Jack Cardiff
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| Jack Cardiff | |
 Jack Cardiff |
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| Born | 18 September 1914 Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, UK |
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| Died | 22 April 2009 (aged 94) Ely, Cambridgeshire, UK |
Jack Cardiff, OBE (18 September 1914 – 22 April 2009)[1] was a British cinematographer, director and photographer.
His career spanned the development of cinema, from silent film, through early experiments in Technicolor (and, less successfully, Smell-o-vision), to filmmaking in the 21st century. He was best known for his influential cinematography for directors such as Powell, Huston and Hitchcock.
In 2000 he was awarded an OBE and in 2001 he was awarded an Honorary Oscar for his contribution to the cinema.
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[edit] Early life
Cardiff was born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, and his parents were music hall entertainers. He worked as an actor from an early age, both in the music hall and in a number of silent films: My Son, My Son (1918), Billy's Rose (1922), The Loves of Mary, Queen of Scots (1923) and Tiptoes (1927). At 15 he began working as a camera assistant, clapper boy and production runner for British International Pictures, including Hitchcock's The Skin Game (1931).
[edit] Cinematography
In 1935 Cardiff graduated to camera operator and occasional cinematographer, working mostly for London Films. He was the first to shoot a film in Britain in Technicolor: Wings of the Morning (1937). When the war began he worked as a cinematographer on public information films.
The turning point in his career was as a 2nd unit cameraman on Powell & Pressburger's The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943); they were impressed enough to hire Cardiff as cinematographer on their post-war Technicolor A Matter of Life and Death (1946). Their collaboration continued with Black Narcissus (1947), which won Cardiff an Oscar and a Golden Globe, and The Red Shoes (1948). These films put Cardiff's talents in high demand, and a string of big-budget films followed.
In 1995, the British Society of Cinematographers conferred a lifetime achievement award on Cardiff.[2]
[edit] Directorial work
In the late 1950s Cardiff began to direct, with two modest successes in Intent to Kill (1958) and Web of Evidence (1959). In 1960 his adaptation of D. H. Lawrence's novel Sons and Lovers, starring Trevor Howard, Wendy Hiller and Dean Stockwell, was a successful hit. It earned seven Oscar nominations and won Freddie Francis Best Black-and-White Cinematography. Cardiff received a Golden Globe for direction.
[edit] Later life
After concentrating on direction in the 1960s, he returned to cinematography in the 1970s and 1980s, though on undistinguished films.
Cardiff died of natural causes on 22 April 2009 , the same day as Ken Annakin, with whom he had worked on The Fifth Musketeer (1979). He was survived by his wife and his four sons.[3]
[edit] Filmography
[edit] Cinematographer
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[edit] Director
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[edit] References
- ^ Martin, Douglas (April 24, 2009). "Jack Cardiff, Film Director, Dies at 94". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/24/arts/24cardiff.html. Retrieved on April 27, 2009.
- ^ "Jack Cardiff". The Daily Telegraph. April 24, 2009. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/film-obituaries/5215307/Jack-Cardiff.html. Retrieved on May 2, 2009.
- ^ Film director Jack Cardiff dies
[edit] Sources
- Cardiff's autobiography Magic Hour (ISBN 0-571-19274-2)
- Conversations with Jack Cardiff: Art, Light and Direction in Cinema by Justin Bowyer (ISBN 0-7134-8855-7)
[edit] External links
- Jack Cardiff at the Internet Movie Database
- BFI: Jack Cardiff
- Jack Cardiff biography and credits at the British Film Institute's Screenonline
- Jack Cardiff at the Powell & Pressburger pages
- BBC Forum Interview (2001)
- BBC Radio 4's The Film Programme special edition on Jack Cardiff
- Jack Cardiff Prints
- NNDB
