JamesM

I have only just learnt the news that cinematographer Eric Cross passed away last March, aged 101.

Steve Crook

Another one bites the dust.

What is it about cinematographers that makes them so long lived? Eric at 101, Erwin at 94, Jack Cardiff at 90 and still going strong.

Steve

Steve Crook

PaPAS

Clinton Morgan

*goes to local library to search for an instruction manual on lighting films*

JamesM

Osmond Borraraile (Four Feathers)
lived to the age of 100

Freddie Young live to the age of 98

Bryan Langley (Number seventeen) is 95

Ronald Neame is 93

JamesM

And Gilbert Taylor is 90 ("Seven Days To Noon" and later "Star wars")

Douglas Slocombe is 91 in two weeks time

Guy Green is 91

Francis carver is 97 (I'm not entirely sure if he is still alive)

smudge

Mmm - a few years ago there were some short segments on Lighting Cameramen on BBC2 (anybody remember them ?) Might be as far back at ten years, but Gil Taylor only looked to be in his early 60s...very dapper fellow !

Guy Green was looking cool too - of all, only Dougie Slocombe appeared around his true age ; even then he was makiing some very astute observations. Wouldn't mind hitting 80 and being that sharp myself.

Must come from doing a job you enjoy ! Hope they all creep up the scale a good few years more yet.

SMUDGE

Welcome to my house. Enter freely, and of your own will...

Steve Crook

I've met & talked with Jack Cardiff quite a few times now. He is still very sharp & observant and enjoying life at 90. He still works occasionally, but just when a project appeals to him or he has a chance to work with something new like digital technology.

Steve

Steve Crook

PaPAS

theuofc

Hi, Steve,

Someone in the audience at Bath for the Michael Powell Tribute in Fall 2005 asked Jack that same question, what was his secret for living so long and being in such good health? Jack smiled and said to the effect "Being a cinematographer." We all chuckled, but he elaborated, explaining that it was all that exercise, climbing over hills, in the dirt, up and down on ladders, etc. that kept him fit, plus the mental challenge of solving lighting problems, etc. So he recommended that we all become cinematographers. Very loud chuckle at that comment. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/clapping.gif[/img]

Symphony conductors also have longevity attributed in part to their constant arm movement, deep breathing, etc. So that's the answer: cinematographer or symphony conductor. Take your pick.

Best,

Barbara

Steve Crook

I asked Jack Cardiff & Freddie Francis (88 at the time) the same question when I met them at a reception for Thelma Schoonmaker at the NFT in August last year. They were both looking very healthy. They both agreed that it was the job. A reasonable amount of exercise when you were a young trainee, but then lots of nice sitting around and taking it easy as you got older [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/clapping.gif[/img]

Steve

JamesM

Ronald Neame turned 95 yesterday.

theuofc

It must have been a thrill to be standing with three greats like Jack, Thelma, and Freddie Francis. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbsup.gif[/img] Although I've met the first two, I probably never will Mr. Francis.

As we are trading stories, which may seem to lookers on like patting ourselves on the old back, to me these anecdotes belong to the bits of film history that fall though the cracks but shouldn't. They need to be said, and they need to be recorded somewhere. After one of several Q&A presentations Jack did at Bath, I asked him if he ever felt like taking the camera when Freddie Francis was DP during Jack's directing of "Sons and Lovers" (1960). I was totally surprised when he strongly shook his head and said, "Oh heavens no. I was glad not to be shooting the film. I've always wanted to direct and to act. You know I started out as an actor." Yes, I had heard that :-)

Best,

Barbara

theuofc

Thanks for sharing that date, JamesM. Whenever I hear that men like Ronald Neame are still alive, I have a fervent hope that someone has recorded any Q&A sessions they did (doubt it) and that their thoughts on their films and those of others might still be recorded as film history for students and researchers to later draw upon. Probably not, but one can hope. Once they die, their relatives often clam up to "preserve the privacy of the star/film person." In the end their fascinating comments on shooting and making a film are lost. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/no.gif[/img]

Best,

Barbara

Bob Rusk

I once met Eric Cross at the second Hammer at Bray day where you could walk round the grounds of Bray studios and meet various people who had worked on Hammer productions. He seemed a really warm and friendly person when I met him and he seemed to enjoy the event as much as all the fans. I’m sorry to hear of his passing.

On a different note I do remember that programme on lighting cameramen that Smudge mentioned. it was a ten minute documentary on a different person each week then they would show a film they worked on. I remember the Billy Williams one and then them showing Women in Love.

julian_craster

From Julian

Ronald Neame's autobiography 'Straight From The Horse's Mouth' was published in 2002. Especially for Barbara.....

J