Geoffrey Unsworth

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Geoffrey Gilyard Unsworth (born May 26, 1914 in Atherton , Lancashire , † October 28, 1978 in Brittany , France ) was a British cameraman . He is considered to be one of the most successful creators of British post-war film.

Live and act

Born in the Greater Manchester area, Unsworth joined the film in 1932. First he did various assistant jobs at the production company Gaumont British . Unsworth soon worked on some top films in pre-war and war England, initially (1937–1940) as a camera assistant: “ The Rascal from America ”, “ Sixty Glorious Years ” and “ The Thief of Baghdad ” . There he served experienced teachers such as Frederick Young and Georges Périnal . Almost at the same time he began to work as a simple cameraman: " Danger on the Doro Pass ", " Four Feathers ", " 49th Parallel ", " The Great Mr. Handel ", " Life and Death of Colonel Blimp " and " Error in the Hereafter " (all between 1937 and 1945).

In these early years Unsworth's assignments went overseas several times. For example, it can be found in South Africa in 1937 , in Burma in 1938 and in Hawaii in 1947 .

A few months after the end of the war in 1945, he became head cameraman, initially for less important productions, and since the early 1950s for colorful entertainment films for a broad mass audience. Above all, adventure fabrics with an exotic background (“ Black Ivory ”, “ White Woman in the Jungle ”, “ Simba ”, “ Demons of the South Seas ”, “ Burning India ”), historicizing costume stories (“ A princess falls in love ”, “ Robin Hood and his Daredevil journeymen ”,“ In the service of the king ”) and war dramas (“ March through hell ”,“ Flames over the Far East ”) determined Unsworth's work as a pictorial designer in the 1950s.

After a brief dry spell in the early 1960s, Unsworth reached the height of its fame in the second half of the decade. With the science fiction classic 2001: A Space Odyssey , he established himself as one of the world's most respected cinema cameramen. A number of other top productions followed, including Cabaret , for which he was awarded an Oscar , The Bridge of Arnhem , Murder on the Orient Express , Superman and The Pink Panther Returns .

He was a member of the British Society of Cinematographers , of which he was president from 1964 to 1965.

Geoffrey Unsworth died in Brittany at the end of October 1978, in the middle of the filming of Roman Polański's novel Tess . Polanski dedicated the opening credits to Tess Unsworth. For the performance shown there, which was finished by Unsworth's colleague Ghislain Cloquet , Unsworth , who had died almost two and a half years ago, received his second Oscar posthumously in the spring of 1981.

In addition to its two Oscars, Unsworth also won three British film awards . In 1976 he was appointed Officer of Order of the British Empire .

Filmography (selection)

Remarks

  1. ↑ Kay Less : The film's great personal dictionary . The actors, directors, cameramen, producers, composers, screenwriters, film architects, outfitters, costume designers, editors, sound engineers, make-up artists and special effects designers of the 20th century. Volume 8: T - Z. David Tomlinson - Theo Zwierski. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 106.

literature

  • Kay Less : The film's great personal dictionary . The actors, directors, cameramen, producers, composers, screenwriters, film architects, outfitters, costume designers, editors, sound engineers, make-up artists and special effects designers of the 20th century. Volume 8: T - Z. David Tomlinson - Theo Zwierski. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 106.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Unsworth, Geoffrey
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Unsworth, Geoffrey Gilyard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British cameraman
DATE OF BIRTH May 26, 1914
PLACE OF BIRTH Atherton , Lancashire County , England
DATE OF DEATH October 28, 1978
Place of death Brittany , France