SAM LEAVITT

GREAT CINEMATOGRAPHERS

1959

SAM LEAVITT

Born: 6 February 1904, New York, N.Y., USA, as Samuel E. Leavitt.

Died: 21 March 1984, Motion Picture and Television Hospital, Woodland Hills, Calif., USA.

Career: Spent his early years in New Jersey and most of his work as a c.asst and later as a c.op was done in the East. At Paramount's Astoria [Long Island] Studio he worked for Jack MacKenzie, William Steiner and other leading New York cinematographers in 1932-33. In 1934 he became c.op to Joseph Ruttenberg on a number of pictures which were made at the historic Biograph Studios in the Bronx, New York City. As a director of photography he shot several features for Booth Dominion Ltd. in Toronto. Returning to New York late in 1935, he announced that he was going to get married, go to California on his honeymoon, and settle there permanently. He arrived during the Christmas season and remained as a resident of Hollywood and Beverly Hills until his death.

Was a member of the ASC since 1935.

Awards: Golden Globe nom [1953] for 'The Thief'; 'Oscar' AA [1958; b&w] for 'The Defiant Ones'; 'Oscar' AA nom [1959; b&w] for 'Anatomy of a Murder'; 'Oscar' AA nom [1960; color] for 'Exodus'; 'Emmy' Award nom [1973] for 'Banacek'.

On working with Don Siegel: 'I think 'Crime in the Streets' should have been an award winner, for both of us. We had our differences on that picture and other pictures, but they were constructive differences. That's the way you are supposed to make a picture, between cameraman and director. He'd tell me when we got on the set what he wanted and what mood the scene should have and how he thought it should be done. Then it would be up to me to use my judgment. He's easier and smoother than most directors and he knows what he's doing. The biggest tiff we ever had was while we were shooting 'Spanish Affair' in Spain. Richard Kiley and the girl, Carmen Sevilla, were walking down the street and I wanted to get a mood shot of them walking and he wanted to do it another way, in one long take. He got upset and we both had little to say to each other for quite a while. He had been upset and I had talked back because I don't care who it is, the biggest director or producer, if I have something to say, I talk back to them. That's why I don't get a great many pictures.' [From 'Don Siegel: Director' by Stuart M. Kaminsky, 1974.]

FILMS
1932	Ljubav i strast/Born to Kiss/Love and Passion [Frank Melford] b&w; 61m; cph: William O. Steiner & Frank Zucker; the first release in the U.S. of a film in the Yugoslavian language with native-speaking actors; prod in the USA

1934	Undercover Men/Under Cover [Sam Newfield] b&w; 61m; as Sam Levitt; made in Canada
1935	Thoroughbred/The King's Plate [Sam Newfield] b&w; 64m; made in Canada
1951	Cripple Creek [Ray Nazarro] c; uncred 2uc; ph: William V. Skall
1952	The Thief [Russell Rouse] b&w
1953	Mission Over Korea/Eyes of the Skies [Fred F. Sears] b&w
1953	China Venture/China Bound [Don Siegel] b&w
1953	Goof on the Roof [Jules White] b&w; short/16m; with The Three Stooges
1953	Southwest Passage/Camels West [Ray Nazarro] 3-D/c
1953	A Star Is Born [George Cukor] cs/c; ph 'Born in a Trunk' number (dir by Richard Barstow): Harold Rosson; filmed 1953-54; an October 1953 Daily Variety news item reported that the producers planned to shoot the film in the then popular 3-D format, but by the start of filming, the crew was shooting in WarnerScope. Eight days into shooting the studio decided that 'the story is too intimate for WarnerScope' and arranged with Twentieth Century-Fox to use their new process, CinemaScope. Production halted while Twentieth Century's Milton Krasner conducted test shots of the production number 'The Man That Got Away'. A modern source states that footage already shot was then scrapped at a cost of $300,000. The change in format resulted in Sam Leavitt replacing Winton Hoch as director of photography. Hoch had earlier replaced Harry Stradling, when delays caused a scheduling conflict with another of Stradling's assignments (from the TCM website)
1953	The Star of Bethlehem [James Mason] b&w; short/26m; presented in two acts, with the first 10-minutes being a straightforward Bible recitation by Mason and his wife Pamela of the first two chapters of Luke; then Mason visits daughter Portland bedside and their discussion sets the stage for a re-enactment of the Nativity starring a cast of children

1954	Carmen Jones [Otto Preminger] cs/c
1954	An Annapolis Story/The Blue and the Gold [Don Siegel] c; pfx: Ray Mercer
1955	The Bold and the Brave [Lewis R. Foster] sus/b&w; optical efx: Alex Weldon
1955	The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell/One Man Mutiny [Otto Preminger] cs/c

