TED D. McCORD

GREAT CINEMATOGRAPHERS

#2: With Joan Crawford - "Flamingo Road" [1948]

#3: [Right] with John Huston - "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" [1947]

TED D. McCORD

Born: 2 August 1900, Cass, Sullivan County, Indiana, USA, as Thamer D. McCord.

Died: 19 January 1976, Glendale, Calif., USA.

Education: Left school at age 17.

Career: Went to work in a film laboratory. Became c.asst to doph James C. Van Trees [1890-1973] at the Hobart Bosworth Studio in Los Angeles. His first credited film as fully-fledged cinematographer was 'Sacred and Profane Love' [1921], billing himself as T.D. McCord. Between 1924 and 1928, he worked at First National Pictures, which became a subsidiary of Warner Bros. in 1928. He also began working with the showman-like cowboy star Ken Maynard on such Westerns as 'The Canyon of Adventure' [1928]. His picturesque rendering of the scenery of 1849 California won critical praise, and Maynard put McCord under contract. When Maynard moved to Universal in 1929, he took his cinematographer with him, setting a pattern for much of McCord's work over the next decade. McCord shot over 20 of Maynard's vehicles until 1934, bringing clean compositions and brisk camerawork to a highly enjoyable series of low-budget Westerns. During the early 1930s, he had brief spells at Universal, Columbia and RKO-Pathé, before finally settling at Warner Bros. for the bulk of his career [1936-57]. He shot numerous films for Bryan Foy's 'B' film unit at Warner Bros. During World War II, he served as a captain with the U.S. Army Air Force Photographic Unit and was among the first Americans to enter devastated Berlin, filming inside Hitler's ruined chancellery and the Potsdam Conference [July-August 1945]. Retired in 1967.

Was a member of the ASC.

Awards: 'Oscar' AA nom [1948; b&w] for 'Johnny Belinda'; 'Oscar' AA nom [1962; b&w] for 'Two for the Seesaw'; 'Oscar' AA nom [1965; color] for 'The Sound of Music'.

The veteran cinematographer Ted McCord worked in the American film industry for a remarkable six decades, from the 1910s through the 1960s. As such he toiled on many a big-budget silent film such as First National's 'Sally' and was behind the camera for the major blockbuster of the 1960s, 20th Century-Fox's 'The Sound of Music'. But remarkably he never won an Academy Award, though he received three nominations. McCord was considered a good craftsman, not a great artist.

He was most praised for his complex use of lighting. McCord attributed his use of deep shadows to his interest in the paintings of Rembrandt and the cinematography of the great Gregg Toland. This was particularly apparent in such sequences as the 'Climb Every Mountain' number in 'The Sound of Music' and the brothel hallway footage in 'East of Eden'.

Like many who entered the industry in the 1910s, McCord had no formal training in photography or aesthetics. Rather he learned on the job. He began in a film laboratory and took his training under James Van Trees at the old Hobart Bosworth Studio. He then moved on to film dozens of B-westerns. He was able to move to a major studio only as World War II sent many a younger cinematographer to battle and thus opened up positions in Hollywood.

Many of the great cameramen of the studio era took long tenures at one studio. For McCord that was Warner Bros. He worked on many of the studio's most famous and profitable films of the 1940s, including 'The Treasure of the Sierra Madre' and 'Flamingo Road'. Some of these are remembered as classics, but all were interesting visual artifacts. This is the portion of his career for which McCord will probably be most remembered.

He was also a generous benefactor to younger cameramen. Conrad Hall tells all interviewers that it was McCord who opened up the system for him and other aspiring cinematographers of the 1960s. McCord was a self-confident 'old pro.' He was not set in his ways, but willing to help a new generation learn from the great craftsmen of the past. [From article by Douglas Gomery.]

Joanne Woodward - Ted McCord [cap] - Jean Seberg - Sean Connery - Irvin Kershner

"A Fine Madness" [1965]

'After a quarter of a century spent laboring in the wilderness, Ted McCord finally graduated to 'A' pictures when he was nearly 50. Having spent so much time out of doors learning his craft on westerns, he swiftly established himself as a master of location photography and had nearly twenty more active years in him before eventually bowing out in style in the mid-sixties by vividly rendering Salzburg and then New York for his final two films.' [Richard Chatten in 'Film Dope', #37, June 1987.]

