Harold Rosson

Harold Rosson

Known For: Camera

Date Of Birth:1895-04-06

Place Of Birth:New York City, New York, USA

From Wikipedia Harold G. "Hal" Rosson, A.S.C. (April 6, 1895 – September 6, 1988) was an American cinematographer who worked during the early and classical Hollywood cinema. He is best known for his work on the 1939 fantasy film The Wizard of Oz. Harold Rosson began his film career in 1908 as an actor at the Vitagraph Studios in the Flatbush area of Brooklyn, New York City. He became the assistant to Irvin Willat at the Mark Dintenfass Studios. In 1912 he divided his time as an office boy in a stockbrokers firm and as an assistant, extra, and handyman at the Famous Players Studio in New York. His first film for Famous Players was David Harum (1915). In December 1914, Rosson moved to California and joined Metro Pictures. During World War I, he served in the United States Army. After his demobilization, he went to work on the Marion Davies film The Dark Star. He was offered a contract with the Davies Company. In 1920 he was signed by Mary Pickford, working primarily with her brother Jack Pickford. In the 1930s, Rosson signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and directed the photography for some of the studio's most popular films including Treasure Island (1934), The Wizard of Oz, Duel in the Sun, and Singin' in the Rain (1952). In 1936, Rosson and fellow cinematographer W. Howard Greene were awarded an Honorary Oscar for the color cinematography of the 1936 David O. Selznick production The Garden of Allah. Rosson later said it was the first time he attempted to film in color. After a very long and successful career in Hollywood, Rosson retired in 1958. He briefly came out of retirement in 1966 for the Howard Hawks film El Dorado starring John Wayne. Rosson was married twice, with both marriages ending in divorce, and had no children. While shooting the film Bombshell in 1933, actress Jean Harlow proposed to Rosson. The two had worked together previously on Red-Headed Woman, Dinner at Eight, Hold Your Man, and Red Dust and had struck up a friendship. On September 17, 1933, the two were married in Yuma, Arizona. In an interview with Leicester Wagner, Harlow recalled that she and Rosson grew closer after the death of her second husband, Paul Bern, and he encouraged her to go out and socialize. Rosson and Harlow separated in May 1934 with Harlow charging that Rosson was "rude, sullen and irritable". She was granted a divorce in March 1935. On October 11, 1936, Rosson married socialite Yvonne Crellin in Beverly Hills. They divorced in June 1945. On September 6, 1988, Rosson died, age 93, at his home in Palm Beach, Florida. He is buried in Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

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Castings

The Wizard of Oz
The Docks of New York
The Scarlet Pimpernel
El Dorado
Penthouse
Johnny Eager
Abie's Irish Rose
Slightly Dangerous
Red Dust
The Asphalt Jungle
Frozen Justice
Living in a Big Way
Open Range
The Cinema Murder
Trent's Last Case
Madam Satan
Kongo
The Devil Is a Sissy
Duel in the Sun
This Side of Heaven
The Cat and the Fiddle
Red-Headed Woman
The Cuban Love Song
Almost a Lady
The Barbarian
Hold Your Man
Turn Back the Clock
This Mad World
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo
Bombshell
The Emperor's Candlesticks
Rough House Rosie
An American Romance
As You Like It
The Squaw Man
Three Wise Fools
They Gave Him a Gun
Passion Flower
The Actress
A Yank at Oxford
Men Call It Love
Washington Melodrama
Boom Town
Downstairs
Toward the Unknown
Captains Courageous
Tarzan the Ape Man
No Leave, No Love
Double Wedding
South Sea Rose
The Enemy Below
Sporting Blood
The Little French Girl
Singin' in the Rain
Homecoming
Up in Mabel's Room
Treasure Island
The Ghost Goes West
The Man Who Could Work Miracles
Dr. Kildare Goes Home
Panthea
Key to the City
Mambo
The Story of Three Loves
Oliver Twist
To Please a Lady
The Hucksters
Somewhere I'll Find You
Any Number Can Play
The Stratton Story
I Take This Woman
On the Town
Manhandled
The Far Call
The Bad Seed
Dangerous When Wet
That Mothers Might Live
Ulisse
Zaza
Love Is Better Than Ever
Evening Clothes
The Glimpses of the Moon
Strange Lady in Town
Command Decision
The Red Badge of Courage
Between Two Women
Lone Star
Forgotten Victory
Tennessee Johnson
I Love Melvin
The Drag Net
The Case of Lena Smith
A Gentleman of Paris
Three Week Ends
The Sawdust Paradise
Too Many Kisses
Son of India
Getting Gertie's Garter
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
A Man Must Live
Too Hot to Handle
Man Bait
Buried Treasure
Manhattan
Heliotrope
Pete Kelly's Blues
Big Brother
Honky Tonk