Robert Surtees

Birth : 1906-08-09, Covington, Kentucky, USA

Death : 1985-01-05

History

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Robert L. Surtees, A.S.C. (August 9, 1906 – January 5, 1985) was an American cinematographer who won Academy Awards three times, for the films King Solomon's Mines, The Bad and the Beautiful and the 1959 version of Ben Hur. Robert L. Surtees began working in Hollywood as assistant cameraman to Gregg Toland, A.S.C. in the late 1920s, before moving to Germany for several years, eventually returning to Hollywood. He became one of the most accomplished cinematographers in motion pictures. His credits include Ben-Hur (1959), Mutiny on the Bounty (1962), The Graduate (1967), The Liberation of L.B. Jones (1970), The Last Picture Show (1971), Summer of '42 (1971), The Sting (1973), A Star is Born (1976) and Same Time, Next Year (1978). His son Bruce was also a cinematographer.

Movies

Bloodbrothers
Director of Photography
A young man is torn between following in his brothers' footsteps or striking out on his own.
Same Time, Next Year
Director of Photography
A man and woman meet by chance at a romantic inn over dinner and, although both are married to others, they find themselves in the same bed the next morning questioning how this could have happened. They agree to meet on the same weekend each year—in the same hotel room—and the years pass each has some personal crisis that the other helps them through, often without both of them understanding what is going on.
The Turning Point
Director of Photography
As young dancers, they were best friends and fierce rivals. Deedee left the stage for marriage and motherhood, while Emma would become an international ballet icon. But when Deedee's teenage daughter is invited to join Emma's dance company and begins an affair with a young Russian star, the two women are forced to confront the choices they've made, the resentments they've hidden and the emotional truths they must face at the turning point.
A Star Is Born
Director of Photography
Drunken, has-been rock star John Norman Howard falls in love with unknown singer, Esther Hoffman, after seeing her perform at a club. He lets her sing a few songs at one of his shows and she becomes the talk of the music industry. Esther's star begins to rise, while John's continues to fall. She tries desperately to get John to sober up and focus on his music, but it may be too late to save him.
The Hindenburg
Director of Photography
In this highly speculative historical thriller, Colonel Franz Ritter (George C. Scott), a former hero pilot now working for military intelligence, is assigned to the great Hindenburg airship as its chief of security. As he races against the clock to uncover a possible saboteur aboard the doomed zeppelin he finds that any of the passengers and crew could be the culprit.
The Great Waldo Pepper
Director of Photography
A biplane pilot who had missed flying in WWI takes up barnstorming and later a movie career in his quest for the glory he had missed.
The Sting
Director of Photography
A novice con man teams up with an acknowledged master to avenge the murder of a mutual friend by pulling off the ultimate big con and swindling a fortune from a big-time mobster.
Oklahoma Crude
Director of Photography
In 1913, in Oklahoma, oil derrick owner Lena Doyle, aided by her father and a hobo, is stubbornly drilling for oil despite the pressure from major oil companies to sell her land.
Lost Horizon
Director of Photography
While escaping war-torn China, a group of Europeans crash in the Himalayas, where they are rescued and taken to the mysterious Valley of the Blue Moon, Shangri-La.
The Other
Director of Photography
A series of gruesome accidents plague a small American farming community in the summer of 1935, encircling two identical twin brothers and their family.
The Cowboys
Director of Photography
When his cattlemen abandon him for the gold fields, rancher Wil Andersen is forced to take on a collection of young boys as his cowboys in order to get his herd to market in time to avoid financial disaster. The boys learn to do a man's job under Andersen's tutelage; however, neither Andersen nor the boys know that a gang of cattle thieves is stalking them.
The Last Picture Show
Director of Photography
High school seniors and best friends, Sonny and Duane, live in a dying Texas town. The handsome Duane is dating a local beauty, while Sonny is having an affair with the coach's wife. As graduation nears and both boys contemplate their futures, Duane eyes the army and Sonny takes over a local business. Each struggles to figure out if he can escape this dead-end town and build a better life somewhere else.