'Ted McCord is dead now. He was a cinematographer, an artist and a wonderful man. We met on a project that Leslie Stevens directed, wrote and produced. I operated for Ted on that film and then I became his operator for a number of years until I became a first cameraman on 'Stoney Burke'. I learned a number of things from him about cinematography and filmmaking. But what I really learned from him was the approach to your job, the approach to the way you look at film and how you think about it. [...] It was his non-closed-off sense about his job. He approached each picture as if he knew nothing when he began. And it wasn't that he didn't know anything; he knew everything that he knew. But he approached it as if he was always frightened to death and he was always trying to bring something unique and special to that piece of material. It was the search for that uniqueness and that specialness that embodied his approach. He was always searching for the best way to express that piece of material. That's the kind of artistic sense I'm talking about. He was trying to find precisely the right kind of thing rather than imposing techniques indiscriminately on the material. He wanted to find the way of telling that story correctly using everything that he knew or finding out new things and experimenting. Those are the things that I learned from Ted. And that attitude is what I cherish.' [Conrad L. Hall in 'Masters of Light - Conversations with Contemporary Cinematographers' by Dennis Schaefer & Larry Salvato, 1984.]

'I had help on ['East of Eden'] from a wonderful cameraman, Ted McCord, a terrific, mean old man. People didn't like to work with him. He was pigheaded, bullheaded. But boy, when you talked to him, he worked. He really tried to give you his equivalent for what you wanted. He had a lot of guts.' [Elia Kazan in 'Kazan on Kazan' by Michel Ciment, 1973]

FILMS [1 reel = c. 10m]
1921	Sacred and Profane Love [William Desmond Taylor] b&w; 5 reels; cph: James Van Trees; prod Famous Players-Lasky Corporation
1924	For Sale [George Archainbaud] b&w; prod Associated First National Pictures
1924	Flirting with Love [John Francis Dillon] b&w; 70m; prod Associated First National Pictures
1924	So Big [Charles Brabin] b&w; prod First National Pictures (FN)
1925	Sally [Alfred E. Green] b&w; prod FN

"The Desert Flower"

1925	The Desert Flower [Irving Cummings] b&w; 70m; prod FN
1925	The Marriage Whirl/Modern Madness [Alfred Santell] b&w; prod Corinne Griffith Productions
1925	The Pace That Thrills [Webster Campbell] b&w; prod FN
1925	We Moderns [John Francis Dillon] b&w; 70m; prod John McCormick Productions
1925	Irene [Alfred E. Green] b&w + c (2-strip Technicolor); prod FN
1927	The Valley of the Giants [Charles Brabin] b&w; 70m; prod FN
1928	The Canyon of Adventure [Albert S. Rogell] b&w; 6 reels; prod Charles R. Rogers Productions
1928	The Upland Rider [Albert S. Rogell] b&w; 6 reels; prod FN
1928	The Code of the Scarlet [Harry J. Brown] b&w; 57m; prod Charles R. Rogers Productions
1928	The Crash [Eddie Cline] b&w; prod FN
1928	The Phantom City [Albert S. Rogell] b&w; 6 reels; prod Charles R. Rogers Productions
1928	The Royal Rider [Harry J. Brown] b&w; 67m; prod FN
1929	The Wagon Master [Harry J. Brown] b&w; 70m; silent & sound (talking seq) version; prod Ken Maynard Productions (KMP)
1929	Señor Americano [Harry J. Brown] b&w; 71m
1929	Parade of the West [Harry J. Brown] b&w; 66m
1929	Lucky Larkin [Harry J. Brown] b&w; 66m; silent & sound (music + efx) version; prod KMP
1930	The Fighting Legion [Harry J. Brown] b&w; 74m
1930	Mountain Justice/Kettle Creek [Harry J. Brown] b&w; 74m
1930	Song of the Caballero [Harry J. Brown] b&w; 73m
1930	The Lone Rider [Louis King] b&w; 66m
1930	Sons of the Saddle [Harry J. Brown] b&w
1930	Shadow Ranch [Louis King] b&w; 64m
1930	Men Without Law [Louis King] b&w; 65m
1930	The Dawn Trail [Christy Cabanne] b&w; 66m
1930	Fighting Thru; or, California in 1878/Fightin' Ranch [William Nigh] b&w; 61m; or ph Arthur Reed
1930	Desert Vengeance [Louis King] b&w; 65m
1931	Sundown Trail [Robert F. Hill] b&w; 56m
1931	Freighters of Destiny [Fred Allen] b&w; 57m
1931	Easy to Get [Howard Bretherton] b&w; short/18m; ep #3 of 6-part 'Gay Girls Comedy'-series (RKO-Pathé)
1931	The Wide Open Spaces [Arthur Rosson] b&w; short/20m
1931	Carnival Boat [Albert S. Rogell] b&w; 62m
1932	Hell-Fire Austin [Forrest Sheldon] b&w; 70m; cph: Joe Novak
1932	The Saddle Buster/Montana Rides [Fred Allen] b&w; 59m
1932	Ghost Valley [Fred Allen] b&w; 54m
1932	Dynamite Ranch [Forrest Sheldon] b&w; 59m
1932	Beyond the Rockies [Fred Allen] b&w; 54m
1932	High Hats and Low Brows [Harry Sweet] b&w; short/18m
1932	Ride Him, Cowboy/The Hawk [Fred Allen] b&w; 55m
1932	Come On, Tarzan [Alan James] b&w; 61m
1932	The Big Stampede [Tenny Wright] b&w; 54m
1932	False Faces/What Price Beauty? [Lowell Sherman] b&w; cph: R.O. Binger
1932	Between Fighting Men [Forrest Sheldon] b&w; 59m
1932	Fargo Express [Alan James] b&w; 61m

