Joseph Walker (cinematographer)
Encyclopedia
Joseph Walker, A.S.C. (August 22, 1892 - August 1, 1985) was an American
cinematographer
who worked on 145 films during a career that spanned thirty-three years.
Born Joseph Bailey Walker in Denver, Colorado
, Walker worked as a wireless telephone engineer, inventor, and photographer of documentaries for the Red Cross during World War I
before starting his feature film
career in 1919 with the Canadian film Back to God's Country, which was filmed near the Arctic Circle
. For the next seven years he freelanced at various studios, working for noted directors W.S. Van Dyke, Francis Ford
, and George B. Seitz
, among others. He joined Columbia Pictures
in 1927 and worked almost exclusively at the studio until he retired in 1952.
Walker collaborated with director Frank Capra
on twenty films, including Ladies of Leisure
(1930), Lady for a Day
(1933), The Bitter Tea of General Yen
(1933), It Happened One Night
(1934), Lost Horizon (1937), Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
(1936), You Can't Take It with You
(1938), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
(1939), and It's a Wonderful Life
(1946).
Additional credits include Theodora Goes Wild
(1936), The Awful Truth
(1947), Only Angels Have Wings
(1939), His Girl Friday
(1940), Penny Serenade
(1941), Here Comes Mr. Jordan
(1941), My Sister Eileen
(1942), A Night to Remember
(1943), The Jolson Story
(1946), The Velvet Touch
(1947), Harriet Craig
(1950), Born Yesterday
(1950), and Affair in Trinidad
(1952).
In addition to his film work, Walker held twenty patents on various camera-related inventions he devised, including the Double Exposure System, several zoom lenses, the Duomar Lens for both motion picture and television cameras, the Variable Diffusion Device, the Facial Make-Up Meter, lightweight camera blimps, and optical diffusion techniques.
Walker was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography
four times. He was the first recipient of the Gordon E. Sawyer Award
, presented to him in recognition of his technological contributions to the film industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
in 1982.
Walker collaborated on his 1984 autobiography
, The Light on Her Face, with his second wife, Juanita Walker. He died in Las Vegas, Nevada
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
cinematographer
Cinematography
Cinematography is the making of lighting and camera choices when recording photographic images for cinema. It is closely related to the art of still photography...
who worked on 145 films during a career that spanned thirty-three years.
Born Joseph Bailey Walker in Denver, Colorado
Denver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
, Walker worked as a wireless telephone engineer, inventor, and photographer of documentaries for the Red Cross during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
before starting his feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
career in 1919 with the Canadian film Back to God's Country, which was filmed near the Arctic Circle
Arctic Circle
The Arctic Circle is one of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. For Epoch 2011, it is the parallel of latitude that runs north of the Equator....
. For the next seven years he freelanced at various studios, working for noted directors W.S. Van Dyke, Francis Ford
Francis Ford (actor)
Francis Ford was a prolific film actor, writer, and director. He was the older brother of film director John Ford. He also appeared in many of John Ford's movies, including Young Mr. Lincoln and The Quiet Man.He starred in the 1912 two-reeler The Deserter by Thomas H. Ince and acted in over 400...
, and George B. Seitz
George B. Seitz
George Brackett Seitz was an American playwright, screenwriter, film actor and director. He was known for his screenplays for action serials, including:*The Perils of Pauline *The Exploits of Elaine...
, among others. He joined Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
in 1927 and worked almost exclusively at the studio until he retired in 1952.
Walker collaborated with director Frank Capra
Frank Capra
Frank Russell Capra was a Sicilian-born American film director. He emigrated to the U.S. when he was six, and eventually became a creative force behind major award-winning films during the 1930s and 1940s...
on twenty films, including Ladies of Leisure
Ladies of Leisure
Ladies of Leisure is an American romantic drama film directed by Frank Capra, and starring Barbara Stanwyck and Ralph Graves. The screenplay by Jo Swerling is based on the 1924 play Ladies of the Evening by Milton Herbert Gropper.-Plot:...
(1930), Lady for a Day
Lady for a Day
Lady for a Day is a 1933 American comedy-drama film directed by Frank Capra. The screenplay by Robert Riskin is based on the short story Madame La Gimp by Damon Runyon...
(1933), The Bitter Tea of General Yen
The Bitter Tea of General Yen
The Bitter Tea of General Yen is a pre-Code 1933 film, directed by Frank Capra based on the novel by Grace Zaring Stone and starring Barbara Stanwyck and Nils Asther....
(1933), It Happened One Night
It Happened One Night
It Happened One Night is a 1934 American romantic comedy film with elements of screwball comedy directed by Frank Capra, in which a pampered socialite tries to get out from under her father's thumb, and falls in love with a roguish reporter . The plot was based on the story Night Bus by Samuel...
(1934), Lost Horizon (1937), Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town is a 1936 American screwball comedy film directed by Frank Capra, and starring Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur in her first featured role...
(1936), You Can't Take It with You
You Can't Take It with You (film)
You Can't Take It With You Adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. The cast includes James Stewart, Jean Arthur, Lionel Barrymore and Edward Arnold....
(1938), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is a 1939 American drama film starring Jean Arthur and James Stewart about one man's effect on American politics. It was directed by Frank Capra and written by Sidney Buchman, based on Lewis R. Foster's unpublished story. Mr...
