Bob Cummings' 100th Birthday

It was 100 years ago today that actor Robert Cummings, also known as Bob Cummings, was born in Joplin, Missouri. In the Forties Mr. Cummings appeared in such films as King's Row, Alfred Hitchcock's Saboteur, and in comedies such as The Devil and Miss Jones and Moon Over Miami. In the Fifties he appeared in such films as How to be Very, Very Popular and Hitchcock's Dial M For Murder. In the Sixties he appeared in such films as My Geisha,  Beach Party and  What a Way to Go. While Bob Cummings made many movies, he may have been best known for two sitcoms: The Bob Cummings Show and the short lived cult series My Living Doll.

Robert Cummings was born to Dr Charles Cummings, who was a surgeon at St. John's Hospital in Joplin and founded the Jasper County Tuberculosis Hospital in Webb City, Missouri. His mother, Ruth Cummings, was an ordained minister in the Science of the Mind. His godfather was Orville Wright, who taught  Mr. Cummings how to fly when he was attending Joplin High School. For a time he attended Drury College in Springfield, Missouri, but due to his interest in aeronautics he transferred to the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, he ran out of funds before he could graduate, due to the Stock Market Crash of 1929. Mr. Cummings discovered  the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City paid actors $14 a week and as a result he enrolled there.

In studying acting Robert Cummings would even master an upper class English accent, as English actors were in large demand in the United States at the time. He made his debut on Broadway in 1931 in the play The Roof, using the stage name Blade Stanhope Conway. Fittingly, he played an Englishman. Bob Cummings would later assume a Texan persona, using the stage name Brice Hutchins. It was under that name that he made his second appearance on Broadway, appearing in The Ziegfield Follies of 1934.

While Bob Cummings had success using pseudonyms and personas other than his own, it would be under his given name that he would find lasting success in Hollywood. He made his film debut in an uncredited role in the movie Seasoned Greetings in 1933. His first credited role would be in the 1936 Western Desert Gold. For the next several years he appeared in roles in B movies and in smaller roles in such major motion pictures as Wells Fargo (1937) and  The Texans (1938). His breakthrough role would be in the film Three Smart Girls Grow Up in 1939, which included him on the piano.

Robert Cummings would establish himself as an actor in such light comedies as The Devil and Miss Jones (1941) and It Started with Eve (1941). In many of his films Mr. Cummings played a gallant, but often bumbling young man. At the same time that he made his name in comedies, however, Bob Cummings also proved he could give great performances in dramas as well. Indeed, aside from the two movies he made with Alfred Hitchcock, his most famous film may well be King's Row (1942). In the film, Mr. Cummings played young physician Parris Mitchell. Not only was Mr.Cummings was one of the featured players in the film, but he was also the only native from the state in which the real King's Row was located. King's Row, the fictional town in Henry Bellamann's novel of the same name, was very thinly based on the town of Fulton, Missouri, where the Missouri State Mental Hospital is still located (it was the first mental hospital built west of the Mississippi). Bob Cummings also played the innocent aircraft worker Barry Kane, duped by spies in Alfred Hitcock's Saboteur (1942). Mr. Cummings appeared in comedies and drama alike throughout the Forties, including Flesh and Fantasy (1943) and The Accused (1949).

It would be in the late Forties that Mr. Cummings first appeared in the medium that would give him lasting fame. Bob Cummings made his debut on television in an episode of Sure as Fate in 1950. He also made two guest appearances on Your Show of Shows, one in 1950 and another in 1951. He also returned to Broadway, for the first time using his given name, in the play Faithfully Yours in 1951. In 1954 Mr. Cummings appeared as crime fiction writer Mark Halliday, who seeks to thwart the murderer in Dial M for Murder. He also appeared in the film How to Be Very, Very Popular (1955). Increasingly, however, Bob Cummings appeared on television. Throughout the Fifties he guest starred in such shows as Lux Video Theatre, Robert Montgomery Presents, Studio One (as Juror #8 in the original, television version of "Twelve Angry Men"), Playhouse 90, and The Twilight Zone. He received his first series in 1952 with the short lived series My Hero, in which he played a bumbling real estate agent. It would only last one season, but Mr. Cumming's second series would be much more successful.