1932	Tombstone Canyon [Alan James] b&w; 62m
1933	The Telegraph Trail [Tenny Wright] b&w; 60m
1933	Somewhere in Sonora [Mack V. Wright] b&w; 59m
1933	King of the Arena [Alan James] b&w; 59m
1933	The Man from Monterey [Mack V. Wright] b&w; 57m
1933	The Fiddlin' Buckaroo [Ken Maynard] b&w; 65m
1933	The Trail Drive [Alan James] b&w; 60m
1933	Strawberry Roan/Flying Fury [Alan James] b&w; 59m
1933	Gun Justice/Rider of the Law/Riders of Justice [Alan James] b&w; 59m
1934	Wheels of Destiny [Alan James] b&w; 64m
1934	Honor of the Range [Alan James] b&w; 61m
1934	Smoking Guns/Doomed to Die [Alan James] b&w; 62m; 2nd cam: Joe Novak
1934	Rocky Rhodes [Al Raboch] b&w; 64m
1934	When a Man Sees Red [Alan James] b&w; 60m; uncred cph: Joe Novak
1935	Stone of Silver Creek [Nick Grinde] b&w; 63m; cph: Joe Novak
1935	The Rainmakers [Fred Guiol] b&w; pfx: Vernon Walker
1935	Señor Jim/Murder in the Dark [Jacques Jaccard] b&w; 58m
1936	Feud of the West/The Vengeance of Gregory Walters [Harry Fraser] b&w; 62m
1936	Trailin' West/On Secret Service [Noel Smith] b&w; 59m; cph: Sidney Hickox
1936	California Mail [Noel Smith] b&w; 55m
1936	Fugitive in the Sky [Nick Grinde] b&w; 58m; spec pfx: Fred Jackman
1936	Guns of the Pecos [Noel Smith] b&w; 56m
1936	Land Beyond the Law [B. Reeves Eason] b&w; 54m; uncred cph: L. William O'Connell
1937	Blazing Sixes [Noel Smith] b&w; 55m
1937	Empty Holsters [B. Reeves Eason] b&w; 62m
1937	The Devil's Saddle Legion [Bobby Connolly] b&w; 52m
1937	Prairie Thunder [B. Reeves Eason] b&w; 55m
1937	Sergeant Murphy [B. Reeves Eason] b&w; 57m
1937	Daredevil Drivers [B. Reeves Eason] b&w; 60m
1938	Secret Service of the Air [Noel Smith] b&w; 61m; uncred cph: Arthur Edeson; film #1 in 4-part 'Secret Service'-series (Warner Bros., 1939-40)
1938	Code of the Secret Service [Noel Smith] b&w; 58m; film #2 in 4-part 'Secret Service'-series
1939	Pride of the Blue Grass/Steeplechase [William McGann] b&w; 65m
1939	The Cowboy Quarterback [Noel Smith] b&w; 56m
1939	Private Detective [Noel Smith] b&w; 57m
1939	Murder in the Air [Lewis Seiler] b&w; 55m; film #4 in 4-part 'Secret Service'-series
1940	Alice in Movieland [Jean Negulesco] b&w; short/22m; ep 'Broadway Brevities'-series (Warner Bros./Vitaphone)
1940	Ladies Must Live/The Bridegroom Misbehaves [Noel Smith] b&w; 58m
1940	Calling All Husbands [Noel Smith] b&w; 63m
1940	Father Is a Prince [Noel Smith] b&w; 57m
1940	She Couldn't Say No [William Clemens] b&w; 62m
1940	The Case of the Black Parrot [Noel Smith] b&w; 60m
1940	Knockout/Right to the Heart [William Clemens] b&w; 73m

