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British cinematographer Desmond Dickinson was seventeen when he secured his first lab-assistant job. Once he graduated to lighting cameraman, Dickinson was usually assigned to action-oriented films, notably Britain's only talkie serial, Detective Lloyd (1931). During the war years, Dickinson was kept busy shooting morale-boosting documentaries. His post-war years were his most artistically rewarding: Dickinson worked on such prestige productions as Olivier's Hamlet (1948), Asquith's The Importance of Being Earnest (1952), and MGM's Anglo-American Technicolor costumer Ivanhoe. Often engaged by Hollywood production companies for their British-filmed productions, Dickinson worked in Tinseltown and once, as photographer of United Artists' Gentleman Marry Brunettes (1955). His last efforts included the Joan Crawford screamfests Berserk (1967) and Trog (1970). In 1958, Desmond Dickinson belatedly won a Venice Film Festival award for Hamlet.