Jack Cardiff

Jack Cardiff
Jack Cardiff in the 1970s
Born(1914-09-18)18 September 1914
Died22 April 2009(2009-04-22) (aged 94)
Occupations
  • Actor
  • cinematographer
  • director
  • photographer
Years active1918–2007
Known forA Matter of Life and Death (1946)
Black Narcissus (1947)
The Red Shoes (1948)
The African Queen (1951)
War and Peace (1956)
Sons and Lovers (1960)

Jack Cardiff OBE (18 September 1914 – 22 April 2009) was a British cinematographer, film and television director, and photographer. His career spanned the development of cinema, from silent film, through early experiments in Technicolor, to filmmaking more than half a century later.

He is best known for his influential colour cinematography for directors such as Powell and Pressburger (A Matter of Life and Death, Black Narcissus, and The Red Shoes), John Huston (The African Queen) and Alfred Hitchcock (Under Capricorn). He is also known for his work as a director – in particular, his critically acclaimed film Sons and Lovers (1960) for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director.

In 2000, he was appointed as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire and, in 2001, he was awarded an Academy Honorary Award for his contribution to the cinema.

Jack Cardiff's work is reviewed in the documentary film Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff (2010) and Terry Johnson's stage play Prism (2017).