RICHARD H. KLINE   ASC

Born: 15 November 1926, Los Angeles, Calif., USA, as Richard Howard Kline, son of doph Benjamin Harrison Kline [1894-1974].

Education: High School [graduated in 1943]; Sorbonne University, Paris, France [Fine Arts & Art History; 1948-51].

Career: 'I graduated from high school in 1943. The war was still going on, and I knew that I would be drafted into the military service within a year. Many of the film industry's personnel were away and my father urged me to fill an available opening as an assistant cameraman at Columbia Pictures, so that I could possibly qualify for a camera unit when I entered the service. I went to work at Columbia in August 1943. My first picture was 'Cover Girl'. I was a slate boy. I was on 'Cover Girl' for about four months. We filmed on stages 8 and 9 at Columbia, which were next to the camera department. I would go there in-between takes and learn about cameras. After that film, I became a first assistant with cinematographer George Meehan until I went into the Navy in October 1944. My first six months after boot camp I was stationed at the Photo Science Laboratory in Anacostia, D.C. Then, I shipped out to the Asia Pacific area between Shanghai and Hong Kong. I was there until I was discharged in August 1946. I was all set to start college at UCLA when I got a call from Columbia Pictures. You were supposed to have your old job guaranteed for a year after you got out of the service. They asked me to come back to the studio as an assistant cameraman. They had a picture in Acapulco where they needed somebody right away. I remember the exact date, because it was my sister's birthday, September 30, 1946. I left for Acapulco to work on 'The Lady from Shanghai'. I kept working as an assistant in 1947 and 1948. During the late 1940s, the union cracked down and wouldn't let me work. It wasn't anything against me personally. You were in either an A or B category depending on the number of years you were a member. The A category got first preference. I was in B, so I was out of a job. I decided to take advantage of the G.I. Bill of Rights and go to college. I left for France within a few days and spent the next three years studying fine arts and art appreciation at the Sorbonne in France. I returned to Hollywood in 1951, because I had gotten married. Congress had passed the Taft-Hartley Act, which opened the door for me to go back to work. The union did away with the A and B categories, and replaced it with groups one, two and three. I was put in the first group. That gave me top priority for jobs. I worked as an assistant cameraman for about a year at Columbia and then became an operator. I worked with Burnett Guffey, Henry Freulich, Charles Lawton Jr., Ray June and did quite a few films with 'Jimmy' Wong Howe, and all the other cinematographers who were under contract at Columbia Pictures. I also worked with Harry Stradling Sr., Lionel 'Curley' Lindon and Phil Lathrop. My last picture as an operator was with Lathrop on 'The Pink Panther'. We shot it in Rome. I had done a film with John Frankenheimer as an operator. It was a prison picture with Burt Lancaster ['Birdman of Alcatraz']. I got a telegram from John while we were in the last two to three weeks of shooting 'The Pink Panther'. It said, 'I want you to be my cameraman, repeat cameraman, call me immediately.' John offered me the job as cameraman on 'Seven Days In May'. After we finished, I flew home. That's when John told me that he couldn't swing the promotion because of production resistance. He said it was nothing personal. I kind of pouted for about a week until I got a call from the head of the MGM camera department. He said there was a producer who wanted to meet me. I met Bill Froug, who told me that he had done a TV pilot that he wanted me to look at and tell him what I thought. It was for a show called 'Mr. Novak' about a high school teacher. I worked on that show for two years until it was cancelled. I concentrated on shooting a number of pilots that year, so I would be free to return to feature films. I shot a TV pilot that didn't sell, but the studio liked it so much that they had me shoot additional scenes for another two weeks, and made it into a feature. It was called 'Chamber of Horrors'. Josh Logan was preparing to do 'Camelot' at Warner Bros. He happened to see some of the film I was shooting in a projection room at the studio while they were screening it. He liked what he saw and came down to the set where we were shooting. He introduced himself and asked if we could talk. I told him that it wasn't a good time, because we had a schedule to make. He asked if I would come in tomorrow, Saturday, and talk with him. That's how I got to shoot 'Camelot'.' [From the ASC website.]

Was c.asst for 8 years and c.op for 10 years [106 features in 6 years for prod Sam Katzman]. Became doph on the tv-series 'Mr. Novak'.

Member of the ASC since 1967. His uncles Phil Rosen [1888-1951] & Sol Halperin [1902-77] were doph.

Appeared in the doc 'Cinematographer Style' [2005, Jon Fauer; ph: J. Fauer, Jeff Laszlo, Brian Heller & David Morgan].