(1939), and It's a Wonderful Life
It's a Wonderful Life
It's a Wonderful Life is a 1946 American Christmas drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra and based on the short story "The Greatest Gift" written by Philip Van Doren Stern....
(1946).
Additional credits include Theodora Goes Wild
Theodora Goes Wild
Theodora Goes Wild is a 1936 American romantic comedy film that tells the story of a small town which is incensed by a risqué novel, little knowing that it was written under a pseudonym by a member of the town's leading family. It stars Irene Dunne and Melvyn Douglas and was directed by Richard...
(1936), The Awful Truth
The Awful Truth
The Awful Truth is a 1937 screwball comedy film starring Irene Dunne and Cary Grant. The plot concerns the machinations of a soon-to-be-divorced couple, played by Dunne and Grant, who go to great lengths to try to ruin each other's romantic escapades...
(1947), Only Angels Have Wings
Only Angels Have Wings
Only Angels Have Wings is a movie directed by Howard Hawks, starring Cary Grant and Jean Arthur. It is generally regarded as being among Hawks' finest films, particularly in its portrayal of the professionalism of the pilots, its atmosphere, and the flying sequences.It inspired the 1983 television...
(1939), His Girl Friday
His Girl Friday
His Girl Friday is a 1940 American screwball comedy film directed by Howard Hawks, an adaptation by Charles Lederer, Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur of the play The Front Page by Hecht and MacArthur...
(1940), Penny Serenade
Penny Serenade
Penny Serenade is a 1941 film melodrama starring Irene Dunne, Cary Grant, Beulah Bondi, and Edgar Buchanan. It was directed by George Stevens and written by Martha Cheavens and Morrie Ryskind. It depicts the story of a loving couple who must overcome adversity to keep their marriage and raise a child...
(1941), Here Comes Mr. Jordan
Here Comes Mr. Jordan
Here Comes Mr. Jordan is a comedy film in which a boxer, mistakenly taken to Heaven before his time, is given a second chance back on Earth. It stars Robert Montgomery, Claude Rains and Evelyn Keyes. The movie was adapted by Sidney Buchman and Seton I. Miller from the play Heaven Can Wait by Harry...
(1941), My Sister Eileen
My Sister Eileen (1942 film)
My Sister Eileen is a 1942 American comedy film directed by Alexander Hall. The screenplay by Joseph A. Fields and Jerome Chodorov is based on their 1940 play of the same title, which was inspired by a series of autobiographical short stories by Ruth McKenney originally published in The New...
(1942), A Night to Remember
A Night to Remember (1943 film)
A Night to Remember is a mystery comedy film starring Loretta Young and Brian Aherne. It was directed by Richard Wallace, and is based on the novel The Frightened Stiff by Kelley Roos...
(1943), The Jolson Story
The Jolson Story
The Jolson Story is a 1946 musical biography which purports to tell the life story of singer Al Jolson. It stars Larry Parks as Jolson, Evelyn Keyes as "Julie Benson" , William Demarest as his manager, Ludwig Donath and Tamara Shayne as his parents, and Scotty Beckett as the young Jolson.The...
(1946), The Velvet Touch
The Velvet Touch
The Velvet Touch is an American drama film released by RKO Radio Pictures.-Production background:The dialogue in Leo Rosten's screenplay, adapted from a story by William Mercer and Annabel Ross, anticipates the witty repartee in All About Eve and Auntie Mame .The cast, directed by Jack Gage,...
(1947), Harriet Craig
Harriet Craig
Harriet Craig is a 1950 Columbia Pictures film starring Joan Crawford. The screenplay by Anne Froelick and James Gunn was based upon a 1925 Pulitzer Prize-winning play by George Kelly. The film was directed by Vincent Sherman and produced by William Dozier...
(1950), Born Yesterday
Born Yesterday (1950 film)
Born Yesterday is a 1950 film based on the play of the same name by Garson Kanin and directed by George Cukor. The screenplay was written by Albert Mannheimer with uncredited contributions from Kanin....
(1950), and Affair in Trinidad
Affair in Trinidad
Affair in Trinidad is a film produced by Hayworth's Beckworth Corporation, released by Columbia Pictures, and starring Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford. It is notable as Hayworth's "comeback" film after four years away from Columbia, as a re-teaming of the Gilda co-stars, and for a fiery opening...
(1952).
In addition to his film work, Walker held twenty patents on various camera-related inventions he devised, including the Double Exposure System, several zoom lenses, the Duomar Lens for both motion picture and television cameras, the Variable Diffusion Device, the Facial Make-Up Meter, lightweight camera blimps, and optical diffusion techniques.
Walker was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography
Academy Award for Best Cinematography
The Academy Award for Best Cinematography is an Academy Award awarded each year to a cinematographer for work in one particular motion picture.-History:...
four times. He was the first recipient of the Gordon E. Sawyer Award
Gordon E. Sawyer Award
The Gordon E. Sawyer Award is an accolade given each year by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to "an individual in the motion picture industry whose technological contributions have brought credit to the industry." The award is named in honour of Gordon E...
, presented to him in recognition of his technological contributions to the film industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of motion pictures...
in 1982.
Walker collaborated on his 1984 autobiography
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
, The Light on Her Face, with his second wife, Juanita Walker. He died in Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
.