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Pioneering Czech cinematographer Ota (later anglicised to 'Otto') Heller started as a cinema usher and then worked as a projectionist at a cinema in Prague. He first came to prominence as a military reporter and cameraman on the Italian Front during World War I and was subsequently involved in filming the funeral of Emperor Franz Josef. After the war, he joined Pragafilm as full cinematographer and worked on numerous silent films in his own country. From the early 1930's, Heller was increasingly sought-after by German film producers. He settled in the U.K. in 1940 to evade the German annexation of Czechoslovakia and adopted British citizenship five years later.

Heller was much admired for his versatility and imaginative camera work on many diverse subjects (both in B&W and in colour), ranging from the 'noirish' I Became a Criminal (1947) to the gothically-lit Pushkin adaptation The Queen of Spades (1949); from colourful adventure subjects like The Crimson Pirate (1952) and His Majesty O'Keefe (1954), to the stylised austerity of Richard III (1955); from Ealing's classic The Ladykillers (1955) with its Hitchcockian camera tilts and angles, to the stark realism and drab exteriors of the Cold War in The Ipcress File (1965).

Heller was an instinctive cinematographer who lit solely by eye; nevertheless, he always carried with him a light meter, which he only pretended to use. According to <a class="ipc-md-link ipc-md-link--entity" href="/name/nm0000323/?ref_=nmtrv_trv">Michael Caine</a>, who worked with Heller on <a class="ipc-md-link ipc-md-link--entity" href="/title/tt0059319/?ref_=nmtrv_trv">The Ipcress File (1965)</a>, nobody knew that Heller never actually used the light meter until after his death, when it was discovered that the meter wasn&#39;t operational.

Heller, a Jew, fled Germany late in 1939 when one of his camera operators had joined the S.S. The operator told him to leave Germany. Heller asked &quot;When?&quot; He replied, &quot;Right now.&quot;.

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Otto Heller

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