Stanley Cortez
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Stanley Cortez, A.S.C. (November 4, 1908 – December 23, 1997) was an American cinematographer. He worked on over seventy films, including
Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...
' ''
The Magnificent Ambersons ''The Magnificent Ambersons'' is a 1918 novel by Booth Tarkington, the second in his ''Growth'' trilogy after ''The Turmoil'' (1915) and before ''The Midlander'' (1923, retitled ''National Avenue'' in 1927). It won the Pulitzer Prize for fict ...
'' (1942), Charles Laughton's '' The Night of the Hunter'' (1955),
Nunnally Johnson Nunnally Hunter Johnson (December 5, 1897 – March 25, 1977) was an American screenwriter, film director, producer, and playwright. As a filmmaker, he wrote the screenplays to more than fifty films in a career that spanned from 1927 to 1967. He ...
's ''
The Three Faces of Eve ''The Three Faces of Eve'' is a 1957 American film noir mystery drama film presented in CinemaScope, based on the book of the same name about the life of Chris Costner Sizemore, which was written by psychiatrists Corbett H. Thigpen and Hervey M. ...
'' (1957), and Samuel Fuller's '' Shock Corridor'' (1963) and ''
The Naked Kiss ''The Naked Kiss'' is a 1964 American neo-noir melodrama film, written and directed by Samuel Fuller and starring Constance Towers, Anthony Eisley, Michael Dante, and Virginia Grey. The film follows a former prostitute who attempts to assimil ...
'' (1964).


