Oswald Morris
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Oswald Morris, B.S.C. (born November 22, 1915) is an Academy Award-winning British cinematographer whose career spanned six decades.
Born Oswald Norman Morris in Ruislip in what was then Middlesex but is now the London Borough of Hillingdon, Morris attended the Bishopshalt School. His interest in the cinema began at an early age; during summer vacations, he would work as a projectionist at the local movie theatre [1]. Dropping out in 1932, he started working in the film industry at Wembley Studios as an unpaid gofer for Michael Powell, among others, eventually graduating to the positions of clapper boy and camera assistant on quota quickies. His career was interrupted by World War II, during which he served as a bomber pilot with the RAF, achieving the rank of Flight Lieutenant and winning both the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Force Cross [2]. After leaving the service, he joined Pinewood Studios as an assistant to such directors as Ronald Neame and David Lean, before acting as director of photography (on the film Golden Salamander) for the first time in 1949.
Morris collaborated with film director John Huston on eight films, beginning with Moulin Rouge in 1952. Although his previous experience with Technicolor had been limited, he devised many stylish effects - through the use of diffused and filtered light, fog, and bold color choices - for the film, and his innovations drew praise from the critics [3].
Morris was named an O.B.E. (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in 1998. He published his memoirs, Huston, We Have a Problem: A Kaleidoscope of Filmmaking Memories, in 2006.
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[edit] Additional credits
- Captain Boycott (1947)
- Oliver Twist (1948)
- The Card (1952)
- Beat the Devil (1953)
- Beau Brummell (1954)
- The Man Who Never Was (1956)
- Moby Dick (1956)
- Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957)
- A Farewell to Arms (1957)
- Look Back in Anger (1959)
- The Entertainer (1960)
- Our Man in Havana (1960)
- The Guns of Navarone (1961)
- Lolita (1962)
- The Pumpkin Eater (1964)
- Of Human Bondage (1964)
- The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965)
- Life at the Top (1965)
- Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967)
- Oliver! (1968)
- Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969)
- Scrooge (1970)
- Fiddler on the Roof (1971)
- Sleuth (1972)
- Lady Caroline Lamb (1972)
- The Mackintosh Man (1973)
- Dracula (1973)
- The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)
- The Odessa File (1974)
- The Man Who Would Be King (1975)
- Equus (1977)
- The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1977)
- The Wiz (1978)
- Just Tell Me What You Want (1980)
- The Great Muppet Caper (1981)
- The Dark Crystal (1982)
[edit] Awards and nominations
- 1953 British Society of Cinematographers Golden Camera (Moulin Rouge, winner)
- 1956 British Society of Cinematographers Golden Camera (Moby Dick, nominee)
- 1965 BAFTA for Best British Cinematography, Black-and-White (The Pumpkin Eater, winner)
- 1966 British Society of Cinematographers Golden Camera (The Spy Who Came In from the Cold, winner)
- 1966 BAFTA for Best British Cinematography, Black-and-White (The Hill, winner)
- 1967 British Society of Cinematographers Golden Camera (The Taming of the Shrew, winner)
- 1967 BAFTA for Best British Cinematography, Black-and-White (The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, winner)
- 1969 Academy Award for Best Cinematography (Oliver!, nominee)
- 1971 British Society of Cinematographers Golden Camera (Fiddler on the Roof, winner)
- 1972 Academy Award for Best Cinematography (Fiddler on the Roof, winner)
- 1972 BAFTA for Best Cinematography (Fiddler on the Roof, nominee)
- 1974 BAFTA for Best Cinematography (Sleuth, nominee)
- 1976 BAFTA for Best Cinematography (The Man Who Would Be King, nominee)
- 1979 Academy Award for Best Cinematography (The Wiz, nominee)
- 1999 American Society of Cinematographers International Award (winner)
