British cinematographer Jack Cardiff died 22 April 2009 after a short illness. Born 18 September 1914 in Yarmouth, Norfolk, England, he won the 1948 Academy Award for Best Cinematography for Black Narcissus. He was nominated for three more Oscars, and given an honorary Oscar in 2001. In addition, Cardiff won Golden Globes for Best Cinematography (Black Narcissus, in 1948) and Best Motion Picture Director (Sons and Lovers, in 1961). He was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the Queen’s 2000 New Year’s Honours list for his services to cinematography.
His genre film credits as Cinematographer, Director, Art Director, Editor, and/or camera operator include Silence Becomes You (2005), The Tell-Tale Heart (2004), Call from Space (1989), Cat’s Eye (1985), Conan the Destroyer (1984), Ghost Story (1981), The Awakening (1980), The Mutations (1974), Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951), A Matter of Life and Death (1946), The Man Who Could Work Miracles (1936), Things to Come (1936), and The Ghost Goes West (1935).
Before moving behind the camera, Cardiff had a brief career on film. He had small roles in three or four films in the 1920s. His first behind-the-camera work was as a runner on The Informer (1928) and as a clapper boy on Harmony Heaven (1929), and he racked up more than 100 film credits between that and 2007’s The Other Side of the Screen.
Cardiff appears to have been married three times, leaving four sons.