DENYS COOP

GREAT CINEMATOGRAPHERS

C.op James Devis - dir Otto Preminger -DC - "Rosebud" [1974]

DENYS COOP

Born: 20 July 1920, Reading, Berkshire, UK, as Denys Neil Coop.

Died: 16 August 1981, London, UK.

Career: Entered the film industry at the age of 16 under apprenticeship to Freddie Young at Elstree Studios. Worked at Pinewood Studios and Denham Studios. Served in the Fleet Air Arm. Was transferred to the Army Kinematograph Service near the end of WW2. Re-entered the industry at Shepperton Studios under contract to Alexander Korda. Became freelance in 1956.

Ph commercials dir by Dick Clement, Tom Bussmann, a.o.

Was a member and president [1973-75] of the BSC.

His son Trevor [b. 1945] is a c.op.

Awards: BAFTA Film Award nom [1964] for 'Billy Liar'; BAFTA Film Award nom [1965] for 'King and Country'; BAFTA Film Award nom [1967] for 'Bunny Lake Is Missing'; 'Oscar' AA 'Special Achievement Award' [1978; shared] & BAFTA 'Michael Balcon Award' [1979; shared] for 'Superman'.

'Kordas, Reeds and [especially] visiting Yanks - it reads like a potted history of better class British cinema. Unfortunately there is no better class British cinema any more, and Denys Coop now films boring asylums and other vaults of horror. And there is also the question of the color. Without wishing to put down Coop's recent color work too drastically, it hasn't even remotely matched the perfectly measured blacks and whites of 'Bunny Lake Is Missing' or the additional greys of 'King and Country' and 'This Sporting Life'. British cinema will no doubt stick to the belief that color and only color is beautiful. Obviously, this is no fault of Coop's and quite probably he regrets the situation as much as we do.' [Markku Salmi in 'Film Dope', #8, October 1975.]

FILMS
1947	The Hangman Waits [A. Barr-Smith] b&w; 63m; int ph; ext ph: Fred Langdon
1961	The Girl on the Boat [Henry Kaplan] b&w
1961	Two and Two Make Six/A Change of Heart/The Girl Swappers [Freddie Francis] b&w; 2uc; ph: Desmond Dickinson & Ronnie Taylor
1962	A Kind of Loving [John Schlesinger] b&w
1962	This Sporting Life [Lindsay Anderson] b&w
1962	The Mind Benders [Basil Dearden] b&w

1963	Billy Liar [John Schlesinger] cs/b&w
1964	Of Human Bondage [Ken Hughes & (1 week) Bryan Forbes; dir add scenes (started the film): Henry Hathaway] b&w; addph; ph: Oswald Morris
1964	One Way Pendulum [Peter Yates] b&w
1964	King and Country [Joseph Losey] b&w
1964	Traitor's Gate [Freddie Francis] b&w; also German version 'Das Verrätertor'
1964	A Home of Your Own [Jay Lewis] b&w; short/42m
1964	Diamond Walkers/Die Jagd auf blaue Diamanten [Paul Martin] ts/c
1965	Bunny Lake Is Missing [Otto Preminger] p/b&w
1965	Drop Dead Darling/Arrivederci, Baby!/My Last Duchess [Ken Hughes] p/c; 2uc: Skeets Kelly
1966	The Double Man [Franklin Schaffner] c
1967	My Side of the Mountain [James B. Clark] p/c
1968	The Birthday Party [William Friedkin] c
1969	Ryan's Daughter [David Lean] sp70/c; co-2uc (e.g. storm seq dir by Roy Stevens); ph: Freddie Young
1970	The Executioner [Sam Wanamaker] p/c
1970	The Little Ark [James B. Clark] p/c; took over from A. Dempster; cph: Austin Dempster

1970	10 Rillington Place [Richard Fleischer] c
1971	The Darwin Adventure [Jack Couffer] p/c; natural history ph: Jack Couffer
1971	The Massacre of Glencoe [Austin Campbell] c; short/58m
1972	Asylum/House of Crazies [Roy Ward Baker] c
1972	The Vault of Horror/Further Tales from the Crypt/Tales from the Crypt, Part II [Roy Ward Baker] c
1973	...And Now the Screaming Starts!/Bride of Fengriffen [Roy Ward Baker] c
1974	Rosebud [Otto Preminger] p/c
1975	Inserts [John Byrum] c

[Right] with dir sfx Colin Chilvers [l] & dir model efx Derek Meddings [c] - "Superman"

1977	Superman [Richard Donner] p/c; creative dir process ph; ph: Geoffrey Unsworth
1979	Superman II [Richard Lester] p/c; flying unit ph; ph: Geoffrey Unsworth & Robert Paynter
1980	Venom [Piers Haggard (replaced Tobe Hooper)] c; addph; ph: Gilbert Taylor (replaced Anthony Richmond)

