View source for Geoffrey Unsworth

{{Short description|British cinematographer (1914–1978)}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox person
| name        = Geoffrey Unsworth
| image       = 
| alt         = 
| caption     = 
| birth_name = Geoffrey Gilyard Unsworth
| birth_date  = {{Birth date|1914|05|26|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Atherton, Greater Manchester|Atherton]], Lancashire, England
| death_date  = {{Death date and age|df=y|1978|10|28|1914|05|26}}
| death_place = [[Paris]], France
| nationality = British
| other_names = 
| known_for   = 
| occupation  = [[Cinematographer]]
| years_active = 1939–1978
}}
'''Geoffrey Gilyard Unsworth''', [[Order of the British Empire|OBE]], [[British Society of Cinematographers|BSC]] (26 May 1914 – 28 October 1978) was a [[People of the United Kingdom|British]] [[cinematographer]] who worked on nearly ninety feature films during a career that wound up spanning over more than forty years. He is best known for his work on critically acclaimed releases such as [[Stanley Kubrick]]'s ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|2001: A Space Odyssey]]'', [[Bob Fosse]]'s ''[[Cabaret (1972 film)|Cabaret]]'' and [[Richard Donner]]'s ''[[Superman (1978 film)|Superman]]''.

The [[Mass media inside of the United Kingdom|British news agency]] ''[[The Guardian]]'' has highlighted the nature of his work for Kubrick, in the words of fellow cinematographer [[Peter Suschitzky]], given that Unsworth's approach reportedly "became the benchmark" for a given cinematic style. Suschitzky added specifically that he had initially turned down working for [[filmmaker]] [[George Lucas]] (on the original ''[[Star Wars (1977 film)|Star Wars]]'' movie) and had "said straight away" to Lucas: "You don’t really want me, you want Geoffrey Unsworth."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hoad |first=Phil |date=2018-04-02 |title=50 years of 2001: A Space Odyssey – how Kubrick's sci-fi 'changed the very form of cinema' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/apr/02/50-years-of-2001-a-space-odyssey-stanley-kubrick |access-date=2024-02-26 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

==Career==
Unsworth began his career working at [[Gaumont British]] from 1932 to 1937.<ref>[http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/448638/] "BFI Screenonline: Unsworth, Geoffrey (1914-1978) Biography". Retrieved 26 May 2017.</ref> Having joined [[Technicolor]] in 1938, he acted as assistant director of photography on many notable productions, such as [[Powell and Pressburger]]'s ''[[The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp]]'' (1943) and ''[[A Matter of Life and Death (film)|A Matter of Life and Death]]'' (1946). After working on some of the [[Gainsborough melodramas]], he worked at the [[Rank Organisation]] throughout the 1950s, notably on films such as ''[[A Town Like Alice (1956 film)|A Town Like Alice]]'' and ''[[A Night to Remember (1958 film)|A Night to Remember]]''.<ref>[http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/448638/] "BFI Screenonline: Unsworth, Geoffrey (1914-1978) Biography". Retrieved 26 May 2017.</ref>

In the 1960s, Unsworth's work extended abroad, such as with the 1962 [[CinemaScope]] epic ''[[The 300 Spartans]]''; the decade also saw him receive his first [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]] nomination for his work on 1964's ''[[Becket (1964 film)|Becket]]''. In 1965, he was responsible for photographing the [[Royal National Theatre]]'s [[Othello (1965 British film)|production]] of [[William Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Othello]]''.

His film work brought him an impressive array of awards, including five [[British Society of Cinematographers]] awards, three [[BAFTA]]S and two Academy Awards. Unsworth was especially in demand as cinematographer in two very different genres, period pieces and science fiction. Among the highlights of his career, he collaborated with [[Stanley Kubrick]] on the visually innovative ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|2001: A Space Odyssey]]'' (on which he was assisted by [[John Alcott]], who would become a regular collaborator of Kubrick's) and [[Bob Fosse]]'s dark musical exploration of the end of [[Weimar Republic|Weimar Germany]], ''[[Cabaret (1972 film)|Cabaret]]''. In [[Sidney Lumet]]'s [[Murder on the Orient Express (1974 film)|1974 film adaptation]] of [[Agatha Christie]]'s ''[[Murder on the Orient Express]]'', his lighting and use of diffusion capture the danger and romance of the train while graceful integration of camera movement and optical effects contributes to the realism of the set while controlling the claustrophobia of the setting.

