IEC
Born: 22 October 1912, Merced, Calif., USA, as Philip H. Lathrop.
Died: 12 April 1995, Los Angeles, Calif., USA.
Career: Entered the industry in 1934 as film loader in the camera department at Universal Studios. In 1938 he became 2nd asst working with doph Joseph Valentine. Became c.op working with doph Russell Metty for 9 years. Became doph in 1957 shooting live-action seq at Walter Lantz' animation studio.
Was a member of the ASC.
Awards: 'Oscar' AA nom [1964; b&w] for 'The Americanization of Emily'; 'Oscar' AA nom [1974] for 'Earthquake'; 'Emmy' Award nom [1984] for 'Celebrity' [part III]; 'Emmy' Award [1985] for 'Malice in Wonderland'; 'Emmy' Award nom [1986] for 'Picking Up the Pieces'; 'Emmy' Award [1987] & ASC Award [1988] for 'Christmas Snow'; 'Emmy' Award nom [1988] & ASC Award [1989] for 'Little Girl Lost'; ASC Lifetime Achievement Award [1992]; SOC Award [1999; posthumously] for the opening scene of 'Touch of Evil'.
Philip H. Lathrop began his
career as camera operator on the Irving Reis film 'All My Sons', working
with cinematographer Russell Metty as he did ten years later on Orson Welles's 'A
Touch of Evil'. The two pictures, in particular the film which marked
Welles's return to Hollywood in 1957, proved a valuable training ground for
Lathrop, whose own career as a director of photography took off in the same
year. In his long career, Lathrop developed a reputation for his detailed
approach to lighting and camera placement, and for his skill with widescreen
technology in beautifully photographed films such as Blake Edwards's 'The
Pink Panther' [1963]. Lathrop worked several times with Edwards, and
the reliable, though not always very inspiring films on which they collaborated
are notable for the quality of their photography.
Lathrop's most impressive work as a cinematographer came in the 1960s. His particular visual style seemed to epitomize the times, giving a glossy, dense feel to tough films like John Boorman's excellent thriller, 'Point Blank', and a dreamy atmosphere to strange comic offerings like 'The Americanization of Emily', for which he received an Oscar nomination. 'The Cincinnati Kid', which stars Edward G. Robinson and Steve McQueen as opposing poker players 'The Man' and 'The Kid', displays Lathrop's skills at their best, creating a shiny, disconcerting surface to the images that is not unlike the 'Photorealist' paintings that became popular at the same time. Ten years later, Lathrop's style gave an air of quality to films at the end of their era, such as Sam Peckinpah's 'The Killer Elite'. Lathrop went on to be involved in several well-regarded projects, yet in the 1970s most of his work was on films that have since come to embody Hollywood's shortcomings in that period. Commercial movies such as the 'Airport' series of films, and disaster movies such as 'Earthquake' [for which Lathrop received his second Oscar nomination] almost became parodies of themselves with their ever more improbable story lines and predictable dramatic twists.
Lathrop's talent was largely stifled by the demands of the studios in the 1970s, and opportunities for outstanding photography became increasingly limited. Yet despite the overall weakness of the commercial projects he was involved with later in his career, Lathrop's work remained of a high standard, often rescuing films with little else to recommend them. Although he ended his career with a series of limp TV movies, Lathrop will be remembered for his contribution to the 'look' of Hollywood cinema in the 1960s. [From article by Chris Routledge on the filmreference.com website.]
