Actor

David Watkin

Camera

Career Snapshot

Explained

These indicators come from TMDB. They are relative signals, not review ratings.

Acting credits

Early stage

Smaller on-screen catalog so far.

TMDB popularity

2.1

Low visibility

TMDB internal trend index. Higher usually means more searches and page activity now.

Movies: 71Series: 1Crew credits: 69

TMDB ID: 10639

IMDb ID: nm0914239

Known for: Camera

Born: March 23, 1925

Died: February 19, 2008

Age: 82

Place of birth: Margate, Kent, England, UK

Gender: Male

Adult content flag: No

Career span: 1956 - 2007

Years active: 52

Average TMDB rating: 6.18

Wikidata: Q1177096

Other jobs

Director of Photography (63)Cinematography (4)Additional Photography (1)Camera Operator (1)

TMDB TMDB IMDb IMDb W Wikidata

Biography

David Watkin BSC (23 March 1925 – 19 February 2008) was an English cinematographer, an innovator who was among the first directors of photography to experiment heavily with the usage of bounce light as a soft light source. He worked with such film directors as Richard Lester, Peter Brook, Tony Richardson, Mike Nichols, Ken Russell, Franco Zeffirelli, Sidney Lumet and Sydney Pollack. In 1985, Watkin won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for his work on Out of Africa. He received lifetime achievement awards in 2004 from the British Society of Cinematographers and the cinematographic-centric Camerimage Film Festival in Łódź, Poland. In Chariots of Fire, he "helped create one of the most memorable images of 1980s cinema: the opening sequence in which a huddle of young male athletes pounds along the water's edge on a beach" to the film's theme music by Vangelis.