Geoffrey Unsworth

Goeffrey Unsworth was one of the great cinematographers of the 20th Century, the winner of two Oscars, five BAFTA awards, and three awards from the British Society of Cinematographers for his work as a director of photography. Born in 1914 in Lancashire, England, Unsworth started in the industry in 1932 at Gaumont-British before joining Technicolor in 1937. He worked as a camera assistant and operator on a many of the most important color movies made in England.

Began as a camera assistant at Gaumont-British Shepherds Bush studios. Worked with Technicolor from 1937. Debut as full cinematographer with The Laughing Lady (1946).

In contrast to the Technicolor aesthetic, when Unsworth became a director of photography (starting in 1946 with the musical The Laughing Lady (1946), he used a somber palette. Moving to Rank at Pinewood Studios, he shot adventure films, comedies, and thrillers in black and white.

His partner for the last 20 or so years of his life was Maggie Unsworth, though many sources claim they were married, no record of such a marriage has been found. A record of a Margaret Edna Shipway changing her name to Unsworth by deed poll in 1961 has been found, which does indeed suggest the marriage never happened.

His breakthrough into the top ranks of cinematographers was Becket (1964) in 1964, for which he received his first Academy Award nomination.

His wife Maggie Unsworth collaborated on the screenplay of Half a Sixpence (1967), which Unsworth filmed.

In 1976, he was awarded the the honor of OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) by the Queen.

George Lucas wanted him to handle the photography for Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) but he was unavailable, having already been hired by Richard Donner for Superman (1978).

According to director Richard Donner, the flying scenes in the original Superman (1978) would not have been possible had it not been for Unsworth's efforts in developing a new photography process that was much more realistic and natural looking than the blue screen technique that existed at the time.

Geoffrey died during the shooting of Tess (1979). He had however already shot some of the scenes for Superman II (1980), which were shot at the same time as those of Superman (1978).

He did not get Oscar-nominated for his spectacular work on 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) because Stanley Kubrick generally was given credit for the visual style of the film, but his ability to integrate cinematography and special effects was put to great effect with Superman (1978) (1978).