Unsworth's work reached its widest audience with [[Richard Donner]]'s ''[[Superman (1978 film)|Superman]]'' in 1978. He was responsible for integrating the work of a who's-who of cinematographers and visual effects designers (including [[Zoran Perisic (visual effects artist)|Zoran Perisic]], an animation stand crew member from ''2001'', who extended Kubrick's front projection technique for ''Superman''), with the plausibility and sense of grandeur befitting a (mostly) reverent take on a superhero. The style he developed alongside director Donner was essentially that of a science-fiction period film; the glamorous, often highly diffused cinematography observed a panoply of images of Americana, suggesting an epic timeframe for the film's scenes, a mythical America somewhere between the 1930s of the original comics and the 1970s. The style of the sequences that did not involve extensive science-fiction elements had to match scenes displaying Superman's powers.

Unsworth's other work in the 1970s included the [[Oliver Cromwell]] biopic ''[[Cromwell (film)|Cromwell]]'' in 1970, the 1972 [[John Barry (composer)|John Barry]] musical ''[[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1972 film)|Alice's Adventures in Wonderland]]'', [[John Boorman]]'s 1974 fantasy film ''[[Zardoz]]'', ''[[The Return of the Pink Panther]]'' (the fourth film in [[Blake Edwards]]' ''[[The Pink Panther (film series)|Pink Panther]]'' series), [[Richard Attenborough]]'s 1977 war epic ''[[A Bridge Too Far (film)|A Bridge Too Far]]''. In 1981, he won a posthumous Oscar for [[Academy Award for Best Cinematography|Best Cinematography]] for his collaborative work with [[Ghislain Cloquet]] on Roman Polanski's ''[[Tess (1979 film)|Tess]]''.

For ''Superman'', Unsworth was not named in the Special Achievement in Visual Effects Academy Award the film received, but instead as director of photography, and without a separate credit for special effects work, he would not have been eligible. Donner expressed great disgust that the [[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]] did not recognise Unsworth with a nomination for [[Academy Award for Best Cinematography|Best Achievement in Cinematography]] in [[51st Academy Awards|1979]].

==Personal life and death==
Unsworth became an Officer of the [[Order of the British Empire]] in 1976.<ref name=peter>{{cite news|newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|author=Peterborough|title=London Day by Day|date=14 December 1978|page=18}}</ref>

Unsworth died of a heart attack in France at the age of 64 while filming [[Roman Polanski]]'s ''[[Tess (1979 film)|Tess]]'' in 1978.

Both ''Superman'' and ''[[The First Great Train Robbery]]'', released in the United Kingdom in December 1978, were dedicated to Unsworth's memory.<ref name=peter/>

Unsworth was admired for his charming manner. [[Margot Kidder]] was flattered when Unsworth arranged lighting for her shots, and insisted on concentration by saying "Quiet, I'm lighting the Lady."<ref>Superman – The Movie (Four-Disc Special Edition): Disc 3, "Making Superman: Filming the Legend"</ref> 

Unsworth's wife Maggie worked in the British film industry, often as a script/continuity supervisor.

==Filmography==
===Short film===
{|class="wikitable"
! Year
! Title
! Director
! Notes
|-
| 1946
| ''Make Fruitful the Land''
|rowspan=3| [[Ken Annakin]]
|
|-
|rowspan=2|1950
| ''Mr. Know-All''
|rowspan=2| Segments of ''[[Trio (1950 film)|Trio]]''
|-
| ''Verger, The''
|-
|rowspan=2| 1955
| ''Cyril Stapleton and the Show Band''
|rowspan=3| [[Michael Carreras]]
| With [[Walter J. Harvey]]
|-
| ''The Eric Winstone Bandshow''
|
|-
| 1956
| ''Eric Winstone's Stagecoach''
|
|}

'''Documentary short'''
{|class="wikitable"
! Year
! Title
! Director
|-
|rowspan=3| 1942
| ''Teeth of Steel''
| Ronald H. Riley
|-
| ''Gardens of England''
| [[Michael Hankinson]]
|-
| ''World Garden''
| Robin Carruthers
|-
|rowspan=2|1943
| ''Power on the Land: The Story of the<br>Mechanisation of British Farming''
|rowspan=2| [[Ralph Keene]]
|-
| ''The People's Land''
|}