1955	The Man with the Golden Arm [Otto Preminger] b&w
1955	Crime in the Streets [Don Siegel] b&w
1956	Sierra Stranger [Lee Sholem] b&w
1956	The Wild Party [Harry Horner] b&w; spec pfx: Louis DeWitt & Jack Rabin
1956	Hot Rod Girl [Leslie H. Martinson] b&w
1956	Spanish Affair [Don Siegel] vv/c; 2uc: Theodore Pahle; spec pfx: John P. Fulton; process ph: Farciot Edouart
1957	The Careless Years [Arthur Hiller] b&w
1957	Time Limit [Karl Malden] b&w
1957	Eighteen and Anxious [Joe Parker] b&w
1957	Hell Ship Mutiny [Lee Sholem & Elmo Williams] b&w; 66m; uwph: Robert Cummings & Bill Judd
1958	The Fearmakers [Jacques Tourneur] b&w
1958	The Defiant Ones [Stanley Kramer] b&w
*1958*	The Indian [Gene Fowler] abandoned after one week of shooting
1958	Pork Chop Hill [Lewis Milestone] b&w
1959	The Crimson Kimono [Samuel Fuller] b&w

[Left] with Otto Preminger - "Anatomy of a Murder"

1959	Anatomy of a Murder [Otto Preminger] b&w
1959	Five Gates to Hell [James Clavell] cs/b&w
1959	Seven Thieves [Henry Hathaway] cs/b&w
1959	From the Terrace [Mark Robson] cs/c; uncred New York ph; ph: Leo Tover
1960	Exodus [Otto Preminger] sp70/c
1960	The Right Approach [David Butler] cs/b&w

1961	Cape Fear [J. Lee Thompson] b&w
1962	Advise & Consent [Otto Preminger] p/b&w
1962	Diamond Head [Guy Green] p/c
1963	El camino real/Fray Junípero Serra [Jaime Prades] scope/c; doc/21m
1963	Johnny Cool [William Asher] b&w
1964	Shock Treatment [Denis Sanders] cs/b&w; spec pfx: L.B. Abbott & Emil Kosa Jr.
1964	Two on a Guillotine [William Conrad] p/b&w
1964	Major Dundee [Sam Peckinpah] p/c
1964	My Blood Runs Cold [William Conrad] p/b&w
1965	Brainstorm [William Conrad] p/b&w
1965	Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine/Dr. G and the Bikini Machine [Norman Taurog] p/c

[White hat] - Eleanor Parker - Stuart Whitman

dir Robert Gist [center/kneeling] - "An American Dream"

1966	An American Dream/See You in Hell, Darling [Robert Gist] c
1966	I Deal In Danger [Walter Grauman] c; cph: Kurt Grigoleit; re-edited first 4 ep ('The Last Man', 'Target, David March', 'The Fortress Below' & 'The Weapon Within') of tv-series 'Blue Light'; see Television (1965)
1966	Murderers' Row [Henry Levin] c; 2uc: Mark H. Davis
1967	Guess Who's Coming to Dinner [Stanley Kramer] c; process ph: Larry Butler
1967	Where Angels Go... Trouble Follows [James Neilson] c
1968	The Wrecking Crew [Phil Karlson] c
1968	The Desperados [Henry Levin] c; 2uc: John Cabrera
1969	The Grasshopper/The Passing of Evil/Passions [Jerry Paris] c
1971	Star Spangled Girl [Jerry Paris] c
1974	The Man in the Glass Booth [Arthur Hiller] c
1977	Good Guys Wear Black [Ted Post] c; co-addph; ph: Robert Steadman

TELEVISION
1953	Where's Raymond?/The Ray Bolger Show (1954-55) [Marc Daniels, a.o.] 58-part sitcom series/b&w, 1953-54 (ABC-tv)
1955	The Count of Monte Cristo [ep #1 'The Affair of the Three Napoleons/The Plot' dir by Budd (as Bud) Boetticher] 39-part swashbuckling adventure series for children/b&w, 1956; filmed at the Hal Roach studios, USA (ep #1-12) & Elstree Studios, UK (ep #13-39)
1965	Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea [ep #55 'The Monster's Web/Web of Destruction' dir by Justus Addiss] 110-part science fiction series, 1964-68 (ABC-tv); 2nd season, 1965-66; cph: Winton Hoch; other ph: Robert Bronner, Carl Guthrie & Winton Hoch
1965	Blue Light [pilot 'The Last Man' dir by Walter Grauman] 17-part spy drama series, 1966 (ABC-tv); see Films (1966)

