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Guy Green

While in his teens, Guy Green was hired to work as a clapper boy for a firm that made advertising films. He went into partnership operating a photographic portrait studio and then at age 20 entered the British film industry. Working his way up from camera assistant to camera operator to director of photography. In 1942, he was camera operator for "In Which We Serve," the patriotic documentary-like drama fashioned by Noel Coward and co-directed by Coward and David Lean. After serving a similar function on the Powell-Pressburger "One of Our Aircraft Is Missing" (also 1942), he shot his first feature, "Escape to Danger" (1943). Lean tapped him as director of photography for "Great Expectations" (1946) and Green's mood-enhancing work earned an Oscar. He and Lean had another triumph with "Oliver Twist" (1948). From the opening shots of an impending storm through to the film's last sequence, the expert camerawork garnered almost universal praise. He continued to provide fine work on films like "The Story of Robin Hood" (1952) and "Decameron Nights" (1953).