Raiders of the Lost Ark cinematographer Douglas Slocombe has died aged 103 in London.
The Oscar-nominated British director of photography is best known for shooting the first three Indiana Jones films in the 1980s, and nearly all the classic comedies produced by London-based Ealing Studios, including Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) and The Lavender Hill Mob (1951). In total, he shot 80 films.
Over the course of his career, Solocombe received Oscar nominations for his work on Travels With My Aunt (1973), Julia (1978) and Raiders of the Lost Ark (1982). Other high-profile credits include Jesus Christ Superstar (1973), The Great Gatsby (1974) and Rollerball (1975).
Born in London, Slocombe was raised in France, returning to the UK in 1933. In 1939, he filmed some of the earliest fighting of the second world war in Poland and Amsterdam, which was featured in documentaries by Herbert Kline, Alberto Cavalcanti and Ealing Studios. Slocombe’s first feature film was The Big Blockade (1942).
His third Indiana Jones film, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), was his last project.
Slocombe won Baftas for cinematography for The Servant (1963), The Great Gatsby and Julia, and netted the British Society of Cinematographers’ lifetime achievement award in 1995.
