Best Cinematography (Black-and-White)

The Academy Award for Best Cinematography is an Academy Award awarded each year to a cinematographer for work in one particular motion picture.

History[]

In its first film season, 1927–28, this award (like others such as the acting awards) was not tied to a specific film; all of the work by the nominated cinematographers during the qualifying period was listed after their names. The problem with this system became obvious the first year, since Karl Struss and Charles Rosher were nominated for their work together on Sunrise but three other films shot individually by either Rosher or Struss were also listed as part of the nomination. The second year, 1929, there were no nominations at all, although the Academy has a list of unofficial titles which were under consideration by the Board of Judges. In the third year, 1930, films, not cinematographers, were nominated, and the final award did not show the cinematographer's name.

Finally, for the 1931 awards, the modern system in which individuals are nominated for a single film each was adopted in all profession-related categories. From 1939 to 1967 (with the single exception of 1957), there were also separate awards for color and for black-and-white cinematography. Since then, the only black-and-white film to win is Schindler's List (1993).

Floyd Crosby won the award for Tabu in 1931, which was the last silent film to win in this category. Hal Mohr won the only write-in Academy Award ever, in 1935 for A Midsummer Night's Dream. Mohr was also the first person to win for both black-and-white and color cinematography.

No winners are lost, although some of the earliest nominees (and of the unofficial nominees of 1928-29) are lost, including The Devil Dancer (1927), The Magic Flame (1927), and Four Devils (1928). The Right to Love (1930) is incomplete, and Sadie Thompson (1927) is incomplete and partially reconstructed with stills.

Nominees and winners[]

1927 - 1938: The Category was called Best Cinematography

1930s

12th Academy Awards (1939)

Winner: Wuthering Heights — Gregg Toland
Nominees: First Love — Joseph Valentine^[1]; The Great Victor Herbert — Victor Milner^[1]; Gunga Din — Joseph H. August^[1]; Intermezzo — Gregg Toland^[1]; Juarez — Tony Gaudio^[1]; Lady of the Tropics — George Folsey^[1]; Of Mice and Men — Norbert Brodine^[1]; Only Angels Have Wings — Joseph Walker^[1]; The Rains Came — Arthur Miller^[1]; Stagecoach — Bert Glennon

1940s

13th Academy Awards (1940)

Winner: Rebecca — George Barnes
Nominees: Abe Lincoln in Illinois — James Wong Howe; All This, and Heaven Too — Ernest Haller; Arise, My Love — Charles B. Lang, Jr.; Boom Town — Harold Rosson; Foreign Correspondent — Rudolph Maté; The Letter — Gaetano (Tony) Gaudio; The Long Voyage Home — Gregg Toland; Spring Parade — Joseph Valentine; Waterloo Bridge — Joseph Ruttenberg

14th Academy Awards (1941)

Winner: How Green Was My Valley — Arthur Miller
Nominees: The Chocolate Soldier — Karl Freund; Citizen Kane — Gregg Toland; Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde — Joseph Ruttenberg; Here Comes Mr. Jordan — Joseph Walker; Hold Back the Dawn — Leo Tover; Sergeant York — Sol Polito; Sun Valley Serenade — Edward Cronjager; Sundown — Charles Lang; That Hamilton Woman — Rudolph Maté

15th Academy Awards (1942)

Winner: Mrs. Miniver — Joseph Ruttenberg
Nominees: Kings Row — James Wong Howe; The Magnificent Ambersons — Stanley Cortez; Moontide — Charles Clarke; The Pied Piper — Edward Cronjager; The Pride of the Yankees — Rudolph Maté; Take a Letter, Darling — John Mescall; The Talk of the Town — Ted Tetzlaff; Ten Gentlemen from West Point — Leon Shamroy; This Above All — Arthur Miller

16th Academy Awards (1943)

Winner: The Song of Bernadette — Arthur Miller
Nominees: Air Force — James Wong Howe, Elmer Dyer, Charles Marshall; Casablanca — Arthur Edeson; Corvette K-225 — Tony Gaudio; Five Graves to Cairo — John Seitz; The Human Comedy — Harry Stradling; Madame Curie — Joseph Ruttenberg; The North Star — James Wong Howe; Sahara — Rudolph Maté; So Proudly We Hail! — Charles Lang

