Anecdotes

One of eight children of an impoverished family. He was forced to leave school at age 14 to work in a munitions factory, making hand grenades.

His first film work was as a lab assistant at Gaumont Studios. He eventually became lab manager. When Gaumont closed down, he joined British & Dominions. During World War II he made training films and documentaries for the Army Film Unit. At his peak he was head cinematographer of MGM's British section. His best work was for director David Lean.

Invented the process of pre-exposing colour film (pre-fogging) to mute the colours. This was first used on M.15 demande protection (1967).

He was awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 1970 Queen's Honours List for his services to film.

He contributed with the cinematography of five films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: Au revoir Mr. Chips! (1939), 49ème parallèle (1941), Lawrence d'Arabie (1962), Le docteur Jivago (1965) and Nicolas et Alexandra (1971). Of those, Lawrence d'Arabie (1962) is a winner in the category.

He and wife Marjorie Gaffney adopted two children, their son and daughter; he and wife Joan Morduch had a son.