- Born
- Died
- Along with his better-known French counterpart Georges Méliès George Albert Smith was one of the first filmmakers to explore fictional and fantastic themes, often using surprisingly sophisticated special effects. His background was ideal--an established portrait photographer, he also had a long-standing interest in show business, running a tourist attraction in his native Brighton featuring a fortune teller. His films were among the first to feature such innovations as superimposition (Smith patented a double-exposure system in 1897), close-ups and scene transitions involving wipes and focus pulls. He also patented Kinemacolor--the world's first commercial cinema color system--in 1906, which was extremely successful for a time, despite the special equipment required to project it
- IMDb mini biography by: Michael Brooke <michael@everyman.demon.co.uk>
- Spouse
- Member of the Brighton set, a group of early experimental English filmmakers.
- Co-developer, with partner Charles Urban, of an early color process called Kinemacolor in 1906.
- Was the proprietor of St. Anne's Well Pleasure Garden in Hove.
- Was a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society
- His films were first distributed by the Warwick Trading Company, managed by American Charles Urban.
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