Jack Cardiff, (18 September 1914 – 22 April 2009) was a British cinematographer, film and television director, and photographer. His career spanned the development of cinema, from

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized Sound recording and reproduction, recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) ...

, through early experiments in

Technicolor Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...

, to filmmaking more than half a century later. He is best known for his influential color cinematography for directors such as

Powell and Pressburger The British film-making partnership of Michael Powell (1905–1990) and Emeric Pressburger (1902–1988)—together often known as The Archers, the name of their production company—made a series of influential films in the 1940s and 1950s. ...

('' A Matter of Life and Death'', '' Black Narcissus'', and '' The Red Shoes''), John Huston ('' The African Queen'') and Alfred Hitchcock ('' Under Capricorn''). He is also known for his work as a director – in particular, his critically acclaimed film ''

Sons and Lovers ''Sons and Lovers'' is a 1913 novel by the English writer D. H. Lawrence. It traces emotional conflicts through the protagonist, Paul Morel, and his suffocating relationships with a demanding mother and two very different lovers, which exert c ...

'' (1960) for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director. In 2000, he was appointed as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire and, in 2001, he was awarded an Academy Honorary Award for his contribution to the cinema. Jack Cardiff's work is reviewed in the documentary film: '' Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff'' (2010) and Terry Johnson's stage play ''

Prism Prism usually refers to: * Prism (optics), a transparent optical component with flat surfaces that refract light * Prism (geometry), a kind of polyhedron Prism may also refer to: Science and mathematics * Prism (geology), a type of sedimentary ...

'' (2017).

Early life

Cardiff was born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, the son of Florence and John Joseph Cardiff, 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 ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' (1923) and ''

Tip Toes ''Tip Toes'' is a 1927 British silent film comedy-drama, directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Dorothy Gish and Will Rogers. The film is a loose adaptation of the stage musical '' Tip-Toes'', with the action transferred from Florida to Lon ...

'' (1927). At 15, he began working as a camera assistant, clapper boy and production runner for

British International Pictures Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC), originally British International Pictures (BIP), was a British film production, distribution and exhibition company active from 1927 until 1970 when it was absorbed into EMI. ABPC also owned appr ...

, including Alfred Hitchcock's '' The Skin Game'' (1931).

Cinematography

In 1935, Cardiff graduated to camera operator and occasional cinematographer, working mostly for

London Films London Films Productions is a British film and television production company founded in 1932 by Alexander Korda and from 1936 based at Denham Film Studios in Buckinghamshire, near London. The company's productions included ''The Private Life o ...

. He was camera operator on the first film in Britain shot in

: '' Wings of the Morning'' (1937). When the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

began he worked as a cinematographer on

public information film Public information films (PIFs) are a series of government-commissioned short films, shown during television advertising breaks in the United Kingdom. The name is sometimes also applied, ''faute de mieux'', to similar films from other countries, ...

s. He did a number of films on India where the British wanted to showcase the new capital city of

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...

. The turning point in his career was as a second unit Technicolor camera operator on

's ''

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp ''The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp'' is a 1943 British romantic drama war film written, produced and directed by the Cinema of the United Kingdom, British film making team of Powell and Pressburger, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. It s ...

'' (1943); they were sufficiently impressed 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 Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology) ...

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 The British Society of Cinematographers (abbreviated B.S.C. or BSC) was formed in 1949 by Bert Easey (23 August 1901 – 28 February 1973), the then head of the Denham and Pinewood studio camera departments, to represent British cinematographers ...

conferred a lifetime achievement award on Cardiff.

Directorial work

In the late 1950s Cardiff began to direct, with two modest successes in ''Intent to Kill'' (1958) and ''

Web of Evidence ''Beyond This Place'' (released in the United States as ''Web of Evidence'') is a 1959 British crime mystery film based on the 1950 novel of the same title by A. J. Cronin. It was directed by Jack Cardiff and stars Van Johnson and Vera Miles. ...