17th Academy Awards (1944)

Winner: Laura — Joseph LaShelle
Nominees: Double Indemnity — John Seitz; Dragon Seed — Sidney Wagner; Gaslight — Joseph Ruttenberg; Going My Way — Lionel Lindon; Lifeboat — Glen MacWilliams; Since You Went Away — Stanley Cortez, Lee Garmes; Thirty Seconds over Tokyo — Robert Surtees, Harold Rosson; The Uninvited — Charles Lang; The White Cliffs of Dover — George Folsey

18th Academy Awards (1945)

Winner: The Picture of Dorian Gray — Harry Stradling
Nominees: The Keys of the Kingdom — Arthur Miller; The Lost Weekend — John F. Seitz; Mildred Pierce — Ernest Haller; Spellbound — George Barnes

19th Academy Awards (1946)

Winner: Anna and the King of Siam — Arthur Miller
Nominees: The Green Years — George Folsey

20th Academy Awards (1947)

Winner: Great Expectations — Guy Green
Nominees: The Ghost and Mrs. Muir — Charles Lang, Jr.; Green Dolphin Street — George Folsey

21st Academy Awards (1948)

Winner: The Naked City — William Daniels
Nominees: A Foreign Affair — Charles B. Lang, Jr.; I Remember Mama — Nicholas Musuraca; Johnny Belinda — Ted McCord; Portrait of Jennie — Joseph August

22nd Academy Awards (1949)

Winner: Battleground — Paul C. Vogel
Nominees: Champion — Frank Planer; Come to the Stable — Joseph LaShelle; The Heiress — Leo Tover; Prince of Foxes — Leon Shamroy

1950s

23rd Academy Awards (1950)

Winner: The Third Man — Robert Krasker
Nominees: All about Eve — Milton Krasner; The Asphalt Jungle — Harold Rosson; The Furies — Victor Milner; Sunset Blvd. — John F. Seitz

24th Academy Awards (1951)

Winner: A Place in the Sun — William C. Mellor
Nominees: Death of a Salesman — Frank Planer; The Frogmen — Norbert Brodine; Strangers on a Train — Robert Burks; A Streetcar Named Desire — Harry Stradling

25th Academy Awards (1952)

Winner: The Bad and the Beautiful — Robert Surtees
Nominees: The Big Sky — Russell Harlan; My Cousin Rachel — Joseph LaShelle; Navajo — Virgil E. Miller; Sudden Fear — Charles B. Lang, Jr.

26th Academy Awards (1953)

Winner: From Here to Eternity — Burnett Guffey
Nominees: The Four Poster — Hal Mohr; Julius Caesar — Joseph Ruttenberg; Martin Luther — Joseph C. Brun; Roman Holiday — Frank Planer, Henri Alekan

27th Academy Awards (1954)

Winner: On the Waterfront — Boris Kaufman
Nominees: The Country Girl — John F. Warren; Executive Suite — George Folsey; Rogue Cop — John Seitz; Sabrina — Charles Lang, Jr.

28th Academy Awards (1955)

Winner: The Rose Tattoo — James Wong Howe
Nominees: Blackboard Jungle — Russell Harlan; I'll Cry Tomorrow — Arthur E. Arling; Marty — Joseph LaShelle; Queen Bee — Charles Lang

29th Academy Awards (1956)

Winner: Somebody Up There Likes Me — Joseph Ruttenberg
Nominees: Baby Doll — Boris Kaufman; The Bad Seed — Hal Rosson; The Harder They Fall — Burnett Guffey; Stagecoach to Fury — Walter Strenge

1957: The category was named Best Cinematography

31st Academy Awards (1958)

Winner: The Defiant Ones — Sam Leavitt
Nominees: Desire under the Elms — Daniel L. Fapp; I Want to Live! — Lionel Lindon; Separate Tables — Charles Lang, Jr.; The Young Lions — Joe MacDonald

32nd Academy Awards (1959)

Winner: The Diary of Anne Frank — William C. Mellor
Nominees: Anatomy of a Murder — Sam Leavitt; Career — Joseph LaShelle; Some Like It Hot — Charles Lang, Jr.; The Young Philadelphians — Harry Stradling, Sr.