Summer of '42
Director of Photography
Over the summer of 1942 on Nantucket Island, three friends -- Hermie, Oscy and Benjie -- are more concerned with getting laid than anything else. Hermie falls in love with the married Dorothy, whose husband is an army pilot recently sent to the battlefront of World War II.
The Liberation of L.B. Jones
Director of Photography
Undertaker L.B. Jones, the richest black man in his county of Tennessee, is divorcing his wife for infidelity with a white policeman. Taking a stand against racism, he is greeted with a hostile bunch of Southern bigots and other various stereotypes.
Two Mules for Sister Sara
Director of Photography
When a wandering mercenary named Hogan rescues a nun called Sister Sara from the unwanted attentions of a band of rogues on the Mexican plains, he has no idea what he has let himself in for. Their chance encounter results in the blowing up of a train and a French garrison, as well as igniting a spark between them that survives a shocking discovery.
The Arrangement
Director of Photography
An adman attempts to rebuild his shattered life after suffering a nervous breakdown.
Sweet Charity
Director of Photography
Taxi dancer, Charity continues to have faith in the human race despite apparently endless disappointments at its hands, and hope that she will finally meet the nice young man to romance her away from her sleazy life.
Coogan's Bluff
Director of Photography
Coogan, an Arizona deputy sheriff goes to New York to pick up a prisoner. While escorting the prisoner to the airport, he escapes and Coogan heads into the city to recapture him.
The Graduate
Director of Photography
Benjamin, a recent college graduate very worried about his future, finds himself in a love triangle with an older woman and her daughter.
Doctor Dolittle
Director of Photography
A veterinarian who can communicate with animals travels abroad to search for a giant sea snail.
Lost Command
Director of Photography
After being freed from a Vietnamese war prison, French Lt. Col. Pierre Raspeguy is sent to help quell resistance forces in Algeria. With the help of the Capt. Esclavier, who has grown weary of war, and Capt. Boisfeuras, who lives for it, Raspeguy attempts to convert a rugged band of soldiers into a formidable fighting unit, with the promise of marrying a beautiful countess if he's made a general.
The Chase
Director of Photography
The escape of Bubber Reeves from prison affects the inhabitants of a small Southern town.
The Third Day
Director of Photography
A man stumbles out of a car crash with no memory of what transpired. Everyone who he meets suggests that he is a ruthless man with an aggressive temper. Could he be deliberately blocking out memories of his past?
The Hallelujah Trail
Director of Photography
A wagon train heads for Denver with a cargo of whisky for the miners. Chaos ensues as the Temperance League, the US cavalry, the miners and the local Indians all try to take control of the valuable cargo.
The Collector
Director of Photography
Freddie is an inept bank clerk with no future. His only hobby is collecting butterflies, which gives him a feeling of power and control that is otherwise totally missing from his life. He comes into a large sum of money and buys himself a country house. Still unable to make himself at ease socially, he starts to plan on acquiring a girlfriend - in the same manner as he collects butterflies. He prepares the cellar of the house to be a collecting jar and stalks his victim over several days.
The Satan Bug
Director of Photography
A US government germ warfare lab has had an accident. The first theory is that one of the germs has been released and killed several scientists. The big fear is that a more virulent strain, named The Satan Bug because all life can be killed off by it should it escape, may have been stolen.
Kisses for My President
Director of Photography
When the women of America join together on election day and elect a Leslie McCloud as the US President, things get a little awkward. Especially for her husband Thad McCloud. He, as First Husband, must take over the job as The First Lady, in the women's groups and garden parties.
PT 109
Director of Photography
Dramatization of President John F. Kennedy's war time experiences during which he captained a PT boat, took it to battle and had it sunk by a Japanese destroyer. He and the survivors had to make their way to an island, find food and shelter and signal the Navy for rescue.