'' (1959). His version of D. H. Lawrence's novel ''

'' (1960), starring

Trevor Howard Trevor Wallace Howard-Smith (29 September 1913 – 7 January 1988) was an English stage, film, and television actor. After varied work in the theatre, he achieved star status with his role in the film ''Brief Encounter'' (1945), followed by ''T ...

Wendy Hiller Dame Wendy Margaret Hiller, (15 August 1912 – 14 May 2003) was an English film and stage actress who enjoyed a varied acting career that spanned nearly 60 years. Writer Joel Hirschorn, in his 1984 compilation ''Rating the Movie Stars'', desc ...

and

Dean Stockwell Robert Dean Stockwell (March 5, 1936 – November 7, 2021) was an American actor with a career spanning seven decades. As a child actor under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he first came to the public's attention in films including ''Anchors A ...

, was a hit, critically and at the box-office. It received seven

nominations (including a Best Director nomination for Cardiff) and

Freddie Francis Frederick William Francis (22 December 1917 – 17 March 2007) was an English cinematographer and film director. He achieved his greatest successes as a cinematographer. He started his career with British films such as Jack Cardiff's '' Sons and ...

won for Best Black-and-White Cinematography. Cardiff received a Golden Globe Award for Best Director.

Later life

After concentrating on direction in the 1960s, he returned to cinematography in the 1970s and 1980s, working on mainstream commercial films in the United States. One of the last films Cardiff photographed was at Pinewood Studios in 2004 when he lit veteran actor Sir

John Mills Sir John Mills (born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills; 22 February 190823 April 2005) was an English actor who appeared in more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades. He excelled on camera as an appealing British everyman who often portra ...

in a short entitled ''Lights 2'' (dir.

Marcus Dillistone Marcus Dillistone is a British film director. A close friend of Sir John Mills, he directed the BBC/Carlton documentary of Mills' life, ''Sir John Mills' Moving Memories''. Dillistone and Mills first collaborated on Dillistone's film ''The Troo ...

). The combined age of leading actor and cinematographer was a record 186 years.

Death

Cardiff died on 22 April 2009, aged 94, the same day as

Ken Annakin Kenneth Cooper Annakin, OBE (10 August 1914 – 22 April 2009) was an English film director. His career spanned half a century, beginning in the early 1940s and ending in 2002, and in the 1960s he was noticed by critics with large-scale adventu ...

, with whom he had worked on '' The Fifth Musketeer'' (1979). He was survived by his wife and his four sons.

Filmography

Jack Cardiff was the camera operator and then cinematographer for 73 films, documentaries and TV series between 1935 and 2007. These are some of the main films:

Cinematographer

Director

Awards and nominations

Academy Awards Other awards

Legacy

A feature-length documentary was made about Cardiff's life and career, '' Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff'' (2010) by Craig McCall. It took 17 years to make, and was not completed until after Cardiff had died. As well as many interviews with Cardiff, it included tributes from Sir John Mills,

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of many major accolades, inclu ...

Thelma Schoonmaker Thelma Schoonmaker (; born January 3, 1940) is an American film editor, known for her over five decades of work with frequent director Martin Scorsese. She started working with Scorsese on his debut feature film '' Who's That Knocking at My Doo ...

, Kathleen Byron, Kim Hunter, Moira Shearer, Lauren Bacall, Charlton Heston and Kirk Douglas. It was selected for the official selection of ''Cannes Classics'' at the

Festival de Cannes The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

in 2010, as well as four other important film festivals that year. ''Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff'' was shown as part of the Great Yarmouth Arts Festival 2014 along with some of his photographs, often taken as preliminaries to lighting the films. Further celebrations to mark his birth date took place that September, particularly at the Time and Tide Museum in Great Yarmouth. Cardiff's life was also explored in the 2017 stage play '' Prism'' by Terry Johnson.

Bibliography

* ''Magic Hour'' (1996). Faber and Faber limited. . Foreword by

. * ''Conversations with Jack Cardiff: Art, Light and Direction in Cinema'' by Justin Bowyer ()

References

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