Frederick William Francis was born on the 22nd of December 1917 in Islington in London, England.
He was an English cinematographer and film director.
Young Freddie originally planned to become an engineer but while at school, an essay he wrote about "films of the future" won him a scholarship to the North West London Polytechnic in Kentish Town.
He left school at age 16 and became an apprentice to a stills photographer. During his six months working with the photographer Francis helped take stills on set for a film being made at Associated Talking Pictures (later Ealing Studios).
This led to Francis “getting his foot in the door” and successively becoming a clapper boy, camera loader and focus puller at British International Pictures, then moved to British and Dominions.
His first film credit as a clapper boy was
"The Prisoner of Corbal" (1936).
In 1939, Freddie Francis enlisted in the Army (Due to WW2) where he would spend the next seven years.
Eventually, he was assigned to be a cameraman and director in the British Army “Kinematograph Service” Based at Wembley Studios, where he worked on training films.
Regarding this period, Francis said,
"Most of the time I was with various film units within the service, so I got quite a bit of experience in all sorts of jobs, including being a cameraman and editing and generally being a jack of all trades."
On his return to civilian life, Francis spent the next ten years working as a camera operator within the very busy British film industry, He regularly worked for the legendary directing team of Powell and Pressburger working on six of their films,
“The Small Back Room” (1949), “The Elusive Pimpernel” (1950), “Gone to Earth” (1950), “The Tales of Hoffmann” (1951), “Twice Upon a Time” (1953) & “The Sorcerer's Apprentice” (1955).
Francis was also a cameraman for cinematographer Oswald Morris working on “Golden Salamander” (1950) & “Knave of Hearts” (1954) and he worked on three films directed by John Huston “Moulin Rouge” (1952), “Beat the Devil” (1953) and “Moby Dick” (1956).
Francis was given a chance to lead the second unit of Moby Dick for Huston and shortly after became a full cinematographer for director Julian Amyes on “A Hill in Korea” (1956), which was shot in Portugal.
As a cinematographer, He went on to shoot Prestige British dramas such as,
“Room at the Top” (1959), “Saturday Night and Sunday Morning” (1960),
“Sons and Lovers” (1960), and “The Innocents” (1961) which Francis regarded as one of the best films he shot.
For his work on Jack Cardiff's “Sons and Lovers” (1960) he received his first Academy Award for Best Cinematography.
Following his Academy Award win
Francis began his career as a film director.
His first feature as director was,
"Two and Two Make Six" (1962).
He For the next 20 years, Francis worked continuously as a director of Genre Cinema.
He directed the cult British creature feature,
The Day of the Triffids (1963)
Made by Security Pictures Ltd and Distributed by The Rank Organisation,
Francis went on to make five films for “Hammer Productions” throughout the 1960s and 1970s as well as having a working relationship with the British “Amicus Productions” from the mid-sixties, most of the films Francis made for Amicus were portmanteau horror films such as
“Dr. Terror's House of Horrors” (1965) and “Tales from the Crypt” (1972).
He also made two films for the short-lived company “Tyburn Films” These were,
“The Ghoul” (1975) and “Legend of the Werewolf” (1975).
Freddie Francis said, "Horror films have liked me more than I have liked horror films".
I also need to mention Francis directed the little-seen and rarely-talked-about movie,
“Son of Dracula” (1974),
starring musician Harry Nilsson in the title role and Ringo Starr as Merlin the Magician and there are cameos by drummers Keith Moon & John Bonham… It’s insane!
I also need to name-check the movie “The Doctor and the Devils” (1985) Directed by Freddie Francis this movie is based on the crimes of Burke and Hare and is well worth checking out.
In 1980 Francis returned to working as a director of photography to shoot the David Lynch period drama “The Elephant Man” (1980). Freddie really was an expert he shot the film on ‘Kodak's Plus X stock’ which was the only monochrome emulsion that met Francis’ standards and was available in sufficient quantities.
He earned great acclaim for his gorgeous black-and-white cinematography on “The Elephant Man” earning a BAFTA nomination.
After The Elephant Man Francis gained a new-found industry and critical respect as a cinematographer shooting 15 films including,
“Dune” (1984) Directed by David Lynch.
“Return to Oz” (1985) Directed by Walter Murch. Freddie Francis was the cinematographer on this but is Uncredited.
“Glory” (1989) Directed by Edward Zwick
Freddie Francis won the Best Cinematography Oscar for “Glory”
“Cape Fear” (1991) Directed by Martin Scorsese
“The Straight Story” (1999) David Lynch
Francis received many industry awards, including, in 1997, an international achievement award from the American Society of Cinematographers, and in 2004, BAFTA's special achievement award.
Freddie Francis died on the 17th of March 2001 at the age of 89 as the result of the lingering effects of a stroke.
