Born: 9 July 1900, Los Angeles, USA, as Joseph Wellington LaShelle.

Died: 13 August 1989 [other sources: 20 August], La Jolla, Calif., USA.

Career: After graduating from Hollywood High School he took a job as asst in the new lab of Paramount West Coast Studio in 1920 in order to earn tuition to attend Stanford University. After being made supervisor of the printing department he decided to remain in the film industry. In 1925 doph Charles G. Clarke convinced him he should be a cameraman. He went to work with Clarke. After 3 months he advanced to 2nd cameraman and worked for various doph at the Hollywood Metropolitan Studios [later Hollywood General Studios and Zoetrope Studios]. He invested in a new Bell & Howell studio camera and soon was sent to Alaska with dir George Melford. Transferred from Metropolitan to Pathé where he began a long [14 years] association with doph Arthur Miller. Went with Miller to Fox Films. Became a doph in 1943. Was member of the ASC.

Awards: 'Oscar' AA [1944; b&w] for 'Laura'; 'Oscar' AA nom [1949; b&w] for 'Come to the Stable'; 'Oscar' AA nom [1952; b&w] for 'My Cousin Rachel'; 'Oscar' AA nom [1955; b&w] for 'Marty'; 'Oscar' AA nom [1959; b&w] for 'Career'; 'Oscar' AA nom [1960; b&w] for 'The Apartment'; 'Oscar' AA nom [1963; color; shared] for 'How the West Was Won'; 'Oscar' AA nom [1963; color] for 'Irma la Douce'; 'Oscar' AA nom [1966; b&w] for 'The Fortune Cookie'.

One of the enviably large band of cameramen who enriched the black-and-white style from the 40s to the 60s, LaShelle's great gift was for a kind of stylized sleaziness - a feeling for low-life settings which never degenerated into naturalistic 'graininess'. His work for the great Fox directors of the 40s (notably Preminger) testifies to this, but he also responded to elegant settings as in 'The Foxes of Harrow' and 'Laura'. After a period when he just coasted along, he entered a second rich stage in the late 50s and 60s, making some of the best b&w Scope films by Ritt and Wilder, in particular. He was also adept in retaining a b&w feeling even in his color films when the script demanded, as in Ford's '7 Women' and parts of 'How the West Was Won'. It seems likely that he learned much from his years as operator to Arthur Miller. That cameraman's lucid, rather spare style can be seen in LaShelle's enviable flair for pictorially balanced compositions, often with harshly lit close-ups for dramatic emphasis, and invariably composed of textures which contributed to the 'lived-in' quality of the noir-ish subjects he often photographed. [John Gillett in 'Film Dope', #33, November 1985.]

1943        Happy Land [Irving Pichel] b&w; spec pfx: Fred Sersen

1943        The Eve of St. Mark [John M. Stahl] b&w; spec pfx: Fred Sersen

1943        Bermuda Mystery [Benjamin Stoloff] b&w; 65m; spec pfx: Fred Sersen

1944        Take It or Leave It [Benjamin Stoloff] b&w; spec pfx: Fred Sersen

1944        Laura [Otto Preminger (replaced Rouben Mamoulian about 2 weeks into prod)] b&w; replaced doph Lucien Ballard; spec

