American Cinematographer - June 2002 - 99
A
Cameraman
The late Wilkie Cooper, BSC proved his versatility
over the course of a long and accomplished career
behind the camera.
by Daniel Guenzel
Slocombe's
conducted for my
forth¬
the life
In a recent interview
coming book
the heart
on
and work of the late British
work is
so
to
were
dazzled in
their
sics
and
youth by the fantasy clas¬
The 7th Voyage of Sinbad
Jason and the Argonauts
Morris,
BSC,
remarked,
"Wilkie, you see, was a very
will
professional
cameraman,
unbelievably experienced, and
I admired him tremendously."
It was a remark very typical of
Cooper's
striking
color
photography of those beloved
Ray
Harryhausen films.
Cooper indeed made the
Morris:
scenes
short, sweet and
to
the
point, and stated frankly about
a
fellow artist and craftsman whose
career
had flourished with his
own.
Sadly, not long after the inter¬
view, Cooper succumbed to pneu¬
monia.
He died at age 90 on
December 15, 2001, and the art of
motion-picture photography lost
one of its most able practitioners.
Morris' comments were echoed by a
92 June 2002
might
getting at
of why Cooper's
enjoyable to watch.
Those who
cinematographer Wilkie
Cooper, BSC, an eminent
colleague of his, Oswald
remark
the closest
come
an
great
number of those who had
known
worked with
Cooper
during his career, which spanned
more than 60 years and nearly 100
feature films. Douglas Slocombe,
BSC recently offered this assessment
of Cooper: "I could always recognize
or
Wilkie's work. He made
alive."
scenes come
looked
no
"come alive," thanks to
imaginative
on
remember
doubt
those
use
of color. "I
pictures
as
pantomime," he once said, "and you
can do
anything with pantomime."
The pantomime shows that
inspired Cooper were traditional
Christmas entertainments for chil¬
dren that featured elaborate scenery
and stage effects. Starting with The
T^1 Voyage of Sinbad, Cooper would
American Cinematographer - June 2002
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