The Bob Cummings Show debuted in January 1955 and ran until September 1959. The series is notable as being one of the first created by Paul Henning (a fellow Missouri native who would go onto create The Beverly Hillbillies) and as being the first series ever to debut as a midseason replacement. It was also the first series for Dwayne Hickman, who played Bob's nephew on the show. He would go onto more success in the series The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. On the show Bob Cummings played Bob Collins, a playboy and professional photographer . The series also starred Rosemary DeCamp as Bob's sister and Ann B., Davis as his secretary. The series would not only do well in its first run, but would have a phenomenal syndication run. It would be repeated into the Eighties and can still be seen on some channels to this day.

In 1961 Robert Cummings would star in another sitcom, The New Bob Cummings Show. In this series Mr. Cummings played Bob Carson, a pilot and amateur detective. Unfortunately, the series would not prove to be successful, lasting only one season. Mr. Cummings would appear in major motion pictures in the Sixties. In 1962 he appeared in the film My Geisha. In 1964 he played the pivotal role of the poor psychiatrist to whom Shirley MacLaine's character relates the untimely demises of her husband in What a Way to Go! He also appeared in Beach Party (1963), The Carpetbaggers (1964), and a remake of Stagecoach (1966).

While Bob Cummings appeared in various movies throughout the Sixties, his most notable role may have been in a sitcom which lasted only one season. My Living Doll debuted in September 1964 and was one of the many sitcoms which followed the lead of the hit My Favourite Martian. In My Living Doll Bob Cummings played psychologist Dr. Bob McDonald. MacDonald is left in the care of an android, designated AF 709, developed by his friend Dr. Carl Miller (Henry Beckman), when Miller must go to Pakistan on government business. Unfortunately for MacDonald, AF 709 looks exactly like Julie Newmar (who played her, of course). Furthermore, AF 709 is top secret, so MacDonald must keep anyone from learning that AF 709 is actually a very advanced robot. MacDonald named AF 709 "Rhoda" and passed her off as Dr. Miller's niece, who was staying with him. He also "hired" her as his secretary at work (a job for which she is perfectly suited--she can type hundreds of words a minute and her memory banks hold thousands of bits of information). MacDonald also decided to teach Rhoda how to be the "perfect" woman--one who does what she is told to. In this final task MacDonald appears to have never quite succeeded, as Rhoda seems to have somewhat a mind of her own....

Sadly, My Living Doll would be scheduled Sundays opposite Bonanza, then the top rated show on television. CBS would move the show to Wednesday in January, where it would perform no better against another highly rated Western on NBC, The Virginian. Complicating matters were problems on the set of My Living Doll. Although both stars gave sterling performances, Bob Cummings and Julie Newmar did not get along particularly well. Eventually, Mr. Cummings would walk off the set with five episodes left to be shot. The role of Rhonda's caretaker would then be assumed by co-star Jack Mullaney, whose character Peter had learned she was a robot. Sadly, My Living Doll would be cancelled after only one season.

Bob Cummings would not be absent from television, however, as he guest starred on Green Acres, The Flying Nun, and appeared in the telefilm Gidget Grows Up. He would go onto guest star on such shows as Arnie, Bewitched, Here's Lucy, Love American Style, and The Love Boat. He appeared again on Broadway in 1966 in the play The Wayward Stork. His last appearance on the screen was as the host of "Walt Disney World's 15th Anniversary Celebration" on The Disney Sunday Movie. In 1988 he was an honoured guest at Fulton, Missouri's Kingdom Days festival and even hosted a special screening of King's Row. He died on December 2, 1990 at the age of 80.

Although best known for his gallant and often bumbling roles in movie comedies and his role as playboy Bob Collins on The Bob Cummings Show, Robert Cummings was actually a very talented actor. Indeed, he was a bit of a chameleon. He received his first role on Broadway by masquerading as an Englishmen. He would later play scientists, such as the psychologist on My Living Doll and the anthropologist on Beach Party. He was perfect in comedies, where his sense of timing was always impeccable, but could also play in dramas as well. It is because of his versatility and sheer talent that Bob Cummings is still remembered today.

