Camera Innovator Richard Moore Remembered….Day 228 of Bond 365

Richard Moore

Passed away this day in 2009

Underwater Camera Operator in Thunderball

Richard Moore studied Cinema at the University of Southern California and got his start in the business as a co-producer for the American thriller Dangerous Charter (1962) that was directed by Robert Gottschalk. Moore had actually joined Gottschalk as co-founder and Executive V.P. of Panavision a decade earlier. Moore was responsible for designing and developing cameras. For instance, he developed a widescreen format camera lens (Cinemascope) as well as a hand held camera that recorded sound and image at the same time.

Moore left Panavision around the time that he co-produced Dangerous Charter. He worked as camera operator and director of photography in several films for two decades thereafter. I don’t think I have seen any of his work with the exception of Thunderball. Moore directed Circle of Iron (1978), which I am curious about because it attracted some big names at the time: David Carradine, Roddy McDowall, Eli Wallach, and Bond alum Christopher Lee. The film was co-written by Bruce Lee, who conceived the idea, along with James Coburn and Stirling Silliphant many years earlier. It was originally titled The Silent Flute and would have starred Bruce Lee, but he died prior to production.

During his career, Moore won a Scientific and Engineering Academy Award for developing Camera 65 in 1960, which was shared with Douglas Shearer (1960). In 2005, he was honored with the President’s Award from the American Society of Cinematographers.

Moore died at the age of 83, in his Palm Springs, California home.

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