1960 - BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
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- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Gabriel Figueroa was born on 24 April 1907 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico. He was a cinematographer, known for The Pearl (1947), The Young and the Damned (1950) and Maria Candelaria (1944). He died on 27 April 1997 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Sound Department
John L. Russell was born on 15 May 1905 in New York, USA. He was a cinematographer, known for Psycho (1960), General Electric Theater (1953) and Headline Hunters (1955). He was married to Vy Russell. He died on 22 July 1967 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- 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
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Additional Crew
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 graduated to lighting cameraman at RKO Radio Pictures in 1935. Metty's ability to create effects with black-and-white contrast while shooting twilight and night were on display in two films he shot for Welles, The Stranger (1946) and the classic Touch of Evil (1958), the latter showing his mastery of complex crane shots. (Metty shot additional scenes for Welles' second masterpiece, The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), whose lighting cameraman was Stanley Cortez but had the look of Citizen Kane (1941), which was shot by Gregg Toland). At Universal in the 1950s, he enjoyed a productive collaboration with director Douglas Sirk on ten films from 1953-59, including Sirk's masterpieces Magnificent Obsession (1954) and Imitation of Life (1959), a remake of the 1934 classic (Imitation of Life (1934)). However, his collaboration with Kubrick on Spartacus (1960) proved troublesome.
A union cinematographer himself who had been an accomplished professional photographer, Kubrick exerted control over the look of his films. Kubrick gave far less leeway to his directors of photography than did traditional directors, even directors such as Welles and noted bizarre-camera-angle freak Sidney J. Furie (The Appaloosa (1966)), men who were extraordinarily active partners in crafting the look of their films. Kubrick was not deferential to his directors of photography, even to such top cameramen as Lucien Ballard and future Academy Award winners Oswald Morris and Geoffrey Unsworth. Metty and Kubrick clashed over the filming of "Spartacus," as Kubrick--with his extraordinary sense of light and effect--considered himself to be the director of photography on the film.
Ironically, it was "Spartacus" that won Metty his sole Academy Award, for color cinematography (he received his second nomination for the color cinematography on Flower Drum Song (1961)). Metty continued to work on top productions into the 1970s, including The Misfits (1961), That Touch of Mink (1962), Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967), Madigan (1968), and The Omega Man (1971). Metty also worked extensively on television, including Columbo (1971) and The Waltons (1972).
Russell Metty died on April 28, 1978, in Canoga Park, California. He was 71 years old.- Cinematographer
- Additional Crew
- Camera and Electrical Department
Mieczyslaw Jahoda was born on 21 December 1924 in Kraków, Malopolskie, Poland. He was a cinematographer, known for Hello, Fred the Beard (1978), Knights of the Teutonic Order (1960) and Lydia Ate the Apple (1958). He died on 16 May 2009 in Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
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 on Wings (1927). He made his debut as a director of photography on The Pace That Kills (1928). Before hooking up with Kramer, his most notable collaboration was with Aldrich, for whom he shot 11 films, including Vera Cruz (1954), the noir classic Kiss Me Deadly (1955) and The Big Knife (1955). Other memorable films he shot include Two Years Before the Mast (1946), Road to Rio (1947), Stalag 17 (1953) and Logan's Run (1976). He also shot M (1951), Joseph Losey's remake of M (1931), which was re-envisioned as an urban film noir set in Los Angeles.
After 30 years as a director of photography, Laszlo was honored with his first Oscar nomination in 1961 for shooting Inherit the Wind (1960) for Stanley Kramer. He was subsequently Oscar-nominated for the cinematography on Kramer's Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963) and Ship of Fools (1965), for which he finally won his Oscar. His final film, The Domino Principle (1977), also was shot for Kramer.
From 1972 to '74 Ernest Laszlo served as the president of the American Society of Cinematographers. He died on January 6, 1984.- Cinematographer
- Additional Crew
- Writer
Jerzy Wójcik was born on 12 September 1930 in Nowy Sacz, Malopolskie, Poland. He was a cinematographer and writer, known for The Gateway of Europe (1999), Opadly liscie z drzew (1975) and Angel in the Wardrobe (1987). He was married to Magda Teresa Wójcik. He died on 3 April 2019 in Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland.- Shigeyoshi Mine is known for Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell Bastards! (1963), Take Aim at the Police Van (1960) and The Moon Has Risen (1955).
- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Takashi Kawamata was born on 3 July 1926 in Mito, Ibaraki, Japan. He was a cinematographer, known for The Incident (1978), The Demon (1978) and Black Rain (1989). He died on 5 October 2019.- Cinematographer
- Director
- Actor
While attending Stanford University in 1912, Bert Glennon was hired as an assistant cameraman, and, upon graduation, went into the film business full-time. Becoming a director of photography in 1916, Glennon became one of the industry's most respected craftsmen and worked often for such perfectionist directors as John Ford and Cecil B. DeMille. His success as a cinematographer didn't carry over to his attempts at directing, however; the few films he directed from 1928 to 1932 were increasingly mediocre, and he gave up his attempts at directing to resume his distinguished cinematography career, where he stayed until his retirement in 1963.- 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
Sam Leavitt was born on 6 February 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 21 March 1984 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Director
Starting out in 1924 as a lab technician at MGM, John Alton left there for Paramount to become a cameraman. He traveled to France and then to South America, where he wrote, photographed and directed several Spanish-language films. Returning to Hollywood in 1937, he soon achieved a reputation as one of the industry's most accomplished cinematographers. In 1951, he and Alfred Gilks won an Academy Award for color photography for An American in Paris (1951).- Cinematographer
- Writer
- Director
Jan Laskowski was born on 10 February 1928 in Piotrowice, Wilenskie, Poland [now Piotrowice, Lithuania]. He was a cinematographer and writer, known for Mezczyzni na wyspie (1962), Theatre Macabre (1971) and Night Train (1959). He died on 8 December 2014 in Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Wieslaw Zdort was born on 27 April 1931 in Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland. He was a cinematographer and assistant director, known for Pokuszenie (1995), Pajeczarki (1993) and Ashes and Diamonds (1958). He was married to Barbara Sass. He died on 14 January 2019 in Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland.