In Remembrance: Leonard J. South

     Leonard J. South, the camera operator and cinematographer who worked with Alfred Hitchcock on 14 films, has passed away on January 6, 2006 in Northridge, CA. He was 92.

     Born in Long Island, New York in 1913, South relocated to Los Angeles in his early 20s. He landed his first job at Warner Brothers Studio in the 1940s working as camera loader in the studio’s special-effects department. During World War Two, South served in the Army Air Corps helping to make training films.

     South began his association with Hitchcock when he joined cinematographer Robert Burks’ crew as an assistant cameraman for Strangers On A Train (1951). South would go on to work on the director’s next 11 films, first as an assistant cameraman and then as a camera operator. It was during this time that Hitchcock created his some of his most famous films including Dial M For Murder, Rear Window (both 1954), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), Vertigo (1958), North By Northwest (1959), Psycho (1960) and The Birds (1963). The last Hitchcock film South worked on while a member of Burks’ crew was 1966’s Torn Curtain.

     South’s first film as a cinematographer was on the forgettable 1968 comedy I Sailed To Tahiti With An All Girl Crew. Hoe would go on to work on such diverse films as the Clint Eastwood western Hang `Em High (1968) and the comedy Herbie Goes To Monte Carlo (1977). South would reunite with Hitchcock to serve as cinematographer on Frenzy (1972) and Family Plot (1976).

     South also worked on several made for television films and the series Night Gallery, The Rockford Files, Coach and Designing Women.