FILMS | |
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1957 |
Money, Women and Guns [Richard Bartlett] cs/c |
1957 |
Wild Heritage/Death Rides His Trail [Charles Haas] cs/c |
1957 |
Girls on the Loose [Paul Henreid] b&w |
1957 |
Live Fast, Die Young [Paul Henreid] b&w; spph: Clifford Stine |
1958 |
The Monster of Piedras Blancas [Irvin Berwick] b&w |
1958 |
Cry Tough [Paul Stanley] b&w; cph: Irving Glassberg |
1958 |
The Saga of Hemp Brown [Richard Carlson] cs/c |
1958 |
The Perfect Furlough/Strictly for Pleasure [Blake Edwards] cs/c; spph: Clifford Stine |
1959 |
The Private Lives of Adam and Eve [Albert Zugsmith & Mickey Rooney] b&w (present) & c (fantasy seq) |
1960 |
Breakfast at Tiffany's [Blake Edwards] c; uncred cph; ph: Franz Planer |
1961 |
Lonely Are the Brave [David Miller] p/b&w |
1961 |
Experiment in Terror/Grip of Fear [Blake Edwards] b&w |
1962 |
Days of Wine and Roses [Blake Edwards] b&w |
1962 |
Dime with a Halo [Boris Sagal] b&w |
1963 |
The Pink Panther [Blake Edwards] tr (+ 70bu)/c |
1963 |
Twilight of Honor/The Charge Is Murder [Boris Sagal] p/b&w |
1963 |
Soldier in the Rain [Ralph Nelson] b&w |
1963 |
The Americanization of Emily/Emily [Arthur Hiller] b&w; addph: Christopher Challis; spec vfx: J. McMillan Johnson |
1964 |
36 Hours [George Seaston] p/b&w |
1964 |
Girl Happy [Boris Sagal] p/c |
1964 |
In Harm's Way [Otto Preminger] p/b&w; 2uc; ph: Loyal Griggs |
1964 |
The Cincinnati Kid [Norman Jewison (replaced Sam Peckinpah)] c |
1965 |
Never Too Late [Bud Yorkin] p/c; 2uc: Ed Horton |
1965 |
What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? [Blake Edwards] p/c; 2uc: Harold Wellman |
[Left] with dir Elliot Silverstein - "The Happening"
1966 |
The Happening [Elliot Silverstein] c; 2uc: Howard Winner |
1966 |
Don't Make Waves [Alexander Mackendrick] p/c; skydiving ph: Bob Buquor |
1966 |
Gunn [Blake Edwards] c |
1966 |
Point Blank [John Boorman] p/c |
1967 |
Finian's Rainbow [Francis Ford Coppola] p70/c |
1968 |
I Love You, Alice B. Toklas!/Kiss My Butterfly [Hy Averback] c |
1968 |
The Illustrated Man [Jack Smight] p/c |
1968 |
The Gypsy Moths [John Frankenheimer] c; aph: Carl Boenisch |
1969 |
They Shoot Horses, Don't They? [Sydney Pollack] p/c |
1969 |
The Hawaiians/Master of the Islands [Tom Gries] p/c; cph: Lucien Ballard (replaced by P. Lathrop) |
1969 |
The Traveling Executioner [Jack Smight] p/c |
1970 |
Rabbit, Run [Jack Smight] p/c |
1970 |
The All-American Boy [Charles Eastman] p/c |
1971 |
Wild Rovers [Blake Edwards] p/c; 106m & 136m; 2uc: Frank Stanley |
[Left] with Ernest Lehman [pointing] "Portnoy's Complaint"
Photo Thys Ockersen Archive
1971 |
Portnoy's Complaint [Ernest Lehman] p/c |
1971 |
Every Little Crook and Nanny [Cy Howard] c |
1972 |
The Thief Who Came to Dinner [Bud Yorkin] c |
1972 |
Lolly-Madonna XXX/The Lolly-Madonna War [Richard Sarafian] p/c |
1973 |
Mame [Gene Saks] p/c; spec pfx: Albert Whitlock |
1973 |
Together Brothers [William A. Graham] c; cph: Charles Rosher Jr. |
1973 |
The Prisoner of Second Avenue [Melvin Frank] p/c |
"Earthquake"
1974 |
Earthquake [Mark Robson] p/c; miniature ph: Clifford Stine; spec pfx: Albert Whitlock |
1974 |
Airport 1975 [Jack Smight] p/c; 2uc: Rex Metz; Washington ph: Richard Kratina |
1974 |
Hard Times/The Streetfighter [Walter Hill] p/c |
1975 |
The Killer Elite [Sam Peckinpah] p/c; 2uc: Duke Callaghan |
1975 |
The Black Bird [David Giler] c |
1976 |
Swashbuckler/The Scarlet Buccaneer [James Goldstone] p/c; spec pfx: Albert Whitlock |