1940	Skinnay Ennis and His Orchestra [Jean Negulesco] b&w; mus + dram short/9m; ep 'Melody Masters'-series (Warner Bros./Vitaphone)
1941	Singapore Woman [Jean Negulesco] b&w; 64m
1941	International Squadron [Lothar Mendes & Lewis Seiler] b&w; cph: James Van Trees; sfx: Robert Burks
1941	Bullets for O'Hara [William K. Howard] b&w; 52m
1941	Highway West [William C. McGann] b&w; 64m; sfx: Robert Burks
1941	Nine Lives Are Not Enough [A. Edward Sutherland] b&w; 63m
1941	At the Stroke of Twelve [Jean Negulesco] b&w; short/20m; ep 'Broadway Brevities'-series (Warner Bros./Vitaphone)
1941	Wild Bill Hickok Rides [Ray Enright] b&w; 72m & 82m; sfx: Byron Haskin & Willard Van Enger
1942	The United States Army Air Force Band [Jean Negulesco] b&w; mus short/11m
1942	Bullet Scars [D. Ross Lederman] b&w; 59m; sfx: Byron Haskin & Rex Wimpy
1942	I Was Framed [D. Ross Lederman] b&w; 61m
1942	Murder in the Big House/Born for Trouble/Human Sabotage [B. Reeves Eason] b&w; 60m

1942	Action in the North Atlantic [Lloyd Bacon; (uncred) Byron Haskin & Raoul Walsh] b&w; uncred cph: Tony Gaudio; sfx: Jack Cosgrove (dir), Edwin DuPar & (uncred) Harry Redmond Jr.; montages: Don Siegel & James Leicester
1942	Six Hits and a Miss [Jean Negulesco] b&w; mus short/9m; ep 'Melody Masters'-series (Warner Bros./Vitaphone)
1942	The United States Marine Band [Jean Negulesco] b&w; mus short/10m
1942	Borrah Minevitch and His Harmonica School [Jean Negulesco] b&w; mus short/10m
1943	The United States Navy Band [Jean Negulesco] b&w; mus short/10m
1943	The United States Army Band [Jean Negulesco] b&w; mus short/9m
1943	The United States Service Bands [Jean Negulesco] b&w; mus short/9m; edited from the Marine, Navy and Army Band shorts (see above)

1943	The Rear Gunner [Ray Enright] b&w; short/20m (Warner Bros. & Vitaphone Present) & 26m (United States Army Air Forces Present); cph: James Van Trees
1943	Letter from a Friend [Sherry Shourds] b&w; short/?m; for 3rd War Loan Drive
1945	Airborne Lifeboat [?] b&w; training film/?m; for the U.S. Army Air Corps
1946	That Way with Women [Frederick De Cordova] b&w; sfx: H.F. Koenekamp & William McGann
1946	So You Want to Play the Horses [Richard Bare] b&w; short/11m; ep #4 of 63-part film series, 1942-56
1946	Stan Kenton and His Orchestra [Jack Scholl] b&w; mus short/10m

[Left] with Ida Lupino and Dane Clark - "Deep Valley"