===Feature film===
{|class="wikitable"
! Year
! Title
! Director
! Notes
|-
|rowspan=2| 1946
| ''[[Meet the Navy (film)|Meet the Navy]]''
| [[Alfred Travers]]
| Technicolor photography
|-
| ''[[The Laughing Lady]]''
| [[Paul L. Stein]]
|
|-
|rowspan=2|1947
| ''[[The Man Within (film)|The Man Within]]''
|rowspan=2| [[Bernard Knowles]]
|
|-
| ''[[Jassy (film)|Jassy]]''
|
|-
|rowspan=2| 1948
| ''[[Blanche Fury]]''
| [[Marc Allégret]]
| Exterior photography
|-
| ''[[Scott of the Antarctic (film)|Scott of the Antarctic]]''
| [[Charles Frend]]
| With [[Osmond Borradaile]] and [[Jack Cardiff]]
|-
|rowspan=3|1949
| ''[[The Blue Lagoon (1949 film)|The Blue Lagoon]]''
| [[Frank Launder]]
|
|-
| ''[[Fools Rush In (1949 film)|Fools Rush In]]''
| [[John Paddy Carstairs]]
|
|-
| ''[[The Spider and the Fly (1949 film)|The Spider and the Fly]]''
| [[Robert Hamer]]
|
|-
|rowspan=2|1950
| ''[[Double Confession]]''
| [[Ken Annakin]]
|
|-
| ''[[The Clouded Yellow]]''
| [[Ralph Thomas]]
|
|-
| 1951
| ''[[Where No Vultures Fly]]''
| [[Harry Watt]] 
|
|-
|rowspan=3| 1952
| ''[[Penny Princess]]''
| [[Val Guest]]
|
|-
| ''[[The Planter's Wife (1952 film)|The Planter's Wife]]''
| Ken Annakin
|
|-
| ''[[Made in Heaven (1952 film)|Made in Heaven]]''
| John Paddy Carstairs
|
|-
|rowspan=2|1953
| ''[[Turn the Key Softly]]''
| [[Jack Lee (film director)|Jack Lee]]
|
|-
| ''[[The Sword and the Rose]]''
| Ken Annakin
|
|-
|rowspan=3|1954
| ''[[The Million Pound Note]]''
| [[Ronald Neame]]
|
|-
| ''[[The Seekers (1954 film)|The Seekers]]''
| Ken Annakin
|
|-
| ''[[The Purple Plain]]''
| [[Robert Parrish]]
|
|-
|rowspan=3| 1955
| ''[[Simba (1955 film)|Simba]]''
| [[Brian Desmond Hurst]]
|
|-
| ''[[Passage Home]]''
| [[Roy Ward Baker]]
|
|-
| ''[[Value for Money]]''
| Ken Annakin
|
|-
|rowspan=3|1956
| ''[[A Town Like Alice (1956 film)|A Town Like Alice]]''
| Jack Lee
|
|-
| ''[[Jacqueline (1956 film)|Jacqueline]]''
|rowspan=2| Roy Ward Baker
|
|-
| ''[[Tiger in the Smoke]]''
|
|-
|rowspan=2| 1957
| ''[[Hell Drivers (film)|Hell Drivers]]''
| [[Cy Endfield]]
|
|-
| ''[[Dangerous Exile]]''
| Brian Desmond Hurst
|
|-
|rowspan=2| 1958
| ''[[A Night to Remember (1958 film)|A Night to Remember]]''
| Roy Ward Baker
|
|-
| ''[[Bachelor of Hearts]]''
| [[Wolf Rilla]]
|
|-
|rowspan=2| 1959
| ''[[Whirlpool (1959 film)|Whirlpool]]''
| [[Lewis Allen (director)|Lewis Allen]]
|
|-
| ''[[North West Frontier (film)|North West Frontier]]''
| [[J. Lee Thompson]]
|
|-
| 1960
| ''[[The World of Suzie Wong (film)|The World of Suzie Wong]]''
| [[Richard Quine]]
|
|-
| 1961
| ''[[Don't Bother to Knock (1961 film)|Don't Bother to Knock]]''
| [[Cyril Frankel]]
|
|-
|rowspan=3| 1962
| ''[[The Playboy of the Western World]]''
| Brian Desmond Hurst
|
|-
| ''[[The 300 Spartans]]''
| [[Rudolph Maté]]
|
|-
| ''[[The Main Attraction (film)|The Main Attraction]]''
| [[Daniel Petrie]]
|
|-
| 1963
| ''[[Tamahine]]''
| [[Philip Leacock]]
|
|-
| 1964
| ''[[Becket (1964 film)|Becket]]''
| [[Peter Glenville]]
|
|-
|rowspan=3|1965
| ''[[Genghis Khan (1965 film)|Genghis Khan]]''
| [[Henry Levin (director)|Henry Levin]]
|
|-
| ''[[You Must Be Joking! (1965 film)|You Must be Joking]]''