                    pfx: Fred Sersen

1944        Thunderhead - Son of Flicka [Louis King] c; member camera crew; ph: Charles G. Clarke

1944        Hangover Square [John Brahm] b&w; spec pfx: Fred Sersen

1944        A Bell for Adano [Henry King] b&w

1945        Fallen Angel [Otto Preminger] b&w; spec pfx: Fred Sersen

1945        Doll Face/Come Back to Me [Lewis Seiler] b&w

1945        Cluny Brown [Ernst Lubitsch] b&w

1946        Claudia and David [Walter Lang] b&w

1946        If I'm Lucky [Lewis Seiler] b&w; uncred ph 'La Batacada' number; ph: Glen MacWilliams

1946        The Late George Apley [Joseph L. Mankiewicz & (uncred add scenes) Ernst Lubitsch] b&w; spec pfx: Fred Sersen

1946        Captain from Castile [Henry King] c; uncred cph; ph: Charles G. Clarke & Arthur Arling

1947        The Foxes of Harrow [John M. Stahl] b&w

1947        Deep Waters [Henry King] b&w; spec pfx: Fred Sersen

1948        The Luck of the Irish [Henry Koster] b&w

1948        Road House [Jean Negulesco] b&w

1948        The Fan/Lady Windermere's Fan [Otto Preminger] b&w; spec pfx: Fred Sersen

1948        Come to the Stable [Henry Koster] b&w

1949        Everybody Does It [Edmund Goulding] b&w

1949        Mother Didn't Tell Me [Claude Binyon] b&w; spec pfx: Fred Sersen

1949        Under My Skin/My Old Man [Jean Negulesco & (European seq) Otto Lang] b&w; uncred European ph (Summer 1949):

                    Dewey Wrigley & Norbert Brodine; spec pfx: Fred Sersen

1950        Where the Sidewalk Ends [Otto Preminger] b&w

1950        Mister 880 [Edmund Goulding] b&w

1950        The Jackpot [Walter Lang] b&w; spec pfx: Fred Sersen

1950        The 13th Letter/The Scarlet Pen [Otto Preminger] b&w

1950        The Guy Who Came Back [Joseph M. Newman] b&w; spec pfx: Fred Sersen

1951        Mr. Belvedere Rings the Bell/Mr. Belvedere Blows His Whistle [Henry Koster] b&w; spec pfx: Fred Sersen

1951        Elopement [Henry Koster] b&w

1951        The Outcasts of Poker Flat [Joseph M. Newman] b&w

1952        Les Miserables [Lewis Milestone] b&w

1952        Something for the Birds [Robert Wise] b&w

1952        My Cousin Rachel [Henry Koster] b&w

1953        Dangerous Crossing [Joseph M. Newman] b&w

1953        Mister Scoutmaster [Henry Levin] b&w

1953        River of No Return [Otto Preminger & (uncred retakes) Jean Negulesco] cs/c

1954        Tournament of Roses [Otto Lang] cs/c; doc/?m

1954        The First Piano Quartette [Otto Lang] cs/c; music film/10m

1954        Movie Stunt Pilot [Otto Lang] cs/c; doc/?m

1954        Piano Encores [Otto Lang] cs/c; music film/?m

1954        Jet Carrier [Otto Lang] cs/c; doc/19m; shot aboard USS Yorktown

1954        The Conqueror/Conqueror of the Desert [Dick Powell] cs/c; cph: William E. Snyder, Leo Tover & Harry J. Wild

1954        Marty [Delbert Mann] b&w

1955        Storm Fear [Cornel Wilde] b&w

1955        Our Miss Brooks [Al Lewis] b&w

1955        Run for the Sun [Roy Boulting] Superscope/c

1956        Crime of Passion [Gerd Oswald] b&w

1956        Fury at Showdown [Gerd Oswald] b&w

1956        The Bachelor Party [Delbert Mann] b&w; addph: Frank J. Calabria

1956        The Fuzzy Pink Nightgown [Norman Taurog] b&w

1957        The Abductors [Andrew V. McLaglen] RegalScope/b&w

1957        I Was a Teenage Werewolf [Gene Fowler Jr.] b&w

1957        No Down Payment [Martin Ritt] cs/b&w; spec pfx: L.B. Abbott

1957        The Long, Hot Summer [Martin Ritt] cs/c; spec pfx: L.B. Abbott

1957        The Naked and the Dead [Raoul Walsh] WarnerScope/c; filmed 1957-58

1959        Career [Joseph Anthony] b&w

1959        The Apartment [Billy Wilder] p/b&w

1960        All in a Night's Work [Joseph Anthony] c; spec pfx: John P. Fulton; process ph: Farciot Edouart

1961        The Honeymoon Machine [Richard Thorpe] cs/c; spec vfx: Robert R. Hoag & Lee LeBlanc

1961        The Outsider [Delbert Mann] b&w

1962        A Child Is Waiting [John Cassavetes] b&w

1962        How the West Was Won [seg 'The Civil War' dir by John Ford & buffalo seq for 'The Railroad' seg dir by George Marshall]

                    cr, up70 & cs/c; other ph: William H. Daniels, Milton Krasner & Charles Lang Jr.; 2uc: Harold Wellman; spec vfx: A.