FILMS AS CAMERA ASSISTANT
1936	When Knights Were Bold [Jack Raymond] ph: Freddie Young
1936	Two's Company [Tim Whelan] ph: Freddie Young
1936	This'll Make You Whistle [Herbert Wilcox] ph: Freddie Young
1936	The Three Maxims/The Show Goes On [Herbert Wilcox] ph: Freddie Young
1936	Wings of the Morning [Harold Schuster] ph: Ray Rennahan
1937	London Melody/Girls in the Street/Look Out for Love [Herbert Wilcox] ph: Freddie Young
1937	The Gang Show/The Gang [Alfred Goulding] ph: Ernest Palmer
1937	Victoria the Great [Herbert Wilcox] ph: Freddie Young
1938	This Man Is News [David MacDonald] ph: Henry Harris
1938	Sixty Glorious Years/Queen of Destiny [Herbert Wilcox] ph: Freddie Young
1939	Good-bye, Mr. Chips [Sam Wood] ph: Freddie Young
1939	French Without Tears [Anthony Asquith] ph: Bernard Knowles
1939	Contraband/Blackout [Michael Powell] ph: Freddie Young
1939	The Thief of Bagdad [- An Arabian Fantasy in Technicolor] [Ludwig Berger, Michael Powell & Tim Whelan; (uncred) Zoltan Korda, William Cameron Menzies & Alexander Korda] ph: Georges Périnal; shooting was completed in the USA
1947	A Man About the House [Leslie Arliss] ph: Georges Périnal
1948	Bonnie Prince Charlie [Anthony Kimmins & (uncred) Alexander Korda] ph: Robert Krasker

FILMS AS CAMERA OPERATOR
1945	Think It Over [Roy Baker] ph: John Wilcox; prod Army Kinematograph Service
1947	An Ideal Husband [Alexander Korda] ph: Georges Périnal
1948	The Fallen Idol/The Lost Illusion [Carol Reed] ph: Georges Périnal
1948	That Dangerous Age/If This Be Sin [Gregory Ratoff] ph: Georges Périnal
1948	Britannia Mews/The Forbidden Street/Affairs of Adelaide [Jean Negulesco] ph: Georges Périnal

1948	The Third Man [Carol Reed] co-c.op; ph: Robert Krasker
1949	The Angel with the Trumpet/Angel with a Trumpet [Anthony Bushell] ph: Robert Krasker
1950	My Daughter Joy/Operation X [Gregory Ratoff] ph: Georges Périnal
1950	The Mudlark [Jean Negulesco] ph: Georges Périnal
1950	The Wonder Kid [Karl Hartl] ph: Robert Krasker & Günther Anders
1950	Entführung ins Glück [Karl Hartl] ph: Robert Krasker & Günther Anders; German version of 'The Wonder Kid'
1950	No Highway/No Highway in the Sky [Henry Koster] ph: Georges Périnal
1951	Lady Godiva Rides Again/Beauty Queen [Frank Launder] ph: Wilkie Cooper
1951	Home at Seven/Murder on Monday [Ralph Richardson] co-c.op; ph: Jack Hildyard & Ted Scaife
1951	Hotel Sahara [Ken Annakin] c.op (with ph David Harcourt); ph: D. Harcourt (+ c.op with ph Jack Hildyard) & J. Hildyard
1952	Who Goes There?/The Passionate Sentry [Anthony Kimmins] co-c.op; ph: Ted Scaife & John Wilcox
1952	The Sound Barrier/Breaking the Sound Barrier [David Lean] ph: Jack Hildyard
1952	The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan/The Great Gilbert and Sullivan [Sidney Gilliat] c.op 'A' unit; ph 'A' unit: Christopher Challis
1953	The Captain's Paradise/The Captain's Progress [Anthony Kimmins] loc c.op; ph: Ted Scaife
1953	The Beggar's Opera [Peter Brook] ph: Guy Green
1953	The Man Between [Carol Reed] co-c.op; ph: Desmond Dickinson
1953	Three Cases of Murder [George More O'Ferrall, David Eady & Wendy Toye] ph: Georges Périnal
1954	Aunt Clara [Anthony Kimmins] ph: C.M. Pennington-Richards
1954	The Man Who Loved Redheads [Harold French] ph: Georges Périnal
1955	Richard III [Laurence Olivier] ph: Otto Heller
1955	Safari [Terence Young] co-c.op; ph: John Wilcox
1955	Zarak/Zarak Khan [Terence Young & (uncred) Stuart Heisler] co-c.op; ph: Ted Moore, John Wilcox, Cyril Knowles & Ted McCord
1956	The Rising of the Moon [John Ford] ph: Robert Krasker

[Right] with dir Laurence Olivier - "The Prince and the Showgirl"

1956	The Prince and the Showgirl [Laurence Olivier] ph: Jack Cardiff
1957	Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan [Otto Preminger] ph: Georges Périnal
1957	Bonjour tristesse [Otto Preminger] ph: Georges Périnal
1957	tom thumb [George Pal] ph: Georges Périnal
1958	The Roots of Heaven [John Huston] ph: Oswald Morris
1958	Serious Charge/Immoral Charge/A Touch of Hell [Terence Young] c.op (studio); ph: Georges Périnal
1958	Look Back in Anger [Tony Richardson] ph: Oswald Morris
1959	Libel [Anthony Asquith] ph: Robert Krasker

[Center] with ph Oswald Morris [hat] and dir Carol Reed - "Our Man in Havana"

1959	Our Man in Havana [Carol Reed] ph: Oswald Morris
1960	Sons and Lovers [Jack Cardiff] ph: Freddie Francis
1960	The Entertainer [Tony Richardson] ph: Oswald Morris
1960	The Guns of Navarone [J. Lee Thompson (replaced Alexander Mackendrick before start of filming)] ph: Oswald Morris

1961

Lolita [Stanley Kubrick] ph: Oswald Morris