1976 |
Airport '77 [Jerry Jameson] p/c; 2uc: Rexford Metz |
1977 |
The Driver [Walter Hill] p/c; 91m & 131m |
1977 |
A Different Story [Paul Aaron] c; 2uc: Michael Werk |
1978 |
Moment by Moment [Jane Wagner] p/c |
1978 |
Foolin' Around [Richard T. Heffron] c |
1978 |
The Concorde - Airport '79/Airport '80: The Concorde/S.O.S. Concorde [David Lowell Rich] c; spph: Clifford Stine |
1979 |
Little Miss Marker [Walter Bernstein] c |
1979 |
Loving Couples [Jack Smight] c |
1980 |
A Change of Seasons [Richard Lang & (uncred) Noel Black] c; 2uc: Dick Kratina, Rexford Metz & Joe Jackman; ski ph: Scott Miller |
1980 |
All Night Long [Jean-Claude Tramont] c |
1981 |
Hammett [Wim Wenders (replaced Nicolas Roeg)] c; ph reshoots (1981); ph: Joseph Biroc (1980) |
1982 |
[National Lampoon's] Class Reunion [Michael Miller] c |
1982 |
Jekyll & Hyde... Together Again [Jerry Belson] c |
1986 |
Deadly Friend [Wes Craven] c |
1987 |
Ray's Male Heterosexual Dance Hall [Bryan Gordon] c; short/23m |
TELEVISION | |
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1957 |
The Woody Woodpecker Show [various] anim + live-action series, 1957-58 (ABC-tv); live-action ph (host seq ?) |
1958 |
Peter Gunn [ep #1 'The Kill' dir by Blake Edwards + ep #11-13, #15-26 & #29-38 dir by various] 114-part detective series/b&w, 1958-60 (NBC-tv) & 1960-61 (ABC-tv); 1st season, 1958-59; other ph: Arthur Arling & Maury Gertsman |
1958 |
Rawhide [ep #1 'Incident of the Tumbleweed Wagon' dir by Richard Whorf (RW), #2 'Incident at Alabaster Plain' dir by RW, #3 'Incident with an Executioner' dir by Charles Marquis Warren (CMW), #4 'Incident of the Widowed Dove' dir by Ted Post (TP), #5 'Incident on the Edge of Madness' dir by Andrew V. McLaglen (AVM), #6 'Incident of the Power and the Plow' dir by AVM, #8 'Incident West of Lano' dir by CMW, #9 'Incident of the Town in Terror' dir by TP & #10 'Incident of the Golden Calf' dir by Jesse Hibbs] 217-part western series/b&w, 1959-66 (CBS-tv); 1st season, 1959; other ph: John M. Nickolaus Jr. |
1958 |
Steve Canyon [11 ep dir by various] 34-part adventure series/b&w, 1958-59 (NBC-tv); other ph: Paul Ivano (pilot), Arthur Arling (16 ep), Kenneth Peach (3 ep), Maury Gertsman (2 ep) & Russell Metty (1 ep) |
1959 |
Mr. Lucky [ep #1 'The Magnificent Bribe' dir by Blake Edwards + 33 ep dir by various] 34-part adventure series/b&w, 1959-60 (CBS-tv) |
1959 |
The Swamp Fox [ep #1 'The Birth of the Swamp Fox' dir by Harry Keller (HK) & #2 'Brother Against Brother' dir by HK] 8-part 'Walt Disney Presents - Frontierland'-series, 1959-61; other ph: Gordon Avil (2 ep), Floyd Crosby (2 ep) & Lucien Ballard (2 ep) |
1959 |
Peter Gunn [ep #41, #43-50, #52-54 & #56-76 dir by various] 2nd season, 1959-60; other ph: Ellis Carter, Harkness Smith, a.o.; see 1958 |
1960 |
Hong Kong [ep #1 'Clear for Action' dir by Ida Lupino + 23 ep dir by various] unaired pilot + 26-part adventure series/b&w, 1960-61 (ABC-tv); other ph: Ted McCord, Frank Phillips & Robert Hauser |
1960 |
Perry Mason [ep #4.23 'The Case of the Torrid Tapestry' dir by John English & #4.24 'The Case of the Violent Vest' dir by Lewis Allen] 271-part lawyer series/b&w, 1957-66 (CBS-tv); 4th season, 1960-61; other ph: Robert Hager, Frank Redman, John M. Nickolaus Jr., a.o. |
1962 |
Hooray for Love [Jerry Hopper] unsold pilot/b&w; shown on CBS-tv 'Vacation Playhouse' (ep #8, September 1963) |
1962 |
