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Elwood Bailey Bredell (24 December 1902 – 26 February 1969) was an American cinematographer and child silent screen actor.[1] He is sometimes credited as Woody Bredell or Elwood Dell. Although he worked in many genres, mostly at Universal, Bredell is best known for his film noir cinematography on such movies as Phantom Lady (1944), Lady on a Train (1945) The Killers (1946), and The Unsuspected (1947). Warner Bros. editor George Amy said Bredell could "light a football stadium with a single match".[2]
Elwood Bredell | |
|---|---|
 Ava Gardner and Burt Lancaster in The Killers in 1946 | |
| Born | Jesse B. Bredell 24 December 1902 Indianapolis, Indiana |
| Died | 26 February 1969 California |
| Other names | Woody Bredell Elwood Dell |
| Occupation(s) | Cinematographer, actor |
| Years active | 1917–1955 |
Early life
editBredell was born Jesse B. Bredell, Jr., after his father, who was married to stage actress Mary Palmer Nields. She later married Vaughn "Val" Paul, a silent film actor turned production manager. (Paul's son with Nields, Vaughn Jr., was Deanna Durbin's first husband.)[1]
Career
editAfter working as an adolescent actor in silent films, Bredell took a job as a studio lab technician while he cultivated a talent for photography. From about 1929 to 1934, Bredell worked as a still photographer at RKO and Paramount, coinciding with his stepfather's tenures at those studios.[1] At Paramount, Bredell apprenticed under veteran cinematographers Charles Lang and Arthur C. Miller.[1] In 1936, Paul brought Bredell to Universal, where he continued his training under the studio's best cinematographer, Joseph Valentine. Bredell was promoted to cinematographer the next year, when Paul produced Reckless Living (1938).[1]
Bredell's work on horror films such as Black Friday (1940), The Mummy's Hand (1940), and Ghost of Frankenstein (1942), anticipated his film noir cinematography. He also photographed Deann Durbin musicals and comedies such as Hold That Ghost (1941), Hellzapoppin' (1941) and The Inspector General (1949). His final credit was on the 1955 B-movie Female Jungle.
Selected filmography
editActor
edit- Southern Justice (1917)
- A Young Patriot (1917)
- Your Boy and Mine (1917)
- Up or Down? (1917)
- The Magic Eye (1918)
Cinematographer
edit- Snowbound (1927)
- That's My Story! (1937)
- Little Tough Guy (1938)
- Two Bright Boys (1939)
- Ex-Champ (1939)
- Black Friday(1940)
- The Mummy's Hand (1940)
- The Invisible Woman (1940)
- Hold That Ghost (1941)
- Man Made Monster (1941)
- South of Tahiti (1941)
- Hellzapoppin' (1941)
- The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942)
- The Amazing Mrs. Holliday (1943)
- His Butler's Sister (1943)
- Phantom Lady (1944)
- Christmas Holiday (1944)
- Lady on a Train (1945)
- Smooth as Silk (1946)
- The Killers (1946)
- The Unsuspected (1947)
- Romance on the High Seas (1948)
- The Adventures of Don Juan 1948
- The Inspector General (1949)
- Journey into Light (1951)
- Christmas Hymns (1954)
- Female Jungle (1955)
References
edit- ^ a b c d e Palumbo, Ron (2018). Hold That Ghost: Including the Original Shooting Script. BearManor Media. OCLC 1033802106. Retrieved 2022-11-17.
- ^ Flynn, Charles and Todd McCarthy. Kings of the Bs: Working Within the Hollywood System: an Anthology of Film History and Criticism. E.P. Dutton, 1975.