Born July 2, 1898 in Brooklyn, New York, George Joseph Folsey was one of Hollywood’s greatest cinematographers. He was director of photography on more than 160 films from 1919 to 1972, earning 13 Oscar nominations along the way.

Folsey began in the film industry as an office boy in Jesse Lasky’s New York production company in 1914. By 1919 he was a full-fledge cinematographer, so impressing Alice Brady, the star of his first film, His Bridal Night, that she offered him a contract to photograph all her films, which he accepted. Among the many silent films that he photographed, in addition to Brady’s films, were 1924’s The Enchanted Cottage and 1928’s Lady Be Good sans the Gershwin music. His early sound successes included 1929’s The Letter, The Cocoanuts and Applause, 1932’s The Big Pond, Animal Crackers, The Royal Family of Broadway and Stolen Heaven, 1931’s The Smiling Lieutenant, 1932’s Animal Kingdom and 1933’s Reunion in Vienna which earned him his first Oscar nomination.

In addition to receiving a second Oscar nomination for 1934’s Operator 13 and a third for 1936’s The Gorgeous Hussy, Folsey’s later 1930s projects included a segment of The Great Ziegfeld and uncredited work on 1938’s Marie Antoinette.

His 1940s’ output brought him Oscar nominations for Thousands Cheer, The White Cliffs of Dover, Meet Me in St. Louis, The Green Years and Green Dolphin Street and kudos as well for the likes of A Guy Named Joe, The Clock, The Harvey Girls, The Secret Heart, State of the Union and Adam’s Rib.

The 1950s brought Folsey additional Oscar nominations for Million Dollar Mermaid, All the Brothers Were Violent, Executive Suite and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Other successes included The Band Wagon, Deep in My Heart, Hit the Deck, The Cobweb, Forbidden Planet, The Fastest Gun Alive, These Wilder Years and Count Your Blessings. Slowing down, he earned his final Oscar nomination for 1963’s The Balcony. He also did TV work on The Fugitive and My Three Sons.

Although Folsey never won an Oscar despite his 13 nominations, he did win an Emmy on his only nomination for 1969’s Here’s Peggy Fleming. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Cinematographers in 1988.

Folsey’s son George Folsey, Jr. is a longtime editor and producer and his grandson, Ryan Folsey is also a longtime editor.

George J. Folsey died on November 1, 1988 at the age of 90.

ESSENTIAL FILMS

THE WHITE CLIFFS OF DOVER (1944), directed by Clarence Brown

Folsey’s beautiful camerawork captures the look and feel of England from World War I to World War II. We first meet Irene Dunne as a World War II nurse awaiting the arrival of seriously injured soldiers. In flashbacks, we learn that she was swept off her feet by a British baronet and member of the landed gentry (Alan Marshall) who marries and loses him to World War I, bringing up her son (Roddy McDowall) with the aid of her mother-in-law (Gladys Cooper) and her housekeeper/nanny (Dame May Whitty). The son, now played by Peter Lawford, is one of the injured and dies in her arms.

MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS (1960), directed by Vincente Minnelli

One of the many films Folsey photographed for Minnelli, this musical gem is also one of the most beautiful color films of the era. The highlights from a cinematographer’s point of view are undoubtedly Margaret O’Brien’s frightening Halloween experience, Judy Garland and company’s trolley ride and O’Brien and the snowman. The story of a middle-American family at the turn of the 20th Century also benefits from gorgeous art direction and costume design as well as the performances of Garland, O’Brien and the rest of the cast and above all, the Ralph Blane-Hugh Martin score.

THE GREEN YEARS (1946), directed by Victor Saville

Folsey’s gorgeous camerawork evokes the vividly described Scotland of A.J. Cronin’s classic novel in one of the best cast films of all time. Dean Stockwell is the young Irish orphan sent to live with his mother’s stern Scottish father (Hume Cronyn), her warm and loving mother (Selena Royle) and their extended family which includes Gladys Cooper as Cronyn’s mother, Charles Coburn as Royle’s father and Cronyn’s wife, Jessica Tandy as his daughter. Coburn, in an Oscar nominated turn, brings the morose Stockwell out of his shell, supporting him through to his young adulthood where is then played by Tom Drake.

EXECUTIVE SUITE (1954), directed by Robert Wise

For a film that takes place mostly in offices and boardrooms, Folsey’s vivid cinematography adds immensely to the narrative of this exercise in picking a successor to the C.E.O. of a major corporation. The film’s four Oscar nominations included three technical nods including one for Folsey as well as for its art direction and costume design. The film’s sterling cast includes William Holden, June Allyson, Fredric March, Walter Pidgeon, Paul Douglas, Dean Jagger, Louis Calhern and Barbara Stanwyck in a stunning cameo, but it was Nina Foch in a small role as a loyal secretary that earned the film’s only acting nomination.

SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS (1954), directed by Stanley Donen

Folsey could have earned an Oscar nomination for the barn-raising sequence alone, but the entire film is one eye-popping scene after another from the first breakfast to the kidnapping sequence to the sheep dance to the avalanche to the finale and then some. That this lushly filmed masterpiece lost Folsey the cinematography, color Oscar to the glorified travelogue that was Three Coins in the Fountain has got to be one of Oscar’s biggest jokes. Also at the top of their game were the great Jane Powell as the first bride and Howard Keel, Jeff Richards, Russ Tamblyn, Tommy Rall, Marc Platt, Matt Mattox and Jacques D’Amboise as the brothers.

GEORGE J. FOLSEY AND OSCAR

• Reunion in Vienna (1933) – nominated – Best Cinematography
• Operator 13 (1934) – nominated – Best Cinematography
• The Gorgeous Hussy (1936) – nominated – Best Cinematography
• Thousands Cheer (1943) – nominated – Best Cinematography, Color
• The White Cliffs of Dover (1944) – nominated – Best Cinematography, Black-and-White
• Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) – nominated – Best Cinematography, Color
• The Green Years (1946) – nominated – Best Cinematography, Black-and-White
• Green Dolphin Street (1947) – nominated – Best Cinematography, Black-and-White
• Million Dollar Mermaid (1952) – nominated – Best Cinematography, Color
• All the Brothers Were Valiant (1943) – nominated – Best Cinematography, Color
• Executive Suite (1954) – nominated – Best Cinematography, Black-and-White
• Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954) – nominated – Best Cinematography, Color
• The Balcony (1963) – nominated – Best Cinematography, Black-and-White