Awards: 'Oscar' AA nom [1967] for 'Camelot'; 'Oscar' AA nom [1976] for 'King Kong'; ASC Lifetime Achievement Award [2005].

1968        The Boston Strangler [Richard Fleischer] p/c; 2uc: William Kelly; spec pfx: L.B. Abbott, John C. Caldwell & Art

                    Cruickshank

1968        Gaily, Gaily/Chicago, Chicago [Norman Jewison] c

1968        A Dream of Kings [Daniel Mann] c

1969        The Moonshine War [Richard Quine] p/c

1970        The Andromeda Strain [Robert Wise] p (35mm & 70bu)/c

1970        Kotch [Jack Lemmon] c

1971        Hammersmith Is Out [Peter Ustinov] c

1971        When the Legends Die [Stuart Millar] c

1971        The Mechanic/Killer of Killers [Michael Winner] c; ph European seq: Robert Paynter

1972        Black Gunn [Robert Hartford-Davis] c

1972        Soylent Green [Richard Fleischer] p/c; spec pfx: Robert Hoag & Matthew Yuricich; spec vfx: Augie Lohman

1973        The Harrad Experiment [Ted Post] c

1973        Battle for the Planet of the Apes [J. Lee Thompson] p/c; spec pfx: L.B. Abbott

1973        The Terminal Man [Mike Hodges] c

1973        The Don Is Dead/Beautiful But Deadly/The Deadly Kiss [Richard Fleischer] c

1973        Mr. Majestyk [Richard Fleischer] c

1974        Mandingo [Richard Fleischer (replaced Michael Campus)] c

1974        Harrad Summer/Love All Summer/Student Union [Steven H. Stern] c

1975        I Wonder Who's Killing Her Now/Kill My Wife Please [Steven H. Stern] c

1975        Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood [Michael Winner] c

1976        King Kong [John Guillermin] p/c; add pfx: Harold E. Wellman; pfx superv: Frank Van der Veer

1976        That's Action [G. David Schine] b&w/c; doc/?m

1977        Who'll Stop the Rain/Dog Soldiers [Karel Reisz] c; addph: Ronnie Taylor & (uncred) Hiro Narita

1977        The Fury [Brian De Palma] c

1977        Tilt [Rudy Durand] c

1978        Firepower [Michael Winner] c; 2uc; ph: Robert Paynter & Dick Kratina

1978        Star Trek - The Motion Picture [Robert Wise] p (35mm & 70bu)/c; 2uc: Bernie Abramson; addph: Jim Dickson, Bruce

                    Logan & Charles F. Wheeler; vfx ph: Robert Elswit, Thomas Hollister, Greg Kimble, Ron Nathan & Michael Sweeney;

                    spec pfx superv: John Dykstra; optical ph: Mark Freund; 'The Director's Edition' was released in 2001

1979        Lovespell/Tristan and Isolde/Summer of the Falcon [Tom Donovan] c

1979        Touched by Love/To Elvis, with Love [Gus Trikonis] c

1980        The Competition [Joel Oliansky] c

1980        Body Heat [Lawrence Kasdan] c

1981        Death Wish II [Michael Winner] c; cph: Thomas Del Ruth

1982        Man, Woman and Child [Dick Richards] c; cph: Jean Tournier

1982        Breathless [Jim McBride] c; add seq ph: Bobby Byrne

1982        Deal of the Century [William Friedkin] c

1983        All of Me [Carl Reiner] c

1984        Hard to Hold [Larry Peerce] c

1984        Touch and Go [Robert Mandel] c; 2uc: Gregory Lundsgaard

1985        The Man with One Red Shoe [Stan Dragoti] p/c; 2uc: Jack Priestley

1986        Howard the Duck/Howard... A New Breed of Hero [Willard Huyck] c; 2uc: Bobby Byrne

1988        My Stepmother Is an Alien [Richard Benjamin] c

1989        Downtown [Richard Benjamin] c; 2uc: Robert C. Thomas

1990        Double Impact [Sheldon Lettich] c; 2uc: John McCallum

1995        Meet Wally Sparks [Peter Baldwin] c; addph: Robert Leveen

2000        The Return of the Thief of Bagdad [Gordon Hessler (English version) & Suresh Krishna (Indian version)] scheduled for

                    August start; status unknown (prod started in August 1999 under dir Douchan Gersi, who was replaced when new

                    producer took over; some footage was shot)