Combat! [ep #11 (originally the pilot) 'A Day in June' dir by Boris Sagal] 152-part war drama series/b&w-c, 1962-67 (ABC-tv); 1st season/b&w, 1962-63; other ph: Robert Hauser & Emmett Bergholz |
1963 |
The Greatest Showman [Boris Sagal] special on dir Cecil B. DeMille; for NBC-tv |
1964 |
Profiles in Courage [ep dir by various] 26-part biography series/b&w, 1964-65 (NBC-tv) |
1975 |
Three for the Road [pilot dir by Boris Sagal] 13-part adventure series, 1975 (CBS-tv) |
1975 |
What Now, Catherine Curtis? [Charles Walters] special/50m (3 seg: 'First Night', 'First Affair' & 'First Love') |
1976 |
Never Con a Killer/The Feather & Father Gang [Buzz Kulik] tvm; cph: David M. Walsh |
1977 |
Captains Courageous [Harvey Hart] tvm |
1983 |
Celebrity [Paul Wendkos] 3-part miniseries |
1984 |
Malice in Wonderland/The Rumor Mill [Gus Trikonis] tvm |
1985 |
Between the Darkness and the Dawn [Peter Levin] tvm |
1985 |
Love on the Run [Gus Trikonis] tvm |
1985 |
Picking Up the Pieces/First Strike on Sycamore Lane [Paul Wendkos] tvm |
1985 |
Mr. and Mrs. Ryan [Peter H. Hunt] tvm |
1986 |
Christmas Snow [Gus Trikonis] tvm/60m |
1986 |
The Liberators [Kenneth Johnson] tvm; ep 'Disney Sunday Movie' |
1987 |
Six Against the Rock [Paul Wendkos] tvm |
1987 |
Little Girl Lost [Sharron Miller] tvm; ep 'General Foods Golden Showcase' |
FILMS AS CAMERA OPERATOR | |
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1935 |
East of Java/Java Seas [George Melford] c.asst; ph: Norbert Brodine |
1941 |
Saboteur [Alfred Hitchcock] c.asst; ph: Joseph Valentine; filmed 1941-42 |
1942 |
Shadow of a Doubt [Alfred Hitchcock] ph: Joseph Valentine |
1946 |
The Cat Creeps [Erle C. Kenton] c.asst; ph: George Robinson |
1947 |
Letter from an Unknown Woman [Max Ophüls] co-c.asst; ph: Franz Planer |
1947 |
All My Sons [Irving Reis] ph: Russell Metty |
1947 |
Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid [Irving Pichel] co-c.op; ph: Russell Metty; filmed 1947-48 |
1948 |
Kiss the Blood Off My Hands/Blood On My Hands [Norman Foster] c.asst; ph: Russell Metty |
1948 |
You Gotta Stay Happy [H.C. Potter] c.asst; ph: Russell Metty |
1948 |
The Lady Gambles [Michael Gordon] co-c.op; ph: Russell Metty; filmed 1948-49 |
1950 |
Peggy [Frederick De Cordova] ph: Russell Metty |
1950 |
The Desert Hawk [Frederick De Cordova] ph: Russell Metty |
1950 |
Wyoming Mail [Reginald Le Borg] ph: Russell Metty |
1950 |
Little Egypt/Chicago Masquerade [Frederick De Cordova] ph: Russell Metty |
1951 |
The Raging Tide [George Sherman] ph: Russell Metty |
1951 |
Flame of Araby/Flame of the Desert [Charles Lamont] ph: Russell Metty |
1951 |
The Treasure of Lost Canyon [Ted Tetzlaff] ph: Russell Metty |
1951 |
Bronco Buster [Budd Boetticher] ph: Clifford Stine |
1951 |
Scarlet Angel [Sidney Salkow] ph: Russell Metty |
1952 |
Against All Flags [George Sherman] ph: Russell Metty |
1952 |
Yankee Buccaneer [Frederick De Cordova] ph: Russell Metty |
1952 |
[Willie and Joe] Back at the Front/Willie and Joe in Tokyo [George Sherman] ph: Clifford Stine |
1952 |
Seminole [Budd Boetticher] ph: Russell Metty |
1952 |
The Man from the Alamo [Budd Boetticher] ph: Russell Metty |
1952 |
The Veils of Bagdad [George Sherman] ph: Russell Metty |
1952 |
It Happens Every Thursday [Joseph Pevney] ph: Russell Metty; filmed 1952-53 |
1955 |
All That Heaven Allows [Douglas Sirk] ph: Russell Metty |
1956 |
Man Afraid [Harry Keller] ph: Russell Metty |
P. Lathrop - Charlton Heston - Orson Welles - "Touch of Evil"
1957 |
Touch of Evil [Orson Welles] co-c.op; ph: Russell Metty |