1960s

33rd Academy Awards (1960)

Winner: Sons and Lovers — Freddie Francis
Nominees: The Apartment — Joseph LaShelle; The Facts of Life — Charles B. Lang, Jr.; Inherit the Wind — Ernest Laszlo; Psycho — John L. Russell

34th Academy Awards (1961)

Winner: The Hustler — Eugen Shuftan
Nominees: The Absent Minded Professor — Edward Colman; The Children's Hour — Franz F. Planer; Judgment at Nuremberg — Ernest Laszlo; One, Two, Three — Daniel L. Fapp

35th Academy Awards (1962)

Winner: The Longest Day — Jean Bourgoin, Walter Wottitz, (Henri Persin)^[2]
Nominees: Birdman of Alcatraz — Burnett Guffey; To Kill a Mockingbird — Russell Harlan; Two for the Seesaw — Ted McCord; What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? — Ernest Haller

36th Academy Awards (1963)

Winner: Hud — James Wong Howe
Nominees: The Balcony — George Folsey; The Caretakers — Lucien Ballard; Lilies of the Field — Ernest Haller; Love with the Proper Stranger — Milton Krasner

37th Academy Awards (1964)

Winner: Zorba the Greek — Walter Lassally
Nominees: The Americanization of Emily — Philip H. Lathrop; Fate Is the Hunter — Milton Krasner; Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte — Joseph Biroc; The Night of the Iguana — Gabriel Figueroa

38th Academy Awards (1965)

Winner: Ship of Fools — Ernest Laszlo
Nominees: In Harm's Way — Loyal Griggs; King Rat — Burnett Guffey; Morituri — Conrad Hall; A Patch of Blue — Robert Burks

39th Academy Awards (1966)

Winner: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? — Haskell Wexler
Nominees: The Fortune Cookie — Joseph LaShelle; Georgy Girl — Ken Higgins; Is Paris Burning? — Marcel Grignon; Seconds — James Wong Howe

1967 - Present: The category is named Best Cinematography

Related Categories[]

Best Cinematography
Best Cinematography (Color)

Notes[]

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 ^1.3 ^1.4 ^1.5 ^1.6 ^1.7 ^1.8 THIS IS NOT AN OFFICIAL NOMINATION. Title was on a preliminary list of submissions/nominees from the studios from which the two official nominees (Stagecoach and Wuthering Heights) would be selected.
↑ Originally, the three names of Jean Bourgoin, Henri Persin and Walter Wottitz (as listed on the Official Screen Credits form) were announced as nominees for this film in this category. The credits from the film listed four Directors of Photography (in the following order, Mr. Persin, Mr. Wottitz, Pierre Levent and Mr. Bourgoin). The program for the Awards ceremony and even the official letter from Price Waterhouse with the results of the final voting for the awards listed the three names as winners in this category. At some point, the name of Henri Persin was dropped from the nomination, as his name has been "whited-out" from the official wording for the nomination certificates, and the nominations and winners lists the Academy publishes do not include his name. The Academy's records and files give no reason for this exclusion.

[12th-1] 1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 ^1.3 ^1.4 ^1.5 ^1.6 ^1.7 ^1.8 THIS IS NOT AN OFFICIAL NOMINATION. Title was on a preliminary list of submissions/nominees from the studios from which the two official nominees (Stagecoach and Wuthering Heights) would be selected.

[2] Originally, the three names of Jean Bourgoin, Henri Persin and Walter Wottitz (as listed on the Official Screen Credits form) were announced as nominees for this film in this category. The credits from the film listed four Directors of Photography (in the following order, Mr. Persin, Mr. Wottitz, Pierre Levent and Mr. Bourgoin). The program for the Awards ceremony and even the official letter from Price Waterhouse with the results of the final voting for the awards listed the three names as winners in this category. At some point, the name of Henri Persin was dropped from the nomination, as his name has been "whited-out" from the official wording for the nomination certificates, and the nominations and winners lists the Academy publishes do not include his name. The Academy's records and files give no reason for this exclusion.

[1]

[2]