The Late, Great Himan Brown

Himan Brown, who created such radio dramas as The Inner Sanctum Mysteries (better known simply as The Inner Sanctum), The Adventures of the Thin Man, and Dick Tracy passed on June 4, 2010. He was 99 years old.

Himan Brown was born in Brooklyn, New York on July 21, 1910. His parents were immigrants from the Ukraine, and when Mr. Brown entered school he could not speak English (only Yiddish having been spoken at home).. He learned of radio from a shop teacher when he was attending Brooklyn Boys High School. He convinced radio station WNRY to let him read poetry on the air.

Himan Brown's stint on WNRY led to an audition with the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), where he performed routines based on the characters from Milt Gross' comic strips. His skill in Jewish dialect and Yiddish brought him to the attention of Gertrude Berg. She asked Himan Brown for help in selling her idea for a radio show. Mr. Brown packaged and sold the show, the legendary Rise of of the Goldbergs. The series debuted on November 20, 1929 on NBC. Mr. Brown played Jake Goldberg in the earliest episodes of the show. Unfortunately, after six months Gertrude Berg fired him and bought his share of the show out for $200.

Himan Brown moved on from The Goldbergs to acting as an independent producer of radio shows while attending Brooklyn College. He developed a knack for matching concepts for radio shows with sponsors. He created Little Italy for Blue Coal and The Brooklyn Marriage Bureau for Goodman's Matzos. He also acted on both shows. Mr. Brown would also work with Anne Ashenhurst, who with Frank Hummert, produced many of the soap operas in the Thirties. Mr. Brown produced and directed such Ashenhurst soap operas as Marie, the Little French Princess, John's Other Wife, and Way Down East.

Mr. Brown would eventually graduate from Brooklyn Law School, which would help greatly in obtaining licenses for some of the most popular characters of the day, including Dick Tracy, Flash Gordon, and Nero Wolfe. Indeed, it was in 1934 that Himan Brown brought Dick Tracy to radio. The show proved incredibly popular, running for fourteen years. In 1935 he produced an adaptation of the comic strip Flash Gordon under the title of The Amazing Interplanetary Adventures of Flash Gordon. It was in 1937 that he created one of his most legendary shows,Grand Central Station. Grand Central Station was an anthology series in which every episode was linked to the famous terminal. It ran for seventeen years.

Himan Brown would bring some of the most popular comic strip and literary characters  to the air. In 1937 he adapted Terry and the Pirates  as a radio show. It proved to be another success, running for eleven years. In 1941 he brought Dashiell Hammett's popular crime solving couple Nick and Nora Charles to radio in The Adventures of the Thin Man. The show ran for nine years. In 1941 he also adapted Bulldog Drummond as a radio show. It also ran for nine years.

It was also in 1941 that what may have been Himan Brown's most famous show debuted. The Inner Sanctum Mysteries (better known simply as The Inner Sanctum) debuted on January 7, 1941 and ran until October 4, 1952. The show was an anthology of horror, suspense, and mystery episodes. What set it apart from many other similar anthology was its tongue in cheek introductions from its hosts. The show would open with the sound of a creaking door (one of the first sounds ever trademarked), followed by the introduction of the host. The host of The Inner Sanctum Mysteries was perhaps it best known, Raymond Edward Johnson, who would begin each show with the greeting "Good evening" and "This is your host, Raymond." Raymond would leave the show in 1945, and its other hosts would simply refer to themselves as "Your host." The show was incredibly successful, ranking in the top twenty for many years. Its success would lead to a series of six Inner Sanctum horror movies produced by Universal Pictures in the Forties.