| [[Michael Winner]]
|
|-
| ''[[Othello (1965 British film)|Othello]]''
| [[Stuart Burge]]
|
|-
| 1966
| ''El rey en Londres''
| Aníbal Uset
| With Agustín González Paz and [[Aníbal González Paz]]
|-
|rowspan=2| 1967
| ''[[Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad (film)|Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You<br>in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad]]''
| Richard Quine 
|
|-
| ''[[Half a Sixpence (film)|Half a Sixpence]]''
| [[George Sidney]]
|
|-
|rowspan=2| 1968
| ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|2001: A Space Odyssey]]''
| [[Stanley Kubrick]]
|
|-
| ''[[The Bliss of Mrs. Blossom]]''
| [[Joseph McGrath (film director)|Joseph McGrath]]
|
|-
|rowspan=3| 1969
| ''[[The Assassination Bureau]]''
| [[Basil Dearden]]
|
|-
| ''[[Dance of Death (1969 film)|Dance of Death]]''
| [[David Giles (director)|David Giles]]
|
|-
| ''[[The Magic Christian (film)|The Magic Christian]]''
| Joseph McGrath
|
|-
|rowspan=4|1970
| ''[[The Reckoning (1970 film)|The Reckoning]]''
| [[Jack Gold]]
|
|-
| ''[[Cromwell (film)|Cromwell]]''
| [[Ken Hughes]]
|
|-
| ''[[Goodbye Gemini]]''
| [[Alan Gibson (director)|Alan Gibson]]
|
|-
| ''[[Three Sisters (1970 Olivier film)|Three Sisters]]''
| [[Laurence Olivier]]<br>[[John Sichel]]
|
|-
|rowspan=2|1971
| ''[[Say Hello to Yesterday]]''
| [[Alvin Rakoff]]
|
|-
| ''[[Unman, Wittering and Zigo (film)|Unman, Wittering and Zigo]]''
| [[John Mackenzie (film director)|John Mackenzie]]
|
|-
|rowspan=2|1972
| ''[[Cabaret (1972 film)|Cabaret]]''
| [[Bob Fosse]]
|
|-
| ''[[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1972 film)|Alice's Adventures in Wonderland]]''
| [[William Sterling (director)|William Sterling]]
|
|-
|rowspan=4|1973
| ''[[Baxter!]]''
| [[Lionel Jeffries]]
|
|-
| ''[[Love and Pain and the Whole Damn Thing]]''
| [[Alan J. Pakula]]
|
|-
| ''[[Voices (1973 film)|Voices]]''
| [[Kevin Billington]]
|
|-
| ''[[Don Quixote (1973 film)|Don Quixote]]''
| [[Rudolf Nureyev]]<br>[[Robert Helpmann]]
|
|-
|rowspan=4|1974
| ''[[Zardoz]]''
| [[John Boorman]]
|
|-
| ''[[The Internecine Project]]''
| Ken Hughes
|
|-
| ''[[The Abdication]]''
| [[Anthony Harvey]]
|
|-
| ''[[Murder on the Orient Express (1974 film)|Murder on the Orient Express]]''
| [[Sidney Lumet]]
|
|-
|rowspan=3|1975
| ''[[The Return of the Pink Panther]]''
| [[Blake Edwards]]
|
|-
| ''[[Royal Flash (film)|Royal Flash]]''
| [[Richard Lester]]
|
|-
| ''[[Lucky Lady]]''
| [[Stanley Donen]]
|
|-
| 1976
| ''[[A Matter of Time (film)|A Matter of Time]]''
| [[Vincente Minnelli]]
|
|-
| 1977
| ''[[A Bridge Too Far (film)|A Bridge Too Far]]''
| [[Richard Attenborough]]
|
|-
|rowspan=2| 1978
| ''[[Superman (1978 film)|Superman]]''
| [[Richard Donner]]
|
|-
| ''[[The First Great Train Robbery]]''
| [[Michael Crichton]]
| Also actor (uncredited)
|-
| 1979
| ''[[Tess (1979 film)|Tess]]'' 
| [[Roman Polanski]]
| With [[Ghislain Cloquet]] (Posthumous release)
|-
| 1980
| ''[[Superman II]]'' 
| Richard Lester
|rowspan=2| With [[Robert Paynter]] (Posthumous release)
|-
| 2006
| ''[[Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut]]''
| Richard Donner
|}