1946	Deep Valley [Jean Negulesco] b&w; spec pfx: H.F. Koenekamp & William McGann; filmed 1946-47
1947	So You're Going on a Vacation [Richard Bare] b&w; short/11m; ep #9 of 63-part film series, 1942-56
1947	The Treasure of the Sierra Madre [John Huston] b&w; sfx: William McGann (dir), H.F. Koenekamp & (uncred) Eddie Craven
1947	Johnny Belinda [Jean Negulesco] b&w; sfx: William McGann (dir) & Edwin DuPar
1948	John Loves Mary [David Butler] b&w; uncred cph; ph: Peverell Marley
1948	Smart Girls Don't Talk [Richard Bare] b&w; sfx: Robert Burks
1948	June Bride [Bretaigne Windust] b&w; sfx: William McGann (dir) & H.F. Koenekamp

[Left] with Michael Curtiz [2nd from left] and Joan Crawford [right] - "Flamingo Road"

1948	Flamingo Road [Michael Curtiz] b&w
1949	The Lady Takes a Sailor [Michael Curtiz] b&w; sfx: Roy Davidson (dir) & H.F. Koenekamp
1949	Young Man with a Horn/Young Man of Music [Michael Curtiz] b&w
1949	The Damned Don't Cry [Vincent Sherman] b&w
1950	The Breaking Point [Michael Curtiz] b&w
1950	Rocky Mountain [William Keighley] b&w
1950	Goodbye, My Fancy [Vincent Sherman] b&w
1951	Force of Arms/A Girl for Joe [Michael Curtiz] b&w
1951	Starlift [Roy Del Ruth] b&w
1951	I'll See You in My Dreams [Michael Curtiz] b&w
1951	This Woman Is Dangerous [Felix Feist] b&w
1952	Cattle Town [Noel Smith] b&w; 71m
1952	Operation Secret [Lewis Seiler] b&w
1952	Stop, You're Killing Me [Roy Del Ruth] c
1952	Three Lives [Edward Dmytryk] b&w; short/27m (3 seg); for United Jewish Appeal
1953	South Sea Woman [Arthur Lubin] b&w; sfx: H.F. Koenekamp
1954	Battle Cry [Raoul Walsh] cs/b&w-c; uncred 2uc; ph: Sid Hickox

[Left/pointing] - Elia Kazan [shirtless] - Albert Dekker [sitting] - Raymond Massey - James Dean

"East of Eden"

1954	East of Eden [Elia Kazan] cs/c
1954	Young at Heart [Gordon Douglas] c; sfx: H.F. Koenekamp
1954	The McConnell Story/Tiger in the Sky [Gordon Douglas] cs/c; 2uc; ph: John F. Seitz; filmed 1954-55
1955	I Died a Thousand Times [Stuart Heisler] cs/c; 2uc: Edwin DuPar
1955	Giant [George Stevens] c; uncred addph 2u; ph: William C. Mellor
1955	Zarak/Zarak Khan [Terence Young & (uncred) Stuart Heisler] cs/c; cph (?); ph: John Wilcox, Ted Moore & Cyril Knowles; sfx: Cliff Richardson; filmed November 1955-February 1956
1956	The Burning Hills [Stuart Heisler] cs/c
1956	The Girl He Left Behind [David Butler] b&w
1956	Shoot-Out at Medicine Bend [Richard L. Bare] b&w; (?); ph: Carl Guthrie
1957	The Helen Morgan Story/Both Ends of the Candle/Why Was I Born? [Michael Curtiz] cs/b&w
1957	The Proud Rebel [Michael Curtiz] c
1958	The Hanging Tree [Delmer Daves; (uncred) Karl Malden (finished film) & Vincent Sherman (co-dir for one day)] c
1959	Private Property [Leslie Stevens] b&w; 'To achieve the effects he needed, Stevens would require a particularly adept cinematographer, one who could handle a variety of interiors, camera set-ups, lighting requirements, and - in the film's frenetic denouement - underwater photography. 'Private Property' benefited immeasurably from a chance meeting between producer Colbert and young camera operator Conrad L. Hall. Hall had training in underwater photography, but he had something even more valuable for the film: a mentor named Ted McCord, one of film noir's most innovative cinematographers, a notably cantankerous personality who had nonetheless taken a fatherly shine to Hall. McCord's long tenure with Warner Brothers had come to an end, and he was quickly enlisted for a fraction of his usual fee and an unusual film credit using only his name and association with the American Society of Cinematographers. [Hall, his camera operator and assistant, referred to this arrangement as the recognition that, more than anyone, it was McCord who was the actual star of the film.] The teamwork between McCord and Hall permitted the film, with its myriad of on-location set-ups, to be completed in just ten days of shooting at a total cost of just under $60,000. Together, McCord and Hall would manage to use the swimming pool at Stevens' house to convey both complacency and menace, permitting it to operate simultaneously as a symbol of an elusive, sought-after 'dolce vita' and a proxy for a sexual possession that signaled a pathological 'vida loca' in which a morbidly materialist society would drown itself.' [From the Bright Lights Film Journal website, August 2012]
1959	The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn [Michael Curtiz] cs/c; sfx: A. Arnold Gillespie
1962	War Hunt [Denis Sanders] b&w; title background ph (+ pictorial continuity): Terry Sanders
1962	Hero's Island/The Land We Love [Leslie Stevens] p/c
1962	Smog [Franco Rossi] b&w
1962	Two for the Seesaw [Robert Wise] p/b&w

