Ted Moore
Born this day in 1914
Director of Photography in Dr. No, From Russia with Love,
Goldfinger, Thunderball, Diamonds Are Forever, Live and Let Die, The Man with
the Golden Gun
Ted Moore was originally from Benoni, Western Cape, South
Africa. He moved to the United Kingdom in 1930 and served in the RAF during
World War II. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) as well as a
French Croix De Geurre. For part of his service, Moore worked with the film
unit since by wartime, Moore had already been working as a cameraman in the
film industry.
Moore got his professional start as a camera operator for the
war drama Sons of the Sea (1939) and get
this, an actor by the name of Ian Fleming was cast as a Naval Intelligence
Officer – if that isn’t foreshadowing, I don’t know what is?! Some years later,
Moore met up with what would become part of the core crew for the Bond
franchise in the film Paratrooper
(1953). For that film, Terence Young directed, Richard Maibaum was the
screenwriter and it co-produced by Albert Broccoli. Further down into the
credits, I found stuntman Bob Simmons as well. And, in 1956, Moore, Young and
Broccoli joined forces again for Safari. This time, Moore led the Director of Photography for the second unit.
Moore did incredible work on seven Bond films as the
cinematographer, creating numerous memorable scenes. Some of the other films
that stand out in his filmography that I have seen: The Golden Voyage of
Sinbad (1973), Sinbad and the Eye
of the Tiger (1977), the disturbing Orca (1977), television mini-series The Martian
Chronicles (1980), and the epic Clash
of the Titans (1981), which was one of his
very last projects.
Throughout Moore’s career, that spanned over four decades,
he earned four accolades: for A Man for All Seasons (1966) he won an Academy Award and a BAFTA and for From
Russia with Love (1963) he won a BAFTA and
recognition from the British Society of Cinematographers.
In 1987, Moore passed away at the age of 72 in Surrey,
England.
Interesting fact: Moore and actress Charlize Theron were
both from Benoni and each earned the first Oscar for their respective fields
(cinematography and acting) as representatives from South Africa. Moore was
actually the very first South African to receive an Oscar.
© Copyright. Michele
Brittany. 2011 - 2015. All rights reserved. All text, graphics, and photos are
protected by US and International Copyright Laws, and may not be copied,
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