Himan Brown would go onto produce The Adventures of Nero Wolfe (1942-1943) and Barrie Craig, Confidential Investigator (1951 to 1955). With television rapidly driving radio dramas into extinction, Mr. Brown would turn to television himself. In 1954 he produced the syndicated series Inner Sanctum, based on his most famous radio show. He also produced the films That Night (1957) and The Vialators (1957), as well as the television drama Summer of Decision. In 1992 his most famous radio show would provide the basis for the telefilm Seduction: Three Tales From the "Inner Sanctum."

In 1974, well after the age of Old Time Radio had ended, Himan Brown would once more see success with a radio show. CBS Radio Mystery Theatre was largely patterned after The Inner Sanctum. It would begin with a creaking door, after which the show's host (originally E. G. Marshall) would introduce himself. For a series which debuted after Old Time Radio had ended, CBS Radio Mystery Theatre proved very popular. It ran until 1982 and has been reran a few times since then.

Himan Brown would create another radio show in the Seventies, General Mills Radio Adventure Theatre. General Mills Radio Adventure Theatre debuted in 1977. Its target audience were children, with adaptations of such classic works as Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne,  and The Last of the Mohicans  by James Fenimore Cooper, as well as original episodes. Unfortunately, General Mills Radio Adventure Theatre would end its run after only a year on the air.

Arguably, Himan Brown was the greatest producer of radio shows of all time. He worked in the medium for over six decades, far longer than most radio drama producers. Mr. Brown also produced some of the most successful radio shows of all time: Dick Tracy, Grand Central Station, Terry and the Pirates, Inner Sanctum, and The CBS Radio Mystery Theatre. It is estimated that he produced or otherwise took part in around 30,000 different programmes. Indeed, the first radio show I ever heard was CBS Radio Mystery Theatre. I would later seek out many of the Old Time Radio Shows, many of which (like The Inner Sanctum Mysteries) were produced by Himan Brown.

Even if Himan Brown had only created The Inner Sanctum Mysteries, he would have been a legend in radio. Along with Lights Out, it was the greatest horror radio anthology ever produced. The series not only had one of the most memorable openings in the history of radio, but it attracted some of the best known actors in the Forties, including Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre, Orson Welles, and Claude Rains. It inspired a series of movies, a TV show, a TV movie, and numerous parodies. To this day it remains one of the most famous radio shows of all time. The secret of the success of Inner Sanctum was much the same as with Mr. Brown's other shows. Quite simply, he could do more with sound effects, creepy music, and talented actors, than many producers could do with a big budget feature film.

Dorothy DeBorba of Our Gang Passes On

Dorothy DeBorba, who appeared in twenty four Our Gang shorts from 1930 to 1933, passed on June 2 at the age of 85. The cause was emphysema.

Dorothy DeBorba was born in Los Angeles, California. She made her film debut when she was only five, appearing in the comedy A Royal Romance in 1930. She impressed Our Gang producer Hal Roach with her ability to cry on cue, and joined the cast of the popular shorts in 1930's "Pups is Pups." In that short, she played Jackie Cooper's little sister. Dorothy was easily recognisable because of her light brown hair, generally done up in ringlets with a bow. After appearing in three shorts as Norman "Chubby" Chaney's little sister, in which she parroted whatever Chubby said, she became known on the lot as "Echo," even though the name was never used on screen.

Dorothy DeBorba would appear in other films besides the Our Gang shorts. She appeared in bit parts in such films as Men of the North (1930) and The Boyfriends short "Blood and Thunder." Dorothy's last Our Gang short was Mush and Milk in 1933. Her last film appearance was a bit part in Bombshell that year.

Miss DeBorba graduated from Van Nuys High School and later worked at Republic Studios as a secretary. She also worked as senior clerk at the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley. She would later become a regular guest of the Sons of the Desert, the Laurel and Hardy fan club.

While Dorothy DeBorba may not be as famous as Spanky, Alfafa, Darla, or Buckwheat, she was one of the many actors who made the Our Gang comedies a success. She had a natural gift for comedy, with impeccable timing and perfect delivery Indeed, like all of the Our Gang actors she did not seem so much like an actor as she did a child doing what children do naturally. Although she was not one of the most famous members of the Our Gang cast, she was as gifted as any of those who were better know.