Biography

Cortez was born under the surname "Krantz" in New York City and attended New York University. He adopted his professional name Cortez to capitalize on the fame of his older brother, Jacob Krantz, who had been transformed into the film matinee idol
Ricardo Cortez Ricardo Cortez (born Jacob Kranze or Jacob Krantz; September 19, 1900 – April 28, 1977) was an American actor and film director. He was also credited as Jack Crane early in his acting career. Early years Ricardo Cortez was born Jacob K ...
. He first worked as a designer of elegant sets for several portrait photographers' studios (including that of
Edward Steichen Edward Jean Steichen (March 27, 1879 – March 25, 1973) was a Luxembourgish American photographer, painter, and curator, renowned as one of the most prolific and influential figures in the history of photography. Steichen was credited with tr ...
), which may well have instilled in him his great talent: a strong feeling for space and an ability to move his camera through that space in such a way as to embody it in film's two-dimensional format. His first job in the film industry was for
Pathé News Pathé News was a producer of newsreels and documentaries from 1910 to 1970 in the United Kingdom. Its founder, Charles Pathé, was a pioneer of moving pictures in the silent era. The Pathé News archive is known today as British Pathé. Its col ...
, which later allowed him to give his films a newsreel-like touch when necessary. During the 1920s and the early 1930s, he worked his way up the usual Hollywood cameraman ladder: camera assistant, camera operator, and cinematographer (or first cameraman, a rank he attained in 1936). He managed to work for some of the great Hollywood cameramen, among them
Karl Struss Karl Struss, A.S.C. (November 30, 1886 – December 15, 1981) was an American photographer and a cinematographer of the 1900s through the 1950s. He was also one of the earliest pioneers of 3-D films. While he mostly worked on films, such as F. ...
,
Charles Rosher Charles G. Rosher, A.S.C. (17 November 1885 – 15 January 1974) was an English-born cinematographer who worked from the early days of silent films through the 1950s. He was Mary Pickford's favourite cinematographer and a personal friend, shoo ...
, and Arthur C. Miller. On the side, Cortez managed to do an experimental film, ''Scherzo'' (1932), that drew on the techniques of
Slavko Vorkapić Slavoljub "Slavko" Vorkapić ( sr-Cyrl, Славољуб "Славко" Воркапић; March 17, 1894 – October 20, 1976), known in English as Slavko Vorkapich, was a Serbian-born Hollywood montagist, an independent cinematic artist, chair ...
; critics have referred to this short as a "symphony of light." Cortez's early films as cinematographer are not of the first rank, but they often had offbeat subjects that allowed him to experiment. (indeed, throughout his career, he displayed an ability to give otherwise mediocre works a certain interest by means of experimental techniques.) In ''The Forgotten Woman'' (1939) he did an extreme close-up of the actress's eyes to create a sense of seeing into her mind. Then Cortez had his big chance of working with Orson Welles on ''
The Magnificent Ambersons ''The Magnificent Ambersons'' is a 1918 novel by Booth Tarkington, the second in his ''Growth'' trilogy after ''The Turmoil'' (1915) and before ''The Midlander'' (1923, retitled ''National Avenue'' in 1927). It won the Pulitzer Prize for fict ...
'' (1942). Cortez saw the set for the film before being appointed first cameraman. His spatial sense told him that shooting the film within these sets would be a tremendous challenge. Welles intuited that Cortez's mastery of studio space was exactly what this film–having a house as its main setting–demanded. Much of Cortez's work on the film was cut by the studio. During World War II, Cortez served in the United States Army Signal Corps. In his later years, Cortez filmed several psychological dramas. In ''
Smash-Up, the Story of a Woman ''Smash-Up, the Story of a Woman'', also called ''A Woman Destroyed'', is a 1947 American drama film with elements of film noir that tells the story of a rising nightclub singer who marries another singer and becomes an alcoholic after sacrifici ...
'' (1947), Cortez used flashing lights placed inside the camera to create the sense of drunkenness. Charles Laughton gave Cortez another challenge – '' The Night of the Hunter''. The extraordinary film demanded trial underwater shots and expressionistically lit sets, and Cortez managed to endow the camera movements with a musical quality. In ''
The Three Faces of Eve ''The Three Faces of Eve'' is a 1957 American film noir mystery drama film presented in CinemaScope, based on the book of the same name about the life of Chris Costner Sizemore, which was written by psychiatrists Corbett H. Thigpen and Hervey M. ...
'' (1957), Cortez found his actress:
Joanne Woodward Joanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward (born February 27, 1930) is an American actress. A star since the Golden Age of Hollywood, Woodward made her career breakthrough in the 1950s and earned esteem and respect playing complex women with a charact ...
would be to him what
Greta Garbo Greta Garbo (born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson; 18 September 1905 – 15 April 1990) was a Swedish-American actress. Regarded as one of the greatest screen actresses, she was known for her melancholic, somber persona, her film portrayals of tragedy, ...
was to William H. Daniels and
Marlene Dietrich Marie Magdalene "Marlene" DietrichBorn as Maria Magdalena, not Marie Magdalene, according to Dietrich's biography by her daughter, Maria Riva ; however Dietrich's biography by Charlotte Chandler cites "Marie Magdalene" as her birth name . (, ; ...
to
Lee Garmes Lee Garmes, A.S.C. (May 27, 1898 – August 31, 1978) was an American cinematographer. During his career, he worked with directors Howard Hawks, Max Ophüls, Josef von Sternberg, Alfred Hitchcock, King Vidor, Nicholas Ray and Henry Hathaway, whom ...
. Cortez's subtle modulations of lighting match Woodward's equally subtle changes of expression, and both together create the sense of Eve, a psychologically split personality, becoming someone else. In Samuel Fuller's 1963 film '' Shock Corridor'', the labyrinthine hallways and rooms of the studio set are transformed by Cortez's camera into a symbol of incarceration and insanity. Cortez started ''Chinatown'' (1974), but director Roman Polanski replaced him after a few days shooting due to a disagreement over visual style. He was replaced by John Alonzo. Cortez died in 1997 of a
heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...
, and is buried in
Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery is the largest Jewish cemetery organization in California. History Mount Sinai Memorial Parks and Mortuaries, owned by Sinai Temple of Los Angeles, refers to two Jewish cemeteries in the Los Angeles metrop ...
.