Mutiny on the Bounty
Director of Photography
The Bounty leaves Portsmouth in 1787. Its destination: to sail to Tahiti and load bread-fruit. Captain Bligh will do anything to get there as fast as possible, using any means to keep up a strict discipline. When they arrive at Tahiti, it is like a paradise for the crew, something completely different than the living hell aboard the ship. On the way back to England, officer Fletcher Christian becomes the leader of a mutiny.
Cimarron
Director of Photography
The epic story of a family that's involved in the Oklahoma Land Rush in 1889.
It Started in Naples
Director of Photography
Mike Hamilton, a Philadelphia lawyer, comes to Naples to settle the estate of his long estranged "black sheep" brother. Once there, he discovers that the deceased has left an 8 year old boy who is being raised by Michael's sister-in-law Lucia Curcio. To make matters worse, Lucia happens to be a sexy nightclub dancer.
Ben-Hur
Director of Photography
In 25 AD,Judah Ben-Hur, a Jew in ancient Judea, opposes the occupying Roman empire. Falsely accused by a Roman childhood friend-turned-overlord of trying to kill the Roman governor, he is put into slavery and his mother and sister are taken away as prisoners. Three years later and freed by a grateful Roman galley commander whom he has rescued from drowning, he becomes an expert charioteer for Rome, all the while plotting to return to Judea, find and rescue his family, and avenge himself on his former friend. All the while, the form and work of Jesus move in the background of his life...
The Law and Jake Wade
Cinematography
Jake Wade breaks Clint Hollister out of jail to pay off an old debt, though it's clear there is some pretty deep hostility between them. They part, and Jake returns to his small-town marshal's job and his fiancée only to find he has been tracked there by Hollister. It seems they were once in a gang together and Jake knows where the proceeds of a bank hold-up are hidden. Hollister and his sidekicks make off into the hills, taking along the trussed-up marshal and his kidnapped bride-to-be to force the lawman to show them where the loot is.
Merry Andrew
Director of Photography
When eccentric English teacher Andrew Larabee needs a raise in order for his fiancée to marry him, his interest in archaeology leads him to an ancient statue's burial site. But when he finds a traveling circus directly above the statue's location, he accidentally becomes part of the act. With a newfound passion for performance and an attraction to the beautiful acrobat Selena, Andrew must decide what is truly important to him.
Raintree County
Director of Photography
In 1859, idealist John Wickliff Shawnessey, a resident of Raintree County, Indiana, is distracted from his high school sweetheart Nell Gaither by Susanna Drake, a rich New Orleans girl. This love triangle is further complicated by the American Civil War, and dark family history.
Les Girls
Director of Photography
After writing a tell-all book about her days in the dance troupe "Barry Nichols and Les Girls", Sybil Wren is sued for libeling her fellow dancer Angele. A Rashômon style narrative presents the story from three points of view where Sybil accuses Angele of having an affair with Barry, while Angele insists that it was actually Sybil who was having the affair. Finally, Barry gives his side of the story.
The Swan
Director of Photography
Princess Beatrice's days of enjoying the regal life are numbered unless her only daughter, Princess Alexandra, makes a good impression on a distant cousin when he pays a surprise visit to their palace. Prince Albert has searched all over Europe for a bride and he's bored by the whole courtship routine. He is more interested in the estate's dairy than Alexandra's rose garden. And then he starts playing football with the tutor and Alexandra's brothers. Invite the tutor to the ball that night and watch how gracefully Alexandra dances with him.
Tribute to a Bad Man
Director of Photography
Jeremy Rodock is a tough horse rancher who strings up rustlers soon as look at them. Fresh out of Pennsylvania, Steve Miller finds it hard to get used to Rodock's ways, although he takes an immediate shine to his Greek girl Jocasta.
Oklahoma!