                    Arnold Gillespie & Robert R. Hoag

1962        Irma la Douce [Billy Wilder] p/c

1963        Wild and Wonderful [Michael Anderson] c

1964        Kiss Me, Stupid [Billy Wilder] p/b&w

1965        The Chase [Arthur Penn] p/c; uncred cph: Robert Surtees (started film, fell ill and was replaced by JL); "Arthur Penn

                    couldn't hire his own cameraman. Instead producer Sam Spiegel had given him Robert Surtees, a three-time

                    Oscar-winner who got sick on the job and had to be replaced. Without notifying Penn, Spiegel then hired Joseph

                    LaShelle, another legendary cinematographer, who was a bad match for the younger director. "It should have been a

                    close relationship," said Penn, "but I found him to be difficult and slow. For the night scenes, he would be lighting until

                    midnight. And, in 'The Chase', we had a lot of night scenes."

1965        7 Women/Seven Women [John Ford] p/c; spec vfx: J. McMillan Johnson

1965        The Fortune Cookie/Meet Whiplash Willie [Billy Wilder] p/b&w

1966        Barefoot in the Park [Gene Saks] c; spec pfx: Paul K. Lerpae; process ph: Farciot Edouart

1969        80 Steps to Jonah [Gerd Oswald] c

1955        My Friend Flicka [pilot 'The Phantom Herd' dir by James B. Clark] 39-part series/b&w-c, 1956-58; released theatrically

                    outside USA

1957        Alfred Hitchcock Presents [ep #68 'Vicious Circle' dir by Paul Henreid & #70 'The Night the World Ended' dir by Justus

                    Addis] 268-part series/b&w, 1955-62; 2nd season, 1956-57

1959        The Twilight Zone [pilot 'Where Is Everybody?' dir by Robert Stevens] 151-part series/b&w, 1959-64

1967        Kona Coast [Lamont Johnson] pilot; released theatrically

1969        U.M.C./Operation Heartbeat [Boris Sagal] tvm

Was c.op on most, if not all, of the films ph by Arthur Miller between 1929 and 1943.

1925        Rocking Moon [George Melford] 2nd cam; ph: Charles G. Clarke

1926        Whispering Smith [George Melford] 2nd cam; ph: Charles G. Clarke

1926        The Flame of the Yukon [George Melford] 2nd cam; ph: David Kesson

1929        The Pagan [W.S. Van Dyke] ph: Clyde De Vinna

1930        The Painted Desert [Howard Higgin] ph: Edward Snyder

1930        Cimarron [Wesley Ruggles] ph: Edward Cronjager

1932        Me and My Gal [Raoul Walsh] ph: Arthur Miller

1933        Sailor's Luck [Raoul Walsh] ph: Arthur Miller

1933        Hold Me Tight [David Butler] ph: Arthur Miller

1933        The Man Who Dared [: An Imaginative Biography] [Hamilton MacFadden] ph: Arthur Miller

1933        The Last Trail [James Tinling] ph: Arthur Miller

1933        My Weakness [David Butler[ ph: Arthur Miller

1934        Charlie Chan's Courage [Eugene Forde & George Hadden] ph: Hal Mohr

1934        The White Parade [Irving Cummings] ph: Arthur Miller

1934        The Little Colonel [David Butler] ph: Arthur Miller

1935        It's a Small World [Irving Cummings] ph: Arthur Miller

1935        Black Sheep [Allan Dwan] ph: Arthur Miller

1936        White Fang [David Butler] ph: Arthur Miller

1937        Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm [Allan Dwan] ph: Arthur Miller

1937        The Baroness and the Butler [Walter Lang] ph: Arthur Miller

1938        Submarine Patrol [John Ford] ph: Arthur Miller

1939        The Rains Came [Clarence Brown] ph: Arthur Miller

1939        Here I Am a Stranger [Roy Del Ruth] ph: Arthur Miller

1940        Brigham Young [- Frontiersman] [Henry Hathaway] ph: Arthur Miller

1940        Tobacco Road [John Ford] ph: Arthur Miller

1941        How Green Was My Valley [John Ford (replaced William Wyler)] ph: Arthur Miller

1943        The Song of Bernadette [Henry King] ph: Arthur Miller