A Shroud of Thoughts' 6th Anniversary

It was on June 4, 2004 that I entered the first post on this blog, A Shroud of Thoughts. Today is then the sixth anniversary of the blog. For the past six years I have made a minimum of three entries a week on this blog, and usually more. I have to admit that even now I am a bit surprised at how long A Shroud of Thoughts has been around. Most blogs have lifespans numbered only in weeks, if not days. This blog has been around for years.

As to the source of the blog's name, it is taken from Lord Byron's Childe Harold's Pilgrimage canto iii stanza 113, quoted below:

I have not loved the world, nor the world me;
I have not flattered its rank breath, nor bow'd
To its idolatries a patient knee,
Nor coin'd my cheek to smiles, nor cried aloud
In worship of an echo; in the crowd
They could not deem me one of such; I stood
Among them, but not of them; in a shroud
Of thoughts which were not their thoughts, and still could,
Had I not filed my mind, which thus itself subdued.

Over the years A Shroud of Thoughts has changed. I started this blog with little in the way of a plan, other than writing about things in which I am interested. Since I am primarily interested in pop culture, it was not long before I decided that A Shroud of Thoughts would be a blog about pop culture, all of pop culture. Over the years I have written about movies, TV shows, comic books, pulp magazines, video games, and many other pop culture artefacts. In the earliest days the articles tended to be brief, although over the course of time they would grow longer. It would not be long before I would do entire series of articles. I would say that within its first year, the format of A Shroud of Thoughts had become what it is now.

One more recent change is that I now incorporate more pictures in my articles and I also incorporate video as well. The pictures were an outgrowth of changes to Blogger, which made it easier to add pictures to posts. The video was an outgrowth not simply of video sharing sites like YouTube, but the fact that since this blog was started more and more Americans are accessing the Internet through broadband connections. Given that video loads much more swiftly on broadband than on dial-up, I saw no reason I should occasionally include videos on the blog.

As on past anniversaries, I am including links to what I consider my best posts in the past year. I must admit that I was a bit worried as to how many truly good posts I would have this year, as it seems that this year I have mostly been writing eulogies for those pop culture icons who have passed on. Indeed, the first half of 2010 marks the very first time in the history of A Shroud of Thoughts that the majority of posts have been eulogies. Fortunately, I was able to find more posts that I truly like than I had thought there would be! Anyhow, without further ado, here are the best posts of A Shroud of Thoughts from June 5, 2009 to June 6, 2010.

Why Die Hard is a Classic

The Week of 14 June, 2009 to 21 June, 2009 (includes "Spy Fi: The Long History of Spy Fiction" Parts One, Two, and Three)

Johnny Canuck

The Week of 5 July, 2009 to 12 July 2009 (includes "A History of Music Videos" Parts One, Two, Three, and Four)

The Week of 13 July, 2009 to 19 July, 2009 (includes "A History of Music Videos" Part Five)

The 40th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing

The Week of 26 July, 2009 to  2 August, 2009 (includes "The Invisible Minority: Native Americans on American Television" Parts One, Two, and Three, "North by Northwest Turns 50," and "Superman the 1948 Serial")

The Devil's Business: The Murder of Sharon Tate

Back to the Garden: The 40th Anniversary of Woodstock Part One

Back to the Garden: The 40th Anniversary of Woodstock Part Two

Two Movies About the Alamo

The Twilight Zone Turns 50

The 40th Anniversary of Monty Python's Flying Circus

The Week of Halloween

The Dean Martin Show

Grace Kelly's 80th Birthday

Why The Twilight Saga Will Not Be a Classic

Gone With the Wind Turns 70

Yuletide 2009 (includes "Humphrey Bogart's 110th Birthday" as well as holiday posts)

The Young Women Who Would be Lolita

Mama Told Me Not to Come: the Sixties Party Scene on Film

Disney's Pinocchio Turns 70

The St. Valentine's Day Massacre

Death Dos Not Take Holidays

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police

Davy Crockett: Television's First Fad

Akira Kurosawa's 100th Birthday

Batmania: How Batman Conquered America in 1966 Part One

Batmania: How Batman Conquered America in 1966 Part Two

The Easter Hare or Easter Bunny

All of Your Toys: The Monkees vs. Don Kirshner

The Adventures of Robin Hood Revisisted

The Music Man (The Movie, Not the Play)

Harvey Comic's Dark Secret

The 151st Birthday of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Rue McClanahan Passes On

Rue McClanahan, best known for her roles on the TV shows Maude and The Golden Girls, passed today at the age of 76. The cause was a stroke.