Director of Photography
This joyous celebration of frontier life combines tender romance and violent passion in the Oklahoma Territory of the 1900s with a timeless score filled with unforgettable songs. Rodgers and Hammerstein's hit Broadway musical.
Trial
Director of Photography
A Mexican boy accused of rape and murder becomes a pawn for Communists and red-baiters.
Valley of the Kings
Director of Photography
Hard-boiled archeologist Mark Brandon is searching for ancient tombs in Egypt when he is approached by beautiful Ann Mercedes, who convinces him to help her fulfill her deceased father's life's ambition - to provide solid proof of the biblical Joseph's travels in ancient Egypt. As an ex-pupil of Ann's father, Mark accepts and the two embark on a search for the tomb of the Pharoah Ra Hotep, said to have had some connection with Joseph. The trail to the tomb is fraught with intrigue, betrayal, murder, and the possibility that the tomb itself has been emptied of all its artifacts by ancient looters.
The Long, Long Trailer
Director of Photography
A newly wed couple, Tacy and Nicky, travel in a trailer for their honeymoon. The journey is a humorous one that could end up destroying their marriage.
Escape from Fort Bravo
Director of Photography
A Southern belle frees a Rebel officer and his men from a Union captain's Arizona fort.
Mogambo
Director of Photography
Victor Marswell runs a big game trapping company in Kenya. Eloise Kelly is ditched there, and an immediate attraction happens between them. Then Mr. and Mrs. Nordley show up for their gorilla documenting safari. Mrs. Nordley is not infatuated with her husband any more, and takes a liking to Marswell. The two men and two women have some difficulty arranging these emotions to their mutual satisfaction, but eventually succeed.
The Bad and the Beautiful
Director of Photography
Told in flashback form, the film traces the rise and fall of a tough, ambitious Hollywood producer, Jonathan Shields, as seen through the eyes of various acquaintances, including a writer, James Lee Bartlow; a star, Georgia Lorrison; and a director, Fred Amiel. He is a hard-driving, ambitious man who ruthlessly uses everyone on the way to becoming one of Hollywood's top movie makers.
The Wild North
Director of Photography
In the Canadian mountains, a trapper goes on the run accused of a crime and is pursued by a rugged and determined lawman of the Royal North-West Mounted Police.
The Light Touch
Director of Photography
An art thief tries to double cross his gangster boss.
Quo Vadis
Director of Photography
After fierce Roman commander Marcus Vinicius becomes infatuated with beautiful Christian hostage Lygia, he begins to question the tyrannical leadership of the despotic emperor Nero.
The Strip
Director of Photography
Drummer Stanley Maxton moves to Los Angeles with dreams of opening his own club, but falls in with a gangster and a nightclub dancer and ends up accused of murder.
King Solomon's Mines
Director of Photography
Adventurer Allan Quartermain leads an expedition into uncharted African territory in an attempt to locate an explorer who went missing during his search for the fabled diamond mines of King Solomon.
Intruder in the Dust
Director of Photography
Rural Mississippi in the 1940s: Lucas Beauchamp, a local black man with a reputation of not kowtowing to whites, is found standing over the body of a dead white man, holding a pistol that has recently been fired. Quickly arrested for murder and jailed, Beauchamp insists he's innocent and asks the town's most prominent lawyer, Gavin Stevens, to defend him, but Stevens refuses. When a local boy whom Beauchamp has helped in the past and who believes him to be innocent hears talk of a mob taking Beauchamp out of jail and lynching him, he pleads with Stevens to defend Beauchamp at trial and prove his innocence.
That Midnight Kiss
Director of Photography
Opera singer Prudence Budell, overhears truck driver Johnny Donnetti singing opera, and persuades her opera company to give him a chance in her new opera. They fall in love, but on meeting his colleague Mary while visiting Johnny's work, Prudence becomes convinced Johnny is in love with her.
Big Jack
Director of Photography
Wallace Beery, in his final film, plays a bandit in this period drama set in Colonial America.