Selected filmography

* '' The Black Cat'' (1941) * ''
The Magnificent Ambersons ''The Magnificent Ambersons'' is a 1918 novel by Booth Tarkington, the second in his ''Growth'' trilogy after ''The Turmoil'' (1915) and before ''The Midlander'' (1923, retitled ''National Avenue'' in 1927). It won the Pulitzer Prize for fict ...
'' (1942) * ''
Flesh and Fantasy ''Flesh and Fantasy'' is a 1943 American anthology film directed by Julien Duvivier and starring Edward G. Robinson, Charles Boyer, Robert Cummings, and Barbara Stanwyck. The making of this film was inspired by the success of Duvivier's previous ...
'' (1943) * ''
Since You Went Away ''Since You Went Away'' is a 1944 American epic drama film directed by John Cromwell for Selznick International Pictures and distributed by United Artists. It is an epic about the American home front during World War II that was adapted and p ...
'' (1944) * ''
Smash-Up, the Story of a Woman ''Smash-Up, the Story of a Woman'', also called ''A Woman Destroyed'', is a 1947 American drama film with elements of film noir that tells the story of a rising nightclub singer who marries another singer and becomes an alcoholic after sacrifici ...
'' (1947) * ''
Secret Beyond the Door ''Secret Beyond the Door'' is a 1947 American film noir psychological thriller and a modern updating of the Bluebeard fairytale, directed by Fritz Lang, produced by Lang's Diana Productions, and released by Universal Pictures. The film stars Joan ...
'' (1948) * ''
The Man on the Eiffel Tower ''The Man on the Eiffel Tower'' is a 1950 American Ansco Color film noir mystery film directed by Burgess Meredith and starring Charles Laughton, Franchot Tone, Meredith, and Robert Hutton. It is based on the 1931 novel '' La Tête d'un homme'' ...
'' (1950) * ''
The Underworld Story ''The Underworld Story'' is a 1950 American film noir crime film directed by Cy Endfield and starring Dan Duryea, Herbert Marshall, Gale Storm, Howard Da Silva and Michael O'Shea. Da Silva plays the loud-mouthed gangster Carl Durham, one of hi ...
'' (1950) * ''
Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd ''Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd'' is a 1952 comedy film directed by Charles Lamont and starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello, along with Charles Laughton, who reprised his role as the infamous pirate from the 1945 film ''Capta ...
'' (1952) * '' The Night of the Hunter'' (1955) * ''
Man from Del Rio ''Man from Del Rio'' is a 1956 American Western film directed by Harry Horner and written by Richard Carr. The film stars Anthony Quinn, Katy Jurado, Peter Whitney, Douglas Fowley, John Larch, Whit Bissell and Douglas Spencer. The film was r ...
'' (1956) * ''
The Three Faces of Eve ''The Three Faces of Eve'' is a 1957 American film noir mystery drama film presented in CinemaScope, based on the book of the same name about the life of Chris Costner Sizemore, which was written by psychiatrists Corbett H. Thigpen and Hervey M. ...
'' (1957) * '' Shock Corridor'' (1963) * ''
The Naked Kiss ''The Naked Kiss'' is a 1964 American neo-noir melodrama film, written and directed by Samuel Fuller and starring Constance Towers, Anthony Eisley, Michael Dante, and Virginia Grey. The film follows a former prostitute who attempts to assimil ...
'' (1964) * '' The Candidate'' (1964) * ''
Young Dillinger ''Young Dillinger'' is a 1965 gangster film directed by Terry O. Morse. It stars Nick Adams as the notorious criminal John Dillinger, and co-stars Robert Conrad, John Ashley and Mary Ann Mobley. Plot With help from Elaine, his girlfriend, you ...
'' (1965) * ''
They Saved Hitler's Brain ''They Saved Hitler's Brain'' is a 1968 TV movie directed by David Bradley. It was adapted for television from a shorter 1963 theatrical feature film, ''Madmen of Mandoras'', produced by Carl Edwards and directed by David Bradley. The film was ...
'' (1963, additional sequences shot in 1968)


References

*"Stanley Cortez." ''International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, Volume 4: Writers and Production Artists'', 4th ed. St. James Press, 2000.


External links

*
Grave
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cortez, Stanley 1908 births 1997 deaths American cinematographers American people of Austrian-Jewish descent Jewish American artists Artists from New York City New York University alumni Burials at Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery 20th-century American Jews