), The Girlfriends (1955) and Juliet of the Spirits (1965). He died on 3 February 1966 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Director
Two-time Academy Award-winning cinematographer Haskell Wexler was adjudged one of the ten most influential cinematographers in movie history, according to an International Cinematographers Guild survey of its membership. He won his Oscars in both black & white and color, for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) (1966) and Bound for Glory (1976) (1976). He also shot part of Days of Heaven (1978) (1978), for which credited director of photography Nestor Almendros -- won a Best Cinematography Oscar that Wexler initially felt should have been jointly shared by both. Later he admitted he was just finishing the work of Almendros and when Bert Schneider offer him more credit in the Criterion Dvd release of the film, he turned down the offer. In 1993, Wexler was awarded a Lifetime Achivement award by the cinematographer's guild, the American Society of Cinematographers. He received five Oscar nominations for his cinematography, in total, plus one Emmy Award in a career that has spanned six decades.
In addition to his masterful cinematography, Wexler directed the seminal late Sixties film Medium Cool (1969) and has directed and/or shot many documentaries that display his progressive political views. He was the subject of a 2004 documentary shot by his son Mark Wexler, Tell Them Who You Are (2004).- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Actor
Tonino Delli Colli was born on 20 November 1922 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a cinematographer and actor, known for The Name of the Rose (1986), Life Is Beautiful (1997) and Bitter Moon (1992). He was married to Alexandra Delli Colli. He died on 16 August 2005 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Cinematographer
- Director
- Actor
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 most natural look imaginable. Indeed, Mr. Nykvist prided himself on the simplicity and naturalness of his lighting schemes. Nykvist used light to create mood and, more significantly, to bring out the natural flesh tones in the human face so that the emotion of the scene could be played out on the face without the light becoming intrusive.
Nykvist entered the Swedish film industry when he was 19 and worked his way up to becoming a director of photography. He first worked with the legendary Swedish director Ingmar Bergman on the film Sawdust and Tinsel (1953), but his collaboration with Bergman began in earnest with The Virgin Spring (1960). From that point on, Nykvist replaced the great Gunnar Fischer as Bergman's cameraman, and the two men started a collaboration that would last for a quarter of a century. The switch from Fischer to Nykvist created a marked difference in the look of Bergman's films. In many respects, it was like the difference between Caravaggio and Rembrandt. Fischer's lighting was a study in light and darkness, while Nykvist preferred a more naturalistic, more subtle approach that in many ways relied on the northern light compositions of the many great Scandinavian painters.
Nykvist's work with Bergman is one of the most glorious collaborations in movie history. Nykvist created a markedly different look for each installment of Bergman's Faith Trilogy. Through a Glass Darkly (1961) had an almost suffocating quality to it, and The Silence (1963) hearkened back to the days of German Expressionism. Winter Light (1963), the middle part of the trilogy, may very well be the most perfect work of Nykvist's repertoire. Having studied the light in a real provincial church carefully, he then recreated the subtle changes in the light as the day went on on a Stockholm sound stage. Indeed, it's hard to believe that the film was shot on a stage and not in a real church in Northern Sweden. For Persona (1966), Nykvist relied heavily on Sweden's famous Midnight Sun. In The Passion of Anna (1969), Nykvist was able to capture the chilly, soggy, and melancholy look of Faro, one of Nykvist's first color films. Both Nykvist and Bergman were both very reluctant to film in color. He created a fascinating study of white and red in Cries & Whispers (1972), for which Nykvist won an Oscar. He won an Oscar again for the last feature-length theatrical film that Bergman made, Fanny and Alexander (1982).