1964

The Sound of Music [Robert Wise] tao/c; addph: Paul Beeson; spec pfx: L.B. Abbott & Emil Kosa Jr.; Filming on location in Salzburg and then on stages in Los Angeles, everything would be kept simple, letting the backdrop of Salzburg dictate the tone of the film. Wise brought director of photography Ted McCord to the project as he had recently worked with him. Wise notes, 'I loved his color work for Warner Brothers, and I felt he could bring just the right touch of romanticism the film would need for its overall look. I wanted a fairly soft-focused, romantic feeling that would be appropriate without being too much.' McCord wisely opted to capture the film on the non-anamorphic Todd-AO wide-screen process in 65 mm that allowed for rich saturation and detail. He worked closely with photographer and second unit director Maurice Zuberano, who used the Superpanorama 70 process, which seamlessly integrated with Todd-AO in post. [Kenneth Sweeney on the ASC website, 2011.]

1965

A Fine Madness [Irvin Kershner] c; uncred addph: Frank Calabria

TELEVISION

1956	Conflict [ep #6 'Man From 1997' dir by Roy Del Ruth & #9 'Girl on the Subway' dir by John Rich] 20-part dramatic anthology series/b&w, 1956-57 (ABC-tv)
1956	Cheyenne [ep #20 'The Law Man' dir by Walter Doniger & #22 'Lone Gun' dir by Richard L. Bare] 108-part western series/b&w, 1955-62 (ABC-tv); 2nd season, 1956-57
1957	Cheyenne [ep #37 'The Conspirators' dir by Leslie H. Martinson] 3rd season, 1957-58; see 1956
1957	Sugarfoot/Tenderfoot [ep #2 'Reluctant Hero' dir by Leslie H. Martinson (LHM) & #3 'The Strange Land' dir by LHM] 69-part western series/b&w, 1957-61 (ABC-tv); 1st season, 1957-58
1960	Hong Kong [ep #7 (remake of unaired pilot) 'Blind Bargain' dir by Christian Nyby] unaired pilot + 26-part adventure series/b&w, 1960-61 (ABC-tv); cph: Philip Lathrop; other ph: P. Lathrop (24 ep), Frank Phillips (1 ep) & Robert Hauser (1 ep)
1962	Stoney Burke [6 ep, e.g. #2 'Fight Night' dir by Leslie Stevens] 32-part modern-day western series/b&w, 1962-63 (ABC-tv); other ph: Conrad L. Hall

MISCELLANEOUS
1929	Border Romance [Richard Thorpe] b&w; 71m; ph archive footage; ph: Harry Zech
1953	The Eddie Cantor Story [Alfred E. Green; (uncred) George Stevens (add scenes filmed in August) & Gordon Douglas (one add ext scene filmed in September)] c.op; ph: Edwin DuPar
1955	The Spirit of St. Louis [Billy Wilder] (uncred) co-c.op or ph adv or head camera; ph: Robert Burks & J. Peverell Marley; filmed between July 1955 and March 1956
1956	Bombers B-52/No Sleep Till Dawn [Gordon Douglas] uncred c.op (?); ph: William Clothier; filmed December 1956-February 1957