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Geoffrey Unsworth
Life Time
26 May 1914 - 28 October 1978
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A native of London, the famous British cinematographer Jeffrey Unsworth came to the cinema in the first half of the thirties, while still eighteen years old. From 1932 to 1937 he worked at Gaumont British. Later, as an assistant cameraman, Unsworth participated in the filming of the films “Drum” (1938), “Four Feathers” (1939) directed by Zoltan Korda, as well as in the films that became classics of British cinema by Michael Powell and Emerick Pressburger “The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp” (1943)
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A native of London, the famous British cinematographer Jeffrey Unsworth came to the cinema in the first half of the thirties, while still eighteen years old. From 1932 to 1937 he worked at Gaumont British. Later, as an assistant cameraman, Unsworth participated in the filming of the films “Drum” (1938), “Four Feathers” (1939) directed by Zoltan Korda, as well as in the films that became classics of British cinema by Michael Powell and Emerick Pressburger “The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp” (1943) and “The Question of Life and Death” (1946, another name – “Stairway to the Sky”). During this period, Unsworth worked side by side with both already recognized professionals, like Georges Perinal, and with operators who were just beginning to gain a name for themselves, such as Jack Cardiff or Christopher Challis. His debut, The Laughing Lady (1946), directed by Paul Stein, was followed by Bernard Knowles’ much more interesting films Jesse, The Man Inside (1947), and Charles Friend’s adventure drama Scott Antarctic (1948). In the fifties, while working at the Pinewood studio, he most often collaborated with director Ken Ennakin, with whom he made such films as The Plantator’s Wife (1952, another name is Settlement in Malaya), The Sword and the Rose (1953), The Seekers (1954), The Price of Money (1955). Among his other films of the time - "Bank ticket in a million pounds" (1954, dir. Ronald Neam), "Tiger in the fog" (1956, dir. Roy Ward Baker) and "Hell's drivers" (1957, dir. Cy Endfield).
With the release of the historical drama "Becket" (1964, directed by Peter Glenville), Unsworth expected real success and recognition of his camera talent - for this film he received an award from the British Academy of film and television and was first nominated for the Oscar. Unsworth’s most impressive camera work was Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 Space Odyssey (1968), where he pioneered the use of frontal projection techniques to create special effects. A few years later, Unsworth was awarded an Oscar for Bob Foss’ Cabaret (1972). Later he was the operator of such films as Murder on the Orient Express (1974, Sidney Lumet), The Return of the Pink Panther (1975, Blake Edwards), Superman (1978, Richard Donner). One of the best films of the last years of Unsworth’s life was the epic war drama Richard Attenborough “Too distant bridge” (1977).
Jeffrey Unsworth died on October 28, 1978 in France during the filming of the painting by Roman Polansky “Tess”. The same film brought him the last cinematic award - in 1981 he was posthumously awarded the "Oscar" for best cinematography, sharing this prize with his partner, Frenchman Gislaine Cloke, who also took part in the filming of "Tess". Part of the scenes shot by Jeffrey Unsworth while working on the first Superman film was included in Richard Lester's Superman II (1980).
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