Rue McClanahan was born Eddi-Rue McClanahan in Healdton, Oklahoma. She grew up in Ardmore, Oklahoma. She graduated from the University of Tulsa with a degree in German and theatre arts. She began her career in the late Fifties on the stage. She performed at the Pasadena Playhouse in Pasadena, California. She also studied under Uta Hagen and Harold Clurman in New York. In 1961 she made her film debut in the movie The Grass Eater.

In 1961 she also appeared in an uncredited role in the feature film Five Minutes to Live. In 1963 Miss McClanahan appeared in the movie Five Minutes to Love. The following year she appeared in the film How to Succeed with Girls and made her television debut in a small part in an episode of Burke's Law. She appeared in an off-Broadway production of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. In 1965 she appeared in the film Angel's Flight.

Rue McClanahan made her Broadway debut in 1966 in the play The Best Laid Plans. She also appeared in the off-Broadway play Big Man/Duet For Three. In 1967 she appeared in the Off-Broadway play MacBird. in 1968 she appeared in the film Walk the Angry Beach and on Broadway in the play Jimmy Shine. in 1969 Miss McClanahan appeared in the off-Braodway play Tonight in Living Colour. Later that year she appeared in the off-Broadway play Who's Happy Now. In 1970 she appeared in the film The People Next Door and in a recurring role on the soap opera Another World. She also appeared in the off-Broadway play Dark of the Moon.

Rue McClanahan opened the Seventies appearing in the films They Might Be Giants (1971) and Some of My Best Friends Are (1971). In 1971 she also appeared in roles in the TV shows Love of Life and Where the Heart Is.. She also appeared on Broadway in the comedy Father's Day. In 1972 she guest starred on the series All in the Family, off Broadway in the play Dylan, on  Broadway in the play Sticks and Bones. She was also cast in the role of Vivian on the TV series Maude. Vivian was a sharp contrast to next door neighbour Maude. While Maude was outspoken and often caustic, Vivien was sweet and a tad bit scatter brained. Miss McClanahan remained with the show for its entire run, from 1972 to 1978.

While Maude was still on the air, Rue McClanahan guest starred on Mannix and Having Babies. She also appeared on Broadway in California Suite, and off Broadway in Crystal and Fox. Following Maude, in 1978, she was cast in the lead role in the short lived sitcom Apple Pie. She ended the Seventies with guest appearances on Supertrain and Lou Grant.

In the Eighties Rue McClanahan guest starred on the shows Darkroom, Trapper John M.D., and Newhart. She played the recurring role of Fran on Mama's Family from 1983 to 1984. For the next few years Miss McClanahan guest starred on the shows Alice, Cover Up, Crazy Like a Fox, and Murder She Wrote. In 1985 Rue McClanahan was cast in the role of Blanche Devereaux, the lusty Southern belle of the group. Miss McClanahan would appear as Blanche in 1988 guest appearance on Empty Nest, a 1992 guest appearance on  Nurses, and would reprise the role on the short lived series The Golden Palace (1992-1993).

In 1991 Miss McClanahan appeared in the movie Biosphere. In the Nineties she appeared in such TV movies as Nunsense, Message from Nam, Innocent Victims, and A Saintly Switch  She appeared in the films Dear God (1996),  Out to Sea  (1997), and Starship Troopers (1997), She guest starred on the shows Boy Meets World, Burke's Law, Murphy Brown, Columbo, and Ladies Man. She had recurring roles on the TV shows Safe Harbour and The Lot.

