American Cinematographer - March 2013 - 69

In Memoriam

Alfred Taylor, ASC, 1924-2012

Cinematographer Alfred Taylor, ASC
died Dec. 21 at the age of 88.
Taylor was born on Nov. 10, 1924, in
Newport Gwent, Wales,
in the United Kingdom.
His interest in photography began at an early
age, and when he was
only 8, he developed his
first roll of black-andwhite film. The years
1942-’46 found Taylor
serving as a pilot and
aircraft electrician in the
Fleet Air Arm of the
British Royal Navy, after
which he officially
began his still and
motion-picture photography career, working for the Rank Organization and Ealing
Studios, among others.
In 1952, Taylor moved across the
pond and settled in Hollywood, where he
found his footing shooting weddings,
actors’ headshots and documentaries. After
a few years in town, he purchased a 35mm
Arriflex camera, which helped him find an
increasingly steady flow of work shooting
everything from inserts to full-length
features. He also began shooting commercials, through which he came to know ASC
members Karl Struss and Ernest Haller. Over
the years, Taylor notched more than 1,000
commercial credits for clients that included
Ford, Dodge, Chevrolet, Sears Tires, Miller,
Coors, Dole, Kellogg’s, Sealy and Max
Factor.
In 1960, Taylor opened his own
studio with a 20'x40' insert stage on Seward
Street in Hollywood; he ran the business
until 1974. In addition to accumulating an
impressive camera and lighting package,
Taylor also used his studio to invent and
machine custom equipment. For example,
after a feature shoot on beaches near
Carmel and Big Sur, Calif., frustrations with
maneuvering the heavy studio equipment
across the sand led Taylor to devise his own
lightweight fiberglass blimp for his handheld 35mm Arri camera, a process he

described in detail in AC’s May 1965
issue. He went on to use the blimp for a
number of projects, including the feature
Beach Ball, which he
photographed in the
2-perf
Techniscope
widescreen format.
Taylor’s credits also
included the features
Spider Baby, Sofi, The
Teacher, Mutant (a.k.a.
Night Shadows), Fatal
Games and Killer
Klowns from Outer
Space; the series The
Paper Chase and
Shadow Chasers; additional photography for
the features The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing and The Great Waltz and the series
Kojak, Adam 12 and M*A*S*H; and documentaries for the various branches of the
U.S. armed forces. From 1965-’75, Taylor
served as a director of photography along
with Alan Stensvold, ASC for the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Dept. Photo Reserve Unit. Additionally, he remained an active still photographer and contributed shots to catalogs
and other publications.
In 1966, Taylor was made an associate member of the Royal Photographic
Society in Great Britain. Three years later, he
was accepted into IATSE Local 659 as a
director of photography. In 1986, Taylor
was made an active member of the ASC
after being nominated by Society members
Richard Glouner, Gerald Perry Finnerman
and Donald Birnkrant.
Outside of work, Taylor enjoyed sailing, and he noted on his résumé that he
knew both coastal and celestial navigation.
But it was his career that took him to such
far-flung locales as the Isle of Man, Iceland,
South Africa and Jamaica. In 1994, he
wrote to the ASC’s Board of Governors to
request retired status.
Taylor is survived by his wife, Elizabeth.
— Jon D. Witmer
●
69

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American Cinematographer - March 2013

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