'''Documentary film'''
{|class="wikitable"
! Year
! Title
! Director
! Notes
|-
| 1963
| ''[[An Evening with the Royal Ballet]]''
| [[Anthony Havelock-Allan]]<br>[[Anthony Asquith]]
| Segments "La Valse", "Les Corsaire" and "Aurora's Wedding"
|-
| 1965
| ''[[Pop Gear]]''
| Frederic Goode
|
|}

===Television===
{|class="wikitable"
! Year
! Title
! Director
! Episode
|-
| 1956
| ''[[Disney anthology television series|The Magical World of Disney]]''
| [[Ken Annakin]]
| "When Knighthood Was in Flower" (Part 1 & 2)
|-
| 1972
| ''[[Columbo]]''
| [[Richard Quine]]
| "Dagger of the Mind"
|-
|}

==Awards and honours==
'''Academy Awards'''
{| class="wikitable"
|+ 
!Year
!Category
!Title
!Result
|-
| 1964
|rowspan="4"|[[Academy Award for Best Cinematography|Best Cinematography]]
|''[[Becket (1964 film)|Becket]]''||{{nom}}
|-
|1972||''[[Cabaret (1972 film)|Cabaret]]''||{{won}}
|-
|1974||''[[Murder on the Orient Express (1974 film)|Murder on the Orient Express]]''||{{nom}}
|-
|1979||''[[Tess (1979 film)|Tess]]'' (shared with [[Ghislain Cloquet]])||{{won}}
|}

'''BAFTA Awards'''
{| class="wikitable"
|+ 
!Year
!Category
!Title
!Result
|-
|1964
|rowspan="2"|[[BAFTA Award for Best Cinematography|Best British Cinematography]]
|''[[Tamahine]]''||{{nom}}
|-
|1965||''Becket''||{{won}}
|-
| 1969
|rowspan="6"|[[BAFTA Award for Best Cinematography|Best Cinematography]]
|''[[2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|2001: A Space Odyssey]]''||{{won}}
|-
|1973||''Cabaret'', ''[[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1972 film)|Alice's Adventures in Wonderland]]''||{{won}}
|-
|1975||''Murder on the Orient Express'', ''[[Zardoz]]''||{{nom}}
|-
|1978||''[[A Bridge Too Far (film)|A Bridge Too Far]]''||{{won}}
|-
|1979||''[[Superman (1978 film)|Superman]]''||{{nom}}
|-
|1982||''Tess'' (shared with Ghislain Cloquet)||{{won}}
|}

'''National Society of Film Critics'''
{| class="wikitable"
|+ 
!Year
!Category
!Title
!Result
|-
| 1969
|rowspan="3"|[[National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Cinematography|Best Cinematography]]
|''2001: A Space Odyssey''||{{draw|3rd place}}
|-
|1972||''Cabaret''||{{draw|4th place}}
|-
|1981||''Tess'' (shared with Ghislain Cloquet)||{{draw|3rd place}}
|}

==References==
{{Reflist}}<!--added above External links/Sources by script-assisted edit-->

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120214170654/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/individual/92660 BFI: British Film Institute website]
* {{IMDb name|id=0005910|name=Geoffrey Unsworth}}
* {{Screenonline name|id=448638|name=Geoffrey Unsworth}}
* [http://timeimage.wikispaces.com/Geoffrey+Unsworth Geoffrey Unsworth at the TIME/IMAGE project]

{{Navboxes
|title = Awards for Geoffrey Unsworth
|list =
{{AcademyAwardBestCinematography 1961–1980}}
{{BAFTA Award for Best Cinematography 1963–1984}}
{{British Society of Cinematographers Award for Best Cinematography in a Theatrical Feature Film}}
{{Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Cinematography}}
{{New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Cinematographer}}
}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Unsworth, Geoffrey}}
[[Category:1914 births]]
[[Category:1978 deaths]]
[[Category:Best Cinematographer Academy Award winners]]
[[Category:Best Cinematography BAFTA Award winners]]
[[Category:British cinematographers]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:People from Leigh, Greater Manchester]]