- Born
- Died
- Birth nameFrederick Archibald Young
- Freddie Young was a British cinematographer. He is best known for his work on David Lean's films Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Doctor Zhivago (1965) and Ryan's Daughter (1970), all three of which won him Academy Awards for Best Cinematography.
Young was an cinematographer on 130 films, including Goodbye, Mr Chips (1939), 49th Parallel (1941), Ivanhoe (1952), Lust for Life (1956), The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958), Lord Jim (1965), You Only Live Twice (1967) and Nicholas and Alexandra (1971).
He was also the first British cinematographer to film in CinemaScope.
Young died from natural causes in 1998 at the age of 96.
In 2003, a survey conducted by the International Cinematographers Guild placed Young among the ten most influential cinematographers in history.
- IMDb mini biography by: Pedro Borges - Born 7 October 1902 Freddie was the 7th of 8 children to Ann and Henry Isaac who hired and trained coach horses. His siblings included sister Wyn and brother Charles. He was educated at Ellersley Road School, Shepherds Bush, London, leaving at 14 to become an apprentice lab technician at Gaumont British Studios. At 18 he was promoted to assistant cameraman at £5 a week. In 1922 he was working on Rob Roy in Scotland and volunteered to be a stuntman at an extra 10/- to fall 40 feet into a sheet held by 16 men over a load of hay. He then became a news cameraman covering the first cup final in 1923, He supervised the filming of Elstrees first British talkie White Cargo then in 1937 his first feature in colour Victoria the Great. In 1939 he was working on army training films then after the war he spent 15 years as MGM chief cameraman during which time he got his first Academy Award nomination for Ivanhoe .For Dr Zhivago he used a blue filter to make the rooms seem cold marble dust for snow sculpted candles for icicles while the snow on Rod Steiger was salt and shaving cream. He didn't direct his first film until he was 80. He has 2 children David and Barbara His 2nd marriage was to assistant film editor June Mander
- IMDb mini biography by: Tonyman 5
- SpousesJoan Morduch(1964 - December 1, 1998) (his death, 1 child)Marjorie Gaffney(1927 - July 26, 1963) (her death, 2 children)
- One of eight children of an impoverished family. He was forced to leave school at age 14 to work in a munitions factory, making hand grenades.
- His first film work was as a lab assistant at Gaumont Studios. He eventually became lab manager. When Gaumont closed down, he joined British & Dominions. During World War II he made training films and documentaries for the Army Film Unit. At his peak he was head cinematographer of MGM's British section. His best work was for director David Lean.
- Invented the process of pre-exposing colour film (pre-fogging) to mute the colours. This was first used on The Deadly Affair (1967).
- He was awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 1970 Queen's Honours List for his services to film.
- He contributed with the cinematography of five films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939), The 49th Parallel (1941), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Doctor Zhivago (1965) and Nicholas and Alexandra (1971). Of those, Lawrence of Arabia (1962) is a winner in the category.
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