Stanley Cortez

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Stanley Cortez (born November 4, 1908 in New York City , † December 23, 1997 in Hollywood ; actually Stanislaus Krantz ) was an American cameraman . Cortez was nominated twice ( 1942 and 1944 ) for an Oscar and in 1989 was recognized by the American Society of Cinematographers for his life's work. From 1985 to 1986 he was the president of this organization.

Life

Cortez, the younger brother of the actor Ricardo Cortez , attended the University of New York when he began to work on the side as a camera assistant for various film studios that were producing in Manhattan . While he initially worked as a portrait photographer after completing his studies, he returned to film at the end of the silent film era. Cortez continued to be a camera assistant until 1937, then became chief cameraman at Universal Studios in the B-Movies division . Cortez, who had a reputation for creating great effects with minimal effort, was hired by Orson Welles in 1941 to direct the camera on the production of Amberson House . However, Cortez did not keep what the production company RKO promised of him, namely efficiency and cost savings, and so he was blamed for the failure of the film. Despite criticism from RKO's studio bosses of Cortez's work on the production, he received an award for best cinematography from the Film Critics of America , as well as an Academy Award nomination .

Until then, Cortez had always shot in black and white , his first color film was The Man from the Eiffel Tower with Charles Laughton in the lead role in 1949. Laughton then hired Cortez as cameraman for The Night of the Hunter . In addition to some "big" films, Cortez stood with numerous low-budget productions behind the camera, among others for The Naked Kiss of Samuel Fuller , Public Enemy No.1 - John Dillinger , or even spaceship MR1 is not responding . In the 1970s, Cortez then increasingly shot title sequences and worked as a special photographer . In between, Cortez shot for television again and again. Stanley Cortez died of heart failure in Hollywood in 1997.

Filmography (selection)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Cortez, Stanley
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Krantz, Stanislaus (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American cameraman
DATE OF BIRTH November 4, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City , USA
DATE OF DEATH December 23, 1997
Place of death Hollywood , California , United States