Jack Cardiff Career Summation
My Oscar Book:
Occu. Inheritance: Yes
Jack Cardiff (Sep 18, 1914–April 22, 2009) was a British cinematographer and film director, with a career that spanned from silent film, through early experiments in Technicolor, more than half a century later.
He is best known for his color cinematography for Powell and Pressburger (A Matter of Life and Death, Black Narcissus, and The Red Shoes), John Huston (The African Queen) and Hitchcock (Under Capricorn).
As director, he is known for the critically acclaimed Sons and Lovers (1960) for which he was nominated for the Best Director Oscar.
In 2000, he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire and, in 2001, he was awarded Honorary Oscar for his contribution to the cinema.
Jack Cardiff’s work is reviewed in the documentary, Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff (2010) and Terry Johnson’s stage play Prism (2017).
Cardiff was born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, the son of Florence and John Joseph Cardiff, music hall entertainers.
He worked as actor from early age, in the music hall and in silent films, My Son, My Son (1918), Billy’s Rose (1922), The Loves of Mary, Queen of Scots (1923) and Tip Toes (1927).
At 15, he began working as camera assistant, clapper boy and production runner for British International Pictures, including Hitchcock’s The Skin Game (1931).
In 1935, Cardiff graduated as a camera operator and occasional cinematographer, working mostly for London Films. He was a camera operator on the first film in Britain shot in Technicolor, Wings of the Morning (1937). When the Second World War began, he worked as a cinematographer on public information films. He did a number of films on India where the British wanted to showcase the new capital city of Delhi.
The turning point in his career was as second unit Technicolor camera operator on Powell and Pressburger’s The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943); they then hired Cardiff as cinematographer on their Technicolor A Matter of Life and Death (1946). Their collaboration continued with Black Narcissus (1947), which won Cardiff an Oscar, 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 conferred lifetime achievement award on Cardiff
Director
In the late 1950s Cardiff began to direct, with two modest successes in Intent to Kill (1958) and Web of Evidence (1959).
His version of D. H. Lawrence’s novel Sons and Lovers (1960), starring Trevor Howard, Wendy Hiller and Dean Stockwell, was a hit, critically and commercially. It received seven Oscar nominations (including a Best Director nomination for Cardiff) and Freddie Francis won for Best Black-and-White Cinematography.
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 in a short entitled Lights 2 (dir. Marcus Dillistone). The combined age of leading actor and cinematographer was a record 186 years.
Cardiff died on 22 April 2009, aged 94, the same day as Ken Annakin, 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
1939 Delhi Hans Nieter
1942 The Great Mr. Handel Norman Walker
1946 A Matter of Life and Death Powell and Pressburger
1947 Black Narcissus
1948 The Red Shoes
1949 Under Capricorn Alfred Hitchcock
1950 The Black Rose Henry Hathaway
1951 The Magic Box John Boulting
Pandora and the Flying Dutchman Albert Lewin
The African Queen John Huston
1954 The Barefoot Contessa Joseph L. Mankiewicz
1956 War and Peace King Vidor
1957 The Prince and the Showgirl Laurence Olivier
Legend of the Lost Henry Hathaway
1958 The Vikings Richard Fleischer
1961 Fanny Joshua Logan
1973 Scalawag Kirk Douglas
1977 The Prince and the Pauper Richard Fleischer
1978 Death on the Nile John Guillermin
1979 The Fifth Musketeer Ken Annakin
1980 The Awakening Mike Newell
1981 Ghost Story John Irvin
The Dogs of War
1984 The Far Pavilions Peter Duffell
1984 Conan the Destroyer Richard Fleischer
1985 Cat’s Eye Lewis Teague
1985 Rambo: First Blood Part II George P. Cosmatos
1986 Tai-Pan Daryl Duke
1987 Million Dollar Mystery Richard Fleischer
Director
Year Title Notes
1953 The Story of William Tell unfinished
1958 Intent to Kill
1959 Beyond This Place US title: Web of Evidence
1960
Scent of Mystery
Sons and Lovers
1962
My Geisha
The Lion
1963 The Long Ships
1965 Young Cassidy
The Liquidator
1968 Dark of the Sun Also known as The Mercenaries
The Girl on a Motorcycle US title: Naked Under Leather
1973 Penny Gold
1974 The Mutations
Oscar Awards and Nominations
1947 Best Cinematography Black Narcissus Won
1956 War and Peace Nominated
1960 Best Director Sons and Lovers Nominated
1961 Best Cinematography Fanny Nominated
2001 Honorary Oscar — Won
