Douglas Slocombe
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Biography
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Biography
A celebrated English cinematographer, Douglas Slocombe received his training as both a photo-journalist and as a newsreel cameraman during WWII, filming the German invasion of Poland and Holland. After the war, he joined Ealing Studios, where unlike many directors of photography he did not rise through the ranks. Slocombe used his newsreel training to basically learn on the job, shooting such acclaimed films as "Kind Hearts and Coronets" (1949), "The Lavender Hill Mob" (1952) and "The Man in the White Suit" (1955). For much of his career, he worked with the same camera operator, Chic Waterson. An elegant craftsman whose trademark was the detail of his shots, Slocombe later contributed to landmark British features of the 1960s including "The L-Shaped Room" (1962) and Joseph Losey's "The Servant" (1963). For John Huston's "Freud" (1962), Slocombe had to work in five distinct styles to represent what was occurring onscreen: there was the strict narrative, a distinct style for flashbacks, one for dream sequences, another for nightmares and yet another for memories. His extraordinary success was honored with a British Academy Award. Despite his excellent, crisp work on such efforts as "The Lion in Winter" (1968), Slocombe earned his first Oscar nomination for "Travels With My Aunt" (1972). He brought to life the Roaring Twenties in Jack Clayton's "The Great Gatsby" (1974) and earned a second Academy nod for "Julia" (1977). That same year, he began an association with wunderkind Steven Spielberg, shooting additional footage in India for "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." While Slocombe did fine work for other (sometimes mediocre) films, some of his best work was for Spielberg's Indiana Jones trilogy. He garnered his third Academy Award nomination for "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981) and went on to bring a unified look to the sequels "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" (1984) and his last feature "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" (1989). Douglas Slocombe died in his native London on February 22, 2016. He was 103 years old.
Filmography
Cinematography (Feature Film)
Film Production - Main (Feature Film)
Misc. Crew (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Life Events
1945
Shot first film, "Dead of Night"
1945
Became director of photography at Ealing Studios
1949
Served as director of photography on "Kind Hearts and Coronets"
1952
Was cinematographer for "The Lavender Hill Mob"
1962
Won particular attention for his work on "Freud", directed by John Huston
1967
Shot Roman Polanski's "The Fearless Vampire Killers"
1971
Worked with Ken Russell on "The Music Lovers"
1972
Earned Oscar nomination for "Travels with My Aunt"
1974
Won praise for his lush cinematographic work on "The Great Gatsby"
1977
Received second Academy Award nomination for his work on "Julia", helmed by Fred Zinnemann
1977
Began first collaboration with Steven Spielberg, additional photography on India sequences of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind"
1981
Was director of photography on Spielberg's "Raiders of the Lost Ark"; garnered third Oscar nomination
1983
Shot the James Bond film "Never Say Never Again"
1984
Was cinematographer on the second installment of the trilogy "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom", directed by Spielberg
1986
Shot Trevor Nunn's "Lady Jane"
1989
Earned last feature credit on "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade", directed by Spielberg
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