1943        The Return of the Vampire [Lew Landers] c.asst; ph: John Stumar & L.W. O'Connell

1943        None Shall Escape [André De Toth] c.asst; ph: Lee Garmes

1943        Cover Girl [Charles Vidor] clapper boy; ph: Rudolph Maté & Allen M. Davey

1943        Klondike Kate [William Castle] c.asst; ph: John Stumar

1943        Address Unknown [William Cameron Menzies] c.asst; ph: Rudolph Maté

1944        A Song to Remember [Charles Vidor] c.asst; ph: Tony Gaudio & Allen M. Davey

1944        Rough, Tough and Ready/Men of the Deep [Del Lord] c.asst; ph: George Meehan

1946        The Lady from Shanghai [Orson Welles] c.asst; ph: Charles Lawton Jr. & (uncred) Rudolph Maté & Joseph Walker

1946        To the Ends of the Earth [Robert Stevenson & (uncred) Sidney Buchman] c.asst; ph: Burnett Guffey

1947        It Had to Be You [Don Hartman & Rudolph Maté] c.asst; ph: Vincent Farrar & Rudolph Maté

1949        Cow Town [John English] c.asst; ph: William Bradford

1949        The Petty Girl [Henry Levin] c.asst; ph: William Snyder

1950        The Harlem Globetrotters [Phil Brown & (basketball seq) Will Jason] c.asst; ph: Philip Tannura

1950        The Magic Carpet [Lew Landers] c.asst; ph: Ellis W. Carter

1951        I Love Lucy [Marc Daniels; tv-series] c.asst; ph: Karl Freund

1952        The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show [various; tv-series] c.asst; ph: ?

1954        Pirates of Tripoli [Felix E. Feist] c.op; ph: Henry Freulich

1954        New Orleans Uncensored/Riot on Pier 6 [William Castle] c.op; ph: Henry Freulich

1954        It Came from Beneath the Sea [Robert Gordon] c.op; ph: Henry Freulich

1955        Count Three and Pray/The Calico Pony [George Sherman] c.asst; ph: Burnett Guffey

1955        Three Stripes in the Sun [Richard Murphy] c.asst; ph: Burnett Guffey

1955        Hot Blood/Bad Blood [Nicholas Ray] c.asst; ph: Ray June

1955        Storm Center [Daniel Taradash] c.asst; ph: Burnett Guffey

1955        Around the World in Eighty Days [Michael Anderson] co-c.op; ph: Lionel Lindon

1955        The Harder They Fall [Mark Robson] c.asst; ph: Burnett Guffey

1956        Rock Around the Clock [Fred F. Sears] c.op; ph: Benjamin H. Kline

1956        Nightfall [Jacques Tourneur] c.op; ph: Burnett Guffey

1956        The Old Man and the Sea [John Sturges (July-August 1957) & (uncred) Fred Zinnemann (April-July 1956)] c.op;

                    ph: James Wong Howe

1956        Hellcats of the Navy [Nathan Juran] c.op; ph: Irving Lippman

1957        Jeanne Eagels [George Sidney] c.op; ph: Robert Planck

1957        Pal Joey [George Sidney] c.op; ph: Harold Lipstein

1957        Escape from San Quentin [Fred F. Sears] c.op; ph: Benjamin H. Kline

1958        The Last Hurrah [John Ford] co-c.op; ph: Charles Lawton Jr.

1958        Bell Book and Candle [Richard Quine] c.op; ph: James Wong Howe

1958        Face of a Fugitive [Paul Wendkos] c.op; ph: Wilfrid M. Cline

1958        The Last Angry Man [Daniel Mann] c.op; ph: James Wong Howe

1959        Battle of the Coral Sea [Paul Wendkos] c.op; ph: Wilfrid M. Cline

1959        The Mountain Road [Daniel Mann] c.op; ph: Burnett Guffey

1959        Elmer Gantry [Richard Brooks] co-c.op; ph: John Alton

1959        Let No Man Write My Epitaph [Philip Leacock] c.op; ph: Burnett Guffey

1960        The Wackiest Ship in the Army [Richard Murphy] c.op; ph: Charles Lawton Jr.

1960        A Raisin in the Sun [Daniel Petrie] c.op; ph: Charles Lawton Jr.

1961        Experiment in Terror [Blake Edwards] c.op; ph: Philip Lathrop

1962        Days of Wine and Roses [Blake Edwards] c.op; ph: Philip Lathrop

1962        Birdman of Alcatraz [John Frankenheimer] c.op; ph: Burnett Guffey

1963        The Pink Panther [Blake Edwards] c.op; ph: Philip Lathrop