Jack Hildyard, B.S.C. was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 cinematographer

Cinematographer

A cinematographer is one photographing with a motion picture camera . The title is generally equivalent to director of photography , used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image...

 who worked on more than 80 films during his career. He made several films with David Lean

David Lean

Sir David Lean CBE was an English film director, producer, screenwriter, and editor best remembered for big-screen epics such as The Bridge on the River Kwai , Lawrence of Arabia ,...

 including The Sound Barrier

The Sound Barrier (film)

The Sound Barrier is a British 1952 film directed by David Lean. It is a fictional story about attempts by aircraft designers and test pilots to break the sound barrier. In the US it was retitled Breaking the Sound Barrier. David Lean's third and final film with his wife Ann Todd was also his first...

(1952) and Hobson's Choice (1954), as well as Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), for which he won an 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:...

 and the British Society of Cinematographers

British Society of Cinematographers

The British Society of Cinematographers was formed in 1949 by Bert Easey, 23 August 1901 - 28 February 1973, the then head of the Denham and Pinewood studio camera departments.The stated objectives at the formation of the BSC were...

 Award.

His first film was Freedom of the Seas

Freedom of the Seas (play)

Freedom of the Seas is a 1934 British war film directed by Marcel Varnel and starring Clifford Mollison, Wendy Barrie and Zelma O'Neal. It was adapted by Roger Burford from the English play of the same name by Walter C. Hackett. It is also notable as David Lean's first film credit, as focus puller...

in 1934, as a focus-puller, before working as camera operator

Camera operator

A camera operator or cameraman is a professional operator of a film or video camera. In filmmaking, the leading cameraman is usually called a cinematographer, while a cameraman in a video production may be known as a television camera operator, video camera operator, or videographer, depending on...

 on films for Leslie Howard

Leslie Howard (actor)

Leslie Howard was an English stage and film actor, director, and producer. Among his best-known roles was Ashley Wilkes in Gone with the Wind and roles in Berkeley Square , Of Human Bondage , The Scarlet Pimpernel , The Petrified Forest , Pygmalion , Intermezzo , Pimpernel Smith...

 and others, including Pygmalion

Pygmalion (1938 film)

Pygmalion is a 1938 British film based on the George Bernard Shaw play of the same title, and adapted by him for the screen. It stars Leslie Howard and Wendy Hiller....

, The Divorce of Lady X

The Divorce of Lady X

The Divorce of Lady X is a 1938 British romantic comedy film made by London Films and distributed by United Artists. It was directed by Tim Whelan and produced by Alexander Korda from a screenplay by Ian Dalrymple and Arthur Wimperis, adapted by Lajos Biró from the play Counsel's Opinion by Gilbert...

and Pimpernel Smith

Pimpernel Smith

"Pimpernel" Smith is a British 1941 anti-Nazi thriller, produced and directed by its star Leslie Howard, which updates his role in the 1934 The Scarlet Pimpernel from Revolutionary France to pre-World War II Europe. The British Film Yearbook for 1945 described his work as "one of the most valuable...

. His first film as cinematographer was Laurence Olivier's

Laurence Olivier

Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...

 1944 film

1944 in film

The year 1944 in film involved some significant events, including the wholesome, award-winning Going My Way plus popular murder mysteries such as Double Indemnity, Gaslight and Laura.-Events:*July 20 - Since You Went Away is released....

 Henry V

Henry V (1944 film)

Henry V is a 1944 film adaptation of William Shakespeare's play of the same name. The on-screen title is The Cronicle History of King Henry the Fift with His Battell Fought at Agincourt in France . It stars Laurence Olivier, who also directed. The play was adapted for the screen by Olivier, Dallas...

, an adaptation

Film adaptation

Film adaptation is the transfer of a written work to a feature film. It is a type of derivative work.A common form of film adaptation is the use of a novel as the basis of a feature film, but film adaptation includes the use of non-fiction , autobiography, comic book, scripture, plays, and even...

 of the Shakespearean history. This gave him invaluable experience of colour cinematography and his subsequent films made him one of the most sought after cameramen in England.

His other films included Caesar and Cleopatra

Caesar and Cleopatra (1945 film)

Caesar and Cleopatra is a 1945 British, Technicolor, biographical, romantic comedy film directed by Gabriel Pascal and starring Claude Rains and Vivien Leigh. It was adapted from a 1901 play, Caesar and Cleopatra by George Bernard Shaw...