During the late 1970s, Nykvist began making films elsewhere in Europe and in the United States, working for directors such as Louis Malle (Pretty Baby (1978)), Philip Kaufman (The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988)), Bob Fosse (Star 80 (1983)), Nora Ephron (Sleepless in Seattle (1993)), Woody Allen (Another Woman (1988), Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)), Richard Attenborough (Chaplin (1992)), and fellow Swede Lasse Hallström (What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)). The documentary Ljuset håller mig sällskap (2000) paid homage to Nykvist, although it does not grant us any real secrets about his working methods. Nykvist died in 2006.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Actor
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 occupation of Greece and spent two years internment in Germany. Freed by US troops in April 1945, Rotunno returned to Italy. During the following decade, he worked his way up the ladder from a humbly paid assistant cameraman to director of photography. The romantic comedy Scandal in Sorrento (1955) was the first motion picture he shot in that capacity and he has since worked with some of Italy's leading post-war directors. His most famous collaborations were with Luchino Visconti, whom he regarded as his mentor (White Nights (1957), Rocco and His Brothers (1960), The Leopard (1963)) and with Federico Fellini (Fellini Satyricon (1969), Amarcord (1973)). Rotunno acquired a well-deserved reputation for creating realistic, opulent, nostalgic or uncanny atmospheres through ingenious use of lighting techniques. His work in the international field has included the Ava Gardner starrers The Naked Maja (1958) and The Angel Wore Red (1960), Stanley Kramer's On the Beach (1959), Arthur Hiller's Man of La Mancha (1972), Bob Fosse's All That Jazz (1979) (1981 BAFTA winner and 1980 Oscar nominee) and the remake of Sabrina (1995), starring Harrison Ford. In 1966, Rotunno became the first non-US citizen admitted to join the American Society of Cinematographers. From 1988, he taught at the Centro sperimentale di cinematografia in Rome where he died on February 7 2021 at the age of 97..- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Producer
Aldo Scavarda was born on 22 August 1923 in Turin, Italy. He is a cinematographer and producer, known for L'Avventura (1960), La linea del fiume (1976) and Come Play with Me (1968).- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Actor
Ghislain Cloquet was born on 18 April 1924 in Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium. He was a cinematographer and actor, known for Tess (1979), Love and Death (1975) and The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967). He was married to Sonia Salvy-Matossian and Sophie Becker. He died on 2 November 1981 in Montainville, Yvelines, France.- Cinematographer
- Director
- Actor
Raoul Coutard was born on 16 September 1924 in Paris, France. He was a cinematographer and director, known for Hoa Binh (1970), Alphaville (1965) and Z (1969). He died on 8 November 2016 in Labenne, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Additional Crew
Jean Boffety was born on 7 June 1925 in Chantelle, Allier, France. He was a cinematographer, known for A Simple Story (1978), The Twilight Zone (1959) and Dog Day (1984). He died on 25 June 1988 in Paris, France.- Cinematographer
- Producer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Levan Paatashvili was born on 12 March 1926 in Tbilisi, Georgian SSR, USSR [now Republic of Georgia]. He was a cinematographer and producer, known for Tojinebi itsinian (1963), Last Day, First Day (1960) and Blue Mountains, or Unbelievable Story (1983). He died on 24 January 2023 in Georgia.- Cinematographer
- Editorial Department
- Special Effects
Edmond Richard was born on 6 January 1927 in Paris, France. He was a cinematographer, known for The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972), Les Misérables (1982) and The Trial (1962). He died on 5 June 2018.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Jean Badal was born on 7 March 1927 in Budapest, Hungary. He was a cinematographer, known for Playtime (1967), Vortex (1976) and Gábor diák (1956). He died on 9 October 2015 in Hungary.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Jean Rabier was born on 16 March 1927 in Montfort-l'Amaury, Île-de-France, France. He was a cinematographer, known for Elevator to the Gallows (1958), The 400 Blows (1959) and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964). He died on 15 February 2016 in Port-de-Bouc, Bouches-du-Rhône, France.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Victor J. Kemper was born on 14 April 1927 in Newark, New Jersey, USA. He was a cinematographer, known for Clue (1985), The Final Countdown (1980) and Vacation (1983). He was married to Claire. He died on 27 November 2023 in Sherman Oaks, California, USA.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Pasqualino De Santis was born on 24 April 1927 in Fondi, Lazio, Italy. He was a cinematographer, known for Romeo and Juliet (1968), Death in Venice (1971) and Three Brothers (1981). He died on 23 June 1996 in Lviv, Ukraine.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Special Effects
Alfio Contini was born on 19 September 1927 in Castiglioncello, Livorno, Tuscany, Italy. He was a cinematographer, known for Beyond the Clouds (1995), Uno scandalo perbene (1984) and The Easy Life (1962). He died on 23 March 2020 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Jean Penzer was born on 1 October 1927 in Livry-Gargan, Seine-Saint-Denis, France. He was a cinematographer, known for He Died with His Eyes Open (1985), A Room in Town (1982) and Buffet Froid (1979). He died on 20 May 2021 in Chatenay-Malabry, Hauts-de-Seine, France.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Luigi Kuveiller was born on 3 October 1927 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a cinematographer, known for L'Avventura (1960), Deep Red (1975) and A Quiet Place in the Country (1968). He died on 10 January 2013 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.