Early Life and Career
Morris grew up in what was then Middlesex (now the London Borough of Hillingdon), and attended the Bishopshalt School. His interest in the cinema began at an early age; during summer vacations, he would work as a projectionist at the local movie theatre. Dropping out in 1932, he started working in the film industry at Wembley Studios as an unpaid gofer for Michael Powell, among others, eventually graduating to the positions of clapper boy and camera assistant on quota quickies. His career was interrupted by World War II, during which he served as a bomber pilot with the RAF, achieving the rank of Flight Lieutenant and winning both the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Force Cross . After leaving the service, he joined Pinewood Studios as an assistant to such people as Ronald Neame and David Lean at their company Cineguild, before acting as director of photography (on the film Golden Salamander) for the first time in 1949. Neame has referred to Morris as "probably the greatest cameraman in the world". In the 1960 film of John Osborne's The Entertainer, on which Morris was the cinematographer, his name was incorporated into the story in one scene where a radio transmission mentioned the fictional "Sergeant Ossie Morris".
Morris collaborated with film director John Huston on eight films, beginning with Moulin Rouge in 1952. Although his previous experience with Technicolor had been limited, he devised many stylish effects - through the use of diffused and filtered light, fog, and bold color choices - for the film, and his innovations drew critical praise from the critics. He received three nominations for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography, for his work on the musicals Oliver! (1968), Fiddler on the Roof (1971), and The Wiz (1978), and won the award for his work on Fiddler on the Roof. Morris' brother Reginald Herbert Morris was also a cinematographer based in Canada.
Morris was named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1998. He published his memoirs, Huston, We Have a Problem: A Kaleidoscope of Filmmaking Memories (ISBN 978-0810857063), in 2006.He is featured in the book Conversations with Cinematographers by David A.Ellis, published by Scarecrow Press.
Read more about this topic: Oswald Morris
Famous quotes containing the words early, life and/or career:
“Franklin said once in one of his inspired flights of malignity—
Early to bed and early to rise
Make a man healthy and wealth and wise.
As if it were any object to a boy to be healthy and wealthy and wise on such terms.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“A serious problem in America is the gap between academe and the mass media, which is our culture. Professors of humanities, with all their leftist fantasies, have little direct knowledge of American life and no impact whatever on public policy.”
—Camille Paglia (b. 1947)
“I began my editorial career with the presidency of Mr. Adams, and my principal object was to render his administration all the assistance in my power. I flattered myself with the hope of accompanying him through [his] voyage, and of partaking in a trifling degree, of the glory of the enterprise; but he suddenly tacked about, and I could follow him no longer. I therefore waited for the first opportunity to haul down my sails.”
—William Cobbett (1762–1835)