(1945), Anastasia

Anastasia (1956 film)

Anastasia is a 1956 American historical drama film directed by Anatole Litvak for 20th Century Fox. The film stars Ingrid Bergman, Yul Brynner, and Helen Hayes. Supporting players include Akim Tamiroff, Martita Hunt, and, in a small role, Natalie Schafer...

(1956), The Sundowners

The Sundowners

The Sundowners is a 1960 film that tells the story of an Australian outback family torn between the father's desires to continue his nomadic sheep-herding ways and the wife's and son's desire to settle down in one place...

(1960), 55 Days at Peking

55 Days at Peking

55 Days at Peking is a 1963 historical epic film starring Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, and David Niven, made by Samuel Bronston Productions, and released by Allied Artists. The movie was produced by Samuel Bronston and directed by Nicholas Ray, Andrew Marton , and Guy Green...

(1963), Battle of the Bulge (film)

Battle of the Bulge (film)

Battle of the Bulge is a widescreen war film produced in Spain that was released in 1965. It was directed by Ken Annakin. It starred Henry Fonda, Robert Shaw, Telly Savalas, Robert Ryan, Dana Andrews and Charles Bronson...

(1965), Casino Royale

Casino Royale (1967 film)

Casino Royale is a 1967 comedy spy film originally produced by Columbia Pictures starring an ensemble cast of directors and actors. It is set as a satire of the James Bond film series and the spy genre, and is loosely based on Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel.The film stars David Niven as the...

(1967) and The Wild Geese

The Wild Geese

The Wild Geese is a British 1978 film about a group of mercenaries in Africa. It stars Richard Burton, Roger Moore, Richard Harris and Hardy Krüger...

(1978). He photographed both of producer-director Moustapha Akkad

Moustapha Akkad

Moustapha Akkad was a Syrian American film producer and director, best known for producing the series of Halloween films and directing Mohammad, Messenger of God and Lion of the Desert. He was killed along with his daughter Rima Akkad Monla in 2005 in Amman, Jordan by a suicide bomber.-Early life...

's films on Islamic history, The Message (1976) and Lion of the Desert

Lion of the Desert

Lion of the Desert is a 1981 Libyan historical action film starring Anthony Quinn as Libyan tribal leader Omar Mukhtar, a Bedouin leader fighting the Italian army in the years leading up to World War II and Oliver Reed as Italian General Rodolfo Graziani, who attempted to defeat Mukhtar. It was...

(1981) and in 1983, director Mohamed Shukri Jameel's film, produced by Saddam Hussain, Al-Mas' Ala Al-Kubra

Al-Mas' Ala Al-Kubra

Al-Mas'ala Al-Kubra is a 1983 Iraqi movie focusing on the formation of Iraq out of Mesopotamia in the aftermath of the First World War....

, which was nominated for the Golden Prize at the 1983 Moscow International Film Festival

Moscow International Film Festival

Moscow International Film Festival , is the film festival first held in Moscow in 1959. From its inception to 1995 it was held every second year in July, alternating with the Karlovy Vary festival. The festival has been held annually since 1995....

..

He was also nominated for BAFTA Awards for his work on The V.I.P.s

The V.I.P.s

The V.I.P.s, also known as Hotel International, is a 1963 British drama film. It was directed by Anthony Asquith, produced by Anatole de Grunwald and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer...

(1963), The Yellow Rolls-Royce

The Yellow Rolls-Royce

-External links:, a promotional short subject for the film...

(1964) and Modesty Blaise

Modesty Blaise (1966 film)

Modesty Blaise was a comedic spy-fi motion picture produced in the United Kingdom and released worldwide in 1966. It was loosely based upon the popular comic strip Modesty Blaise by Peter O'Donnell, who wrote the original story and scenario upon which Evan Jones based his screenplay...

(1966).

He was awarded the British Society of Cinematographers Lifetime Achievement Award in 1990.

Jack Hildyard was the brother of sound engineer and two times Oscar winner David Hildyard

David Hildyard

David Hildyard was a British sound engineer. He won two Academy Awards in the category Best Sound.-Selected filmography:* Fiddler on the Roof * Cabaret -External links:...

.

External links