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Stanley Cortez, A.S.C. (born Stanislaus Samuel Kranz; November 4, 1908 – December 23, 1997) was an American cinematography. He worked on over 100 films between 1929 and 1980, and was twice nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography. His most notable credits included Orson Welles' The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), Charles Laughton's The Night of the Hunter (1955), Nunnally Johnson's The Three Faces of Eve (1957), and Samuel Fuller's Shock Corridor (1963) and The Naked Kiss (1964). He served as President of the American Society of Cinematographers from 1985 to 1986.
He was the younger brother of actor and director Ricardo Cortez.
Cortez's early films often involved unconventional subjects, providing opportunities for experimentation. He often employed experimental techniques to enhance the visual appeal of his films. In The Forgotten Woman (1939) he did an extreme close-up of the actress's eyes to create a sense of seeing into her mind. Then Cortez had a big chance to work with Orson Welles on The Magnificent Ambersons (1942). Cortez saw the set for the film before being appointed the first cameraman. His spatial sense told him that shooting the film within these sets would be a tremendous challenge. Cortez's work on the film utilized his expertise in navigating studio space, a skill that was integral to its visual storytelling. Some of Cortez's work on The Magnificent Ambersons was reportedly edited out during post-production. During World War II, Cortez served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps. STANLEY CORTEZ, Director of Photography: Life Events Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved January 17, 2024.
In his later years, Cortez filmed several psychological dramas. In Smash-Up, the Story of a Woman (1947), Cortez used flashing lights placed inside the camera to create a sense of drunkenness. Charles Laughton gave Cortez another challenge – The Night of the Hunter. The film has been widely praised for its innovative use of lighting and cinematography, and Cortez managed to endow the camera movements with a musical quality. In The Three Faces of Eve (1957), Cortez found his actress: Joanne Woodward would be to him what Greta Garbo was to William H. Daniels and Marlene Dietrich to Lee Garmes. Cortez's subtle modulations of lighting match Woodward's equally subtle changes of expression, and both together create the sense of Eve, a psychologically split personality, becoming someone else. In Samuel Fuller's 1963 film Shock Corridor, the labyrinthine hallways and rooms of the studio set are transformed by Cortez's camera into a symbol of incarceration and insanity. Fuller used Cortez again on The Naked Kiss and sought him for The Big Red One in 1978 but the producer Gene Corman said the low-budget film shot in Israel couldn't afford him.
Cortez started Chinatown (1974), but director Roman Polanski replaced him after a few days of shooting due to a disagreement over visual style. He was replaced by John Alonzo.
Cortez died in 1997 of a heart attack and is buried in Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery.
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