1965	Batman [ep #1 'Hi Diddle Riddle' dir by Robert Butler (RB) & #2 'Smack in the Middle' dir by RB] 120-part fantasy adventure series, 1966-68 (ABC-tv); 1st season, 1966; as Sam Levitt; other ph: Jack Marta, Ralph Woolsey & Howard Schwartz
1967	The Flying Nun [various] 82-part sitcom series, 1967-70 (ABC-tv); other ph: Emil Oster
1970	The Partridge Family [ep #1 'What? And Get Out of Show Business?' dir by Jerry Paris] 96-part sitcom series, 1970-74 (ABC-tv); 1st season, 1970-71; other ph: Fred Jackman Jr. & Irving Lippman
1971	The Screaming Woman [Jack Smight] tvm
1971	Evil Roy Slade [Jerry Paris] tvm
1971	Detour to Nowhere/Banacek [Jack Smight] tvm; served as pilot for the series 'Banacek' (1972-74); see 1972
1972	The Longest Night [Jack Smight] tvm
1972	Banacek [ep #1 'Let's Hear It for a Living Legend' dir by Jack Smight, #2 'Project Phoenix' dir by Richard T. Heffron (RTH), #3 'No Sign of the Cross' dir by Daryl Duke, #4 'A Million the Hard Way' dir by Bernard L. Kowalski, #5 'To Steal a King' dir by Lou Antonio, #6 'Ten Thousand Dollars a Page' dir by RTH, #7 'The Greatest Collection of Them All' dir by George McCowan & #8 'The Two Million Clams of Cap'n Jack' dir by RTH] pilot (see 1971) + 16-part detective drama series, 1972-74 (NBC-tv); 1st season (8 ep), 1972-73
1973	Banacek [ep #9 'No Stone Unturned' dir by Richard T. Heffron, #10 'If Max Is So Smart, Why Doesn't He Tell Us Where He Is?' dir by Bernard L. Kowalski (BLK), #11 'The Three Million Dollar Piracy' dir by Andrew V. McLaglen (AVM), #12 'The Vanishing Chalice' dir by BLK, #13 'Horse of a Slightly Different Color' dir by Herschel Daugherty, #14 'Rocket to Oblivion' dir by AVM, #15 'Fly Me- If You Can Find Me' dir by BLK & #16 'Now You See Me, Now You Don't' dir by Bernard McEveety] 2nd season, 1973-74 (8 ep); see 1972
1976	The Fantastic Journey [pilot 'Vortex' dir by Andrew V. McLaglen] 10-part science fiction series, 1977(NBC-tv); other ph: Irving Lippman

FILMS AS CAMERA OPERATOR
1934	No More West [Nick Grinde; short/19m] ph: ?
1934	Frankie and Johnnie [Chester Erskine & (uncred) John H. Auer] ph: Joseph Ruttenberg
1934	Woman in the Dark/Woman in the Shadows [Phil Rosen] ph: Joseph Ruttenberg
1934	Gigolette/Night Club/Mistaken Heiress [Charles Lamont] ph: Joseph Ruttenberg
1934	Gambling [Rowland V. Lee] prod staff; ph: Jack MacKenzie
1935	The People's Enemy/Racketeers/The Blind Road [Crane Wilbur] ph: Joseph Ruttenberg
1937	Love on Toast [E.A. Dupont] 2nd cam; ph: Charles Schoenbaum
1937	Every Day's a Holiday [A. Edward Sutherland] ph: Karl Struss
1943	Bathing Beauty [George Sidney] ph: Harry Stradling (Sr.)
1944	The Picture of Dorian Gray [Albert Lewin] ph: Harry Stradling (Sr.)
1944	Anchors Aweigh [George Sidney] ph: Robert Planck & Charles P. Boyle
1944	Thrill of a Romance [Richard Thorpe] ph: Harry Stradling (Sr.)
1944	Her Highness and the Bellboy [Richard Thorpe] 2nd cam; ph: Harry Stradling (Sr.)
1945	Easy to Wed [Edward Buzzell; (uncred) Buster Keaton & Edward Sedgwick)] ph: Harry Stradling (Sr.)
1945	Holiday in Mexico [George Sidney] 2nd cam; ph: Harry Stradling (Sr.)
1946	The Romance of Rosy Ridge [Roy Rowland] ph: Sidney Wagner
1947	The Pirate [Vincente Minnelli] ph: Harry Stradling (Sr.)
1947	Easter Parade [Charles Walters] ph: Harry Stradling (Sr.)
1948	The Barkleys of Broadway/The Gay Barkleys [Charles Walters] ph: Harry Stradling (Sr.)
1948	In the Good Old Summertime [Robert Z. Leonard & (uncred) Buster Keaton] ph: Harry Stradling (Sr.)
1949	Tension [John Berry] ph: Harry Stradling (Sr.)
1951	Rancho Notorious [Fritz Lang] ph: Hal Mohr
1951	I Love Lucy [various; tv-series] ph: Robert De Grasse, Karl Freund, Sidney Hickox, a.o.