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Fred Francis

Freddie Francis started his career as an apprentice to a still photographer and at age 17 began in motion pictures as a clapper boy. His first shot at cinematography came with the British Army Kinematographic unit during World War II, but after the war he returned to feature films as a camera operator, working with such seminal figures as Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, John Huston and Zoltan Korda. Francis did the second unit photography on John Huston's "Moby Dick" (1956) and shortly thereafter graduated to director of photography on "Hell for Korea" (also 1956). He won applause for his work on Joseph Losey's "Time Without Pity" (1957) and for his gritty photography for "Room at the Top" (1958). His Oscar-winning work on "Sons and Lovers" (1960) was at the same time dark and rich, with delicious grey hues.