In the Naughts she guest starred on the shows Touched by an Angel, Wonderfalls, Whoopi, King of the Hill, and Law and Order. In 2008 she was a regular on the TV series Sordid Lives: The Series. She appeared in the films Wit's End (2002). On Broadway she appeared in the plays The Women in 2001 and Wicked in 2005. Off Broadway she appeared in the plays After-Play and The Vagina Monologues.

Rue McClanahan was one of the few actors who was fortunate enough to appear in two hit television series, Maude and The Golden Girls. There can be little doubt that she was a large part of the success of both. Whether playing scatter brained Vivian on Maude or the oversexed Blanche on The Golden Girls, she always gave sterling performances. Miss McClanahan had a gift for comedy, with timing that was nearly perfect. With her passing we have lost an actress who was a true rarity, one who had created not one, but two memorable characters in two classic television series.

The Late, Great Cinematographer William A. Fraker

William A. Fraker, the legendary cinematographer who shot such movies as The President's Analyst, Rosemary's Baby, and Bullitt, passed Monday at the age of 86. The cause was cancer.

William A. Fraker was born September 29, 1923 in Los Angeles, California. During World War II he joined the United States Navy and served in the Pacific theatre. Following the war he attended the University of Southern California School of Cinema. He took a job as a photographer's assistant. His first assignment was working on a Marilyn Monroe calender.

Mr. Fraker's first work as a cinematographer was on the film Forbid Them Not, released in 1961. In 1962 he began work on the long running sitcom The Adventures of Ozzy and Harriet as a camera operator. He worked on the film Father Goose (1964) before receiving his first cinematographer credit on a feature film, the Leslie Stevens horror movie Incubus (1965). From that point on Mr. Fraker would work exclusively on feature films except for a stint on the TV show Daktari in 1966.

For the remainder of the sixties William A. Fraker would shoot such films as Games (1967), The President's Analyst (1967), Rosemary's Baby (1968), Bullitt (1968), and Paint Your Wagon (1969). The Seventies saw Mr. Fraker work on such films as The Day of the Dolphin (1973), Coonskin (1975), Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977), and Heaven Can Wait (1978). In the Eighties he shot such film as Sharky's Machine (1981), WarGames (1983), Murphy's Romance (1985), Burglar (1987), and The Freshman (1990). From the Nineties into the Naughts he was cinematographer on such films as Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Tombstone (1993), The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996),. and Rules of Engagement (2000). In the Naughts he shot the films Town and Country (2001) and Waking Up in Reno (2002). His last film as cinematographer, Section B, is set for release later this year.

William A. Fraker also directed three films, Monte Walsh (1973), Reflection of Fear (1973), and The Legend of the Lone Ranger (1981). He also directed episodes of TV shows, including such series as Wiseguy, The Flash, and Unsub.

William A. Fraker was nominated five times for the Oscar for Best Cinematography.

There can be no doubt William A. Fraker was one of the greatest cinematographers of all time, although it would be difficult to say he had his own style. Mr. Fraker believed that the look of a film should be determined by the film itself, not the cinematographer. As a result, Mr. Fraker used a different style on each film he shot, depending on the mood of that film. For Rosemary's Baby Mr. Fraker used a crisp style reminiscent of cinema verite, while for Tombstone he used a more romantic style as befits an epic Western. Mr. Fraker would also do nearly anything to get the shot he thought fit the scene. For the famous car chase in Bullitt, Mr. Fraker strapped himself to the front of a Mustang and shot the scene while going 100 miles per hour. The result was one of the greatest car chase sequences in film. William A. Fraker was a perfectionist and a professional, and both were reflected in every film he shot.

Happy Memorial Day & Spring Bank Holiday 2010

Since today is Memorial in the United States, I am not going to do a full fledged post, but instead I will wish you a "Happy Memorial Day!" I will also leave you with this, a clip of Jimi Hendrix performing "The Star Spangled Banner" at Woodstock.



Of course, today is also the spring bank holiday in the United Kingdom, so for those across the Pond, "Happy spring bank holiday!" I will leave you with Brian May's performance of "God Save the Queen" at Buckingham on the occasion of Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee in 2002.