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In Remembrance: Guy Green
Born on November 5, 1913 in Frome, Somerset, England, Green stated that he was captivated by movies at an early age, often watching silent films at a local theater for so long that his mother had to come and bring him home. As a teenager, Green held numerous jobs that were to lead him to the film industry- he was a projectionist on the ocean liner The Majestic, ran a London portrait studio and served as a clapper boy for a company that made advertising films. He entered the film industry proper at age 20, landing a job as a camera assistant at London’s Shepperton Studios. From there, Green worked his way up to camera operator and eventually director of photography for the drama Spellbound (1941).
In 1942, Sir David Lean and Sir Noel Coward recruited Green to serve as camera operator on their patriotic war drama In Which We Serve. Green had previously met Lean while working as a camera operator on One Of Our Aircraft Is Missing (1942), which Lean was editing. Sent out to get footage on a battleship, Green was instructed by Lean that if the ship were to be attacked “be sure you get a good shot of the plane.” Impressed with his work on the film, Lean would recommend Green to director Carol Reed, who was looking for a cinematographer for his film The Way Ahead (1944). Green also served as director of photography on such films as Passionate Friends (1948), Horatio Hornblower RN (1951) and I Am A Camera (1955).
In 1946, Green would reunite with Lean to photograph Lean’s adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic Great Expectations. His work on the film won him an Academy Award, making him the first British cinematographer to win an Oscar for black and white cinematography. The following year, Green would join with Freddie Young, Jack Cardiff and others in the founding of the British Society of Cinematographers. In 1948, Green and Lean would re-team for another Dickens adaptation, Oliver Twist.
Green made the transition to directing with the British crime drama River Beat (1954). He would go to direct such films as Sea Of Sand, The Snorkel (both 1958) and The Mark (1961). The following year Green directed his first American picture, Light In The Piazza, for MGM Studios. He followed this with other American productions, including Diamond Head (1963) and The Magus (1968). For 1963’s 55 Days At Peking, Green did some uncredited direction after director Nicholas Ray walked off the film.
Green often stated that the film he was most proud of directing was the 1965 interracial love story A Patch Of Blue, in which a blind woman played by Elizabeth Hartman falls in love with a black man played by Sidney Poitier. The film earned five Academy Award nominations with Shelley Winters earning a best supporting actress Oscar for her portrayal of Hartman’s racist mother. In addition to directing, Green also wrote the film’s screenplay, adapting it from Elizabeth Kata’s novel. He would receive nominations from both the Writers Guild of America and the Directors Guild of America for his work.
Green received the American Society of Cinematographer’s Presidents Award in 2000. The following year the British Academy of Film and Television Arts gave him a special award for his contributions to world cinema. The British government awarded Green an Order of the British Empire in 2004.
Green’s last film was 1977’s Des Teufels Advokat (The Devil’s Advocate). |
Guy Green, the British cinematographer turned director and co-founder of
the British Society of Cinematographers, has passed away on September 15,
2005 in Beverly Hills, CA. He was 91.