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Harold Rosson

Biography

From Wikipedia

Harold G. "Hal" Rosson, A.S.C. (April 6, 1895 – September 6, 1988) was an American cinematographer who worked during the early and classical Hollywood cinema. He is best known for his work on the 1939 fantasy film The Wizard of Oz.

Harold Rosson began his film career in 1908 as an actor at the Vitagraph Studios in the Flatbush area of Brooklyn, New York City. He became the assistant to Irvin Willat at the Mark Dintenfass Studios. In 1912 he divided his time as an office boy in a stockbrokers firm and as an assistant, extra, and handyman at the Famous Players Studio in New York. His first film for Famous Players was David Harum (1915).

In December 1914, Rosson moved to California and joined Metro Pictures. During World War I, he served in the United States Army. After his demobilization, he went to work on the Marion Davies film The Dark Star. He was offered a contract with the Davies Company. In 1920 he was signed by Mary Pickford, working primarily with her brother Jack Pickford.

In the 1930s, Rosson signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and directed the photography for some of the studio's most popular films including Treasure Island (1934), The Wizard of Oz, Duel in the Sun, and Singin' in the Rain (1952). In 1936, Rosson and fellow cinematographer W. Howard Greene were awarded an Honorary Oscar for the color cinematography of the 1936 David O. Selznick production The Garden of Allah. Rosson later said it was the first time he attempted to film in color.

After a very long and successful career in Hollywood, Rosson retired in 1958. He briefly came out of retirement in 1966 for the Howard Hawks film El Dorado starring John Wayne.

Rosson was married twice, with both marriages ending in divorce, and had no children. While shooting the film Bombshell in 1933, actress Jean Harlow proposed to Rosson. The two had worked together previously on Red-Headed Woman, Dinner at Eight, Hold Your Man, and Red Dust and had struck up a friendship. On September 17, 1933, the two were married in Yuma, Arizona. In an interview with Leicester Wagner, Harlow recalled that she and Rosson grew closer after the death of her second husband, Paul Bern, and he encouraged her to go out and socialize. Rosson and Harlow separated in May 1934 with Harlow charging that Rosson was "rude, sullen and irritable". She was granted a divorce in March 1935.

On October 11, 1936, Rosson married socialite Yvonne Crellin in Beverly Hills. They divorced in June 1945.

On September 6, 1988, Rosson died, age 93, at his home in Palm Beach, Florida. He is buried in Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

Camera

El Dorado

1966

Director of Photography

The Enemy Below

1957

Director of Photography

Toward the Unknown

1956

Director of Photography

The Bad Seed

1956

Director of Photography

Strange Lady in Town

1955

Director of Photography

Ulysses

1954

Director of Photography

Mambo

1954

Director of Photography

The Actress

1953

Director of Photography

Dangerous When Wet

1953

Director of Photography

The Story of Three Loves

1953

Director of Photography

I Love Melvin

1953

Director of Photography

Lone Star

1952

Director of Photography

Singin' in the Rain

1952

Director of Photography

Love Is Better Than Ever

1952

Director of Photography

The Red Badge of Courage

1951

Director of Photography

To Please a Lady

1950

Director of Photography

The Asphalt Jungle

1950

Director of Photography

Key to the City

1950

Director of Photography

On the Town

1949

Director of Photography

Any Number Can Play

1949

Director of Photography

The Stratton Story

1949

Director of Photography

Command Decision

1948

Director of Photography

Homecoming

1948

Director of Photography

The Hucksters

1947

Director of Photography

Living in a Big Way

1947

Director of Photography

Duel in the Sun

1946

Director of Photography

Three Wise Fools

1946

Director of Photography

No Leave, No Love

1946

Director of Photography

Between Two Women

1945

Director of Photography

Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo

1944

Director of Photography

An American Romance

1944

Director of Photography

Slightly Dangerous

1943

Director of Photography

Tennessee Johnson

1942

Director of Photography

Somewhere I'll Find You

1942

Director of Photography

Johnny Eager

1941

Director of Photography

Washington Melodrama

1941

Director of Photography

Dr. Kildare Goes Home

1940

Director of Photography

Boom Town

1940

Director of Photography

I Take This Woman

1940

Director of Photography

Forgotten Victory

1939

Director of Photography

The Wizard of Oz

1939

Director of Photography

Too Hot to Handle

1938

Director of Photography

That Mothers Might Live

1938

Director of Photography

Double Wedding

1937

Director of Photography

The Emperor's Candlesticks

1937

Director of Photography

Captains Courageous

1937

Director of Photography

They Gave Him a Gun

1937

Director of Photography

The Devil Is a Sissy

1936

Director of Photography

As You Like It

1936

Director of Photography

The Man Who Could Work Miracles

1936

Director of Photography

The Ghost Goes West

1935

Director of Photography

The Scarlet Pimpernel

1934

Director of Photography

Treasure Island

1934

Director of Photography

The Cat and the Fiddle

1934

Director of Photography

This Side of Heaven

1934

Director of Photography

Bombshell

1933

Director of Photography

Penthouse

1933

Director of Photography

Turn Back the Clock

1933

Director of Photography

Hold Your Man

1933

Director of Photography

The Barbarian

1933

Director of Photography

Red Dust

1932

Director of Photography

Kongo

1932

Director of Photography

Downstairs

1932

Director of Photography

Red-Headed Woman

1932

Director of Photography

Tarzan the Ape Man

1932

Director of Photography

The Cuban Love Song

1931

Director of Photography

Sporting Blood

1931

Director of Photography

Son of India

1931

Director of Photography

The Squaw Man

1931

Director of Photography

Men Call It Love

1931

Director of Photography

Passion Flower

1930

Director of Photography

Madam Satan

1930

Director of Photography

This Mad World

1930

Director of Photography

South Sea Rose

1929

Director of Photography

Trent's Last Case

1929

Director of Photography

The Case of Lena Smith

1929

Director of Photography

Three Week Ends

1928

Director of Photography

The Docks of New York

1928

Director of Photography

The Sawdust Paradise

1928

Director of Photography

The Drag Net

1928

Director of Photography

Abie's Irish Rose

1928

Director of Photography

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

1928

Director of Photography

A Gentleman of Paris

1927

Director of Photography

Service for Ladies

1927

Director of Photography

Rough House Rosie

1927

Director of Photography

Evening Clothes

1927

Director of Photography

Getting Gertie's Garter

1927

Director of Photography

Man Bait

1927

Director of Photography

Almost a Lady

1926

Director of Photography

Up in Mabel's Room

1926

Director of Photography

A Man Must Live

1925

Director of Photography

Too Many Kisses

1925

Director of Photography

Manhandled

1924

Director of Photography

Zaza

1923

Director of Photography

The Glimpses of the Moon

1923

Director of Photography

Dark Secrets

1923

Director of Photography

Buried Treasure

1921

Director of Photography

Heliotrope

1920

Camera Operator

The Cinema Murder

1919

Director of Photography

The American Consul

1917

Director of Photography

Panthea

1917

Director of Photography

Oliver Twist

1916

Director of Photography

Crew

Pete Kelly's Blues

1955

Cinematography

A Yank at Oxford

1938

Cinematography

Love in Every Port

1931

Cinematography

Frozen Justice

1929

Cinematography

The Far Call

1929

Cinematography

Open Range

1927

Cinematography

The Little French Girl

1925

Cinematography

Manhattan

1924

Cinematography

Harold Rosson

Documentaries

Camera

Crew