Act of Violence
Director of Photography
A former prisoner of war, Frank Enley is hailed as a hero in his California town. However, Frank has a shameful secret that comes back to haunt him when fellow survivor Joe Parkson emerges, intent on making Frank pay for his past deeds.
The Kissing Bandit
Director of Photography
Ricardo, the milquetoast son of a Mexican bandit, would rather lead a quiet life in Boston. But the family would rather that he follow in his father's footsteps and become "The Kissing Bandit".
A Date with Judy
Director of Photography
Best friends Judy and Carol compete for the affection of an older man during their high school dance. As Carol tries to rekindle Judy's relationship with Carol's bumbling brother, Oogie, Judy suspects that her father is having an affair with a beautiful dance instructor. The two girls team up to expose Judy's father -- who is only taking innocent dance lessons.
Big City
Director of Photography
A young orphan in New York's Lower East Side is collectively adopted by three neighborhood men--a minister, a cantor, and a cop.
Tenth Avenue Angel
Director of Photography
Flavia's been told that her Aunt Susan's fiancé, Steve, has been on a trip around the world, but in truth he's finished his prison term. Steve wonders how he can make some money and is approached by his old associates. When Flavia discovers the truth about Steve, she loses all faith in her family and in God, and it will take a miracle to restore Flavia's belief and Steve out of trouble.
The Unfinished Dance
Director of Photography
A young dance student accidentally cripples a teacher she doesn't like.
Two Sisters from Boston
Director of Photography
Abigail Chandler has written her stuffy Boston relatives that she's a successful opera singer in New York. In reality, she works at a burlesque house and is billed as High-C Susie. When her sister Martha comes for a visit, Abigail tries to hide the truth from her.
Our Vines Have Tender Grapes
Director of Photography
Welcome to Fuller Junction, Wisconsin, a friendly small town settled by Norwegian farmers. Here we see the exploits of two young cousins, Selma and Arnold, who learn about their world and experience the ups and downs of life as the season pass.
Strange Holiday
Director of Photography
An American businessman returns from a hunting trip to find fascists have overrun the country in this propaganda film.
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo
Director of Photography
In the wake of Pearl Harbor, a young lieutenant leaves his expectant wife to volunteer for a secret bombing mission which will take the war to the Japanese homeland.
Two Girls and a Sailor
Director of Photography
A sailor helps two sisters start up a service canteen. The sailor soon becomes taken with gorgeous sister Jean, unaware that her sibling Patsy is also in love with him.
Lost Angel
Director of Photography
Alpha's been raised along scientific principles, and will make Mike Regan a great human interest story for his paper. But when his interview prompts Alpha to run away from the institute and ask him to show her some magic, Mike gets more responsibility than he bargained for. Especially since another story of his, one involving gangsters, has also come home to roost.
Election Daze
Director of Photography
Mickey and Froggy are candidates running to be president of the Gang's club. When the vote continues to end in a tie, the club winds up split. Buckwheat then reminds everyone of the lessons learned from Abraham Lincoln when America was once divided.
Nursery Rhyme Mysteries
Director of Photography
This Passing Parade series short examines the origins of three popular nursery rhymes.
Don't You Believe It
Director of Photography
This Passing Parade entry looks at several historical "truths" that just aren't so: Steve Brodie never jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge; Mrs. O'Leary's cow did not start the great Chicago fire; Nero didn't fiddle while Rome burned; and Lady Godiva never rode naked through the streets of Coventry.
Heavenly Music
Director of Photography
Bandleader/singer/songwriter Ted Barry arrives to heaven. The receptionist tells him that before he can take his place in the Hall of Music, a committee must review his work and decide whether he is worthy of admittance.
State Fair
Assistant Camera
The children of Iowa farmers find love, with mixed results, at the state fair.
Lady with a Past
Assistant Camera
A wealthy girl hires a male escort to make one of her male friends jealous. She spreads rumours about her character that makes her popular amongst all bachelors in the city including her friend.