American cinematographer Stanley Cortez's given name was Krantz; he had it changed professionally following the lead of his older brother, film star Ricardo Cortez. While attending New York University, Cortez became an assistant cameraman for the various movie studios operating in Manhattan. He briefly pursued the occupation of portrait photographer before returning full-time to movie work at the end of the silent era. He remained an assistant and associate photographer during the early 1930s, with time out to direct the 1932 short subject Scherzo. By 1937, Cortez was a director of photography at Universal Pictures, confined to the studio's "B" product. Beyond such mood pieces as the 1941 comedy/horror film The Black Cat, there was little opportunity for Cortez to develop a style of his own, though word got around that he could attain evocative results with a minimum of fuss. Orson Welles signed Cortez to shoot his Citizen Kane follow-up The Magnificent Ambersons in late 1941. Throwing out all the economy and efficiency he'd learned on his Universal "B"s, Cortez proceeded to eat up valuable production time in achieving his admittedly marvelous photographic effects. RKO held Cortez partially responsible for the cost overrun (and ultimate failure) of Ambersons, and as a result his next two important assignments--Universal's Flesh and Fantasy (1943) and Since You Went Away (1944)--were filmed in collaboration with other, less time-consuming cinematographers. Nonetheless, it is Magnificent Ambersons for which Cortez will always be remembered, and for which he won an award from the Film Critics of America. Cortez's first Technicolor assignment, The Man on the Eiffel Tower (1949) made quite an impression on Charles Laughton, the film's star; when Laughton directed the deliberately stylized Night of the Hunter (1955) six years later, Cortez was behind the camera. While there would be the occasional "A" picture to his credit, most of Cortez's subsequent photography was confined to such low-budget films as The Naked Kiss (1964), Dillinger (1965) and Ghost in the Invisible Bikini (1966)--all magnificently shot if nothing else. Perhaps Cortez' oddest assignment in the latter stages of his career was the mid-1950s melodrama Madmen of Mendora, which was never released in its original form; in 1964, Cortez' superb camerawork for this project was spliced together with artlessly shot new footage, and the result was the notorious They Saved Hitler's Brain (1964). Several of Cortez' assignments in the 1970s were in the "special photography" or title-sequence category, e.g. Tell Me That You Love Me Junie Moon (1970), Damien--The Omen II (1978) and When Time Ran Out (1980). Cortez also dabbled in television work from time to time, notably on the all-star TV-movie suspensor Do Not Fold, Spindle or Mutilate (1971). Cortez died of heart failure in Los Angeles on December 23, 1997. He was 92 years old.
| Title | Year | Editors' Rating | User Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Un Autre Homme Une Autre Chance
Cinematographer |
1977 | |||
|
The Doomsday Machine
Cinematographer |
1972 | |||
|
The Bridge at Remagen
Cinematographer |
1969 | |||
|
Blue
Cinematographer |
1968 | |||
|
The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini
Cinematographer |
1966 | |||
|
The Navy vs. the Night Monsters
Cinematographer |
1966 | |||
|
They Saved Hitler's Brain
Cinematographer |
1966 | |||
|
Young Dillinger
Cinematographer |
1965 | |||
|
Nightmare in the Sun
Cinematographer |
1964 | |||
|
The Candidate
Cinematographer |
1964 | |||
|
The Naked Kiss
Cinematographer |
1964 | |||
|
Shock Corridor
Cinematographer |
1963 | |||
|
The Madmen of Mandoras
Cinematographer |
1963 | |||
|
Back Street
Cinematographer |
1961 | |||
|
Dinosaurus!
Cinematographer |
1960 | |||
|
The Angry Red Planet
Cinematographer |
1959 | |||
|
Thunder in the Sun
Cinematographer |
1959 | |||
|
Vice Raid
Cinematographer |
1959 | |||
|
The Three Faces of Eve
Cinematographer |
1957 | |||
|
Top Secret Affair
Cinematographer |
1957 | |||
|
Man from Del Rio
Cinematographer |
1956 | |||
|
The Night of the Hunter
Cinematographer |
1955 | |||
|
Black Tuesday
Cinematographer |
1954 | |||
|
Dragon's Gold
Cinematographer |
1954 | |||
|
Riders to the Stars
Cinematographer |
1954 | |||
|
Shark River
Cinematographer |
1953 | |||
|
The Diamond Queen
Cinematographer |
1953 | |||
|
The Neanderthal Man
Cinematographer |
1953 | |||
|
Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd
Cinematographer |
1952 | |||
|
Models, Inc.
Cinematographer |
1952 | |||
|
Stronghold
Cinematographer |
1952 | |||
|
Fort Defiance
Cinematographer |
1951 | |||
|
The Basketball Fix
Cinematographer |
1951 | |||
|
The Admiral Was a Lady
Cinematographer |
1950 | |||
|
The Underworld Story
Cinematographer |
1950 | |||
|
The Man on the Eiffel Tower
Cinematographer |
1949 | |||
|
Secret Beyond the Door
Cinematographer |
1948 | |||
|
Smart Woman
Cinematographer |
1948 | |||
|
Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman
Cinematographer |
1947 | |||
|
Let There Be Light
Cinematographer |
1946 | |||
|
Since You Went Away
Cinematographer |
1944 | |||
|
Flesh and Fantasy
Cinematographer |
1943 | |||
|
Bombay Clipper
Cinematographer |
1942 | |||
|
Eagle Squadron
Cinematographer |
1942 | |||
|
The Magnificent Ambersons
Cinematographer |
1942 | |||
|
The Powers Girl
Cinematographer |
1942 | |||
|
A Dangerous Game
Cinematographer |
1941 | |||
|
Badlands of Dakota
Cinematographer |
1941 | |||
|
Moonlight in Hawaii
Cinematographer |
1941 | |||
|
San Antonio Rose
Cinematographer |
1941 | |||
|
Sealed Lips
Cinematographer |
1941 | |||
|
The Black Cat
Cinematographer |
1941 | |||
|
Alias the Deacon
Cinematographer |
1940 | |||
|
Love, Honor and Oh Baby!
Cinematographer |
1940 | |||
|
Margie
Cinematographer |
1940 | |||
|
Meet the Wildcat
Cinematographer |
1940 | |||
|
The Leather-Pushers
Cinematographer |
1940 | |||
|
For Love or Money
Cinematographer |
1939 | |||
|
Hawaiian Nights
Cinematographer |
1939 | |||
|
Laugh It Off
Cinematographer |
1939 | |||
|
Risky Business
Cinematographer |
1939 | |||
|
The Forgotten Woman
Cinematographer |
1939 | |||
|
They Asked for It
Cinematographer |
1939 | |||
|
Danger on the Air
Cinematographer |
1938 | |||
|
Exposed
Cinematographer |
1938 | |||
|
Personal Secretary
Cinematographer |
1938 | |||
|
The Lady in the Morgue
Cinematographer |
1938 | |||
|
The Last Express
Cinematographer |
1938 | |||
|
Armored Car
Cinematographer |
1937 | |||
|
The Wildcatter
Cinematographer |
1937 | |||
|
Four Days Wonder
Cinematographer |
1936 |

