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American cinematographer Joseph Biroc had graduated to the position of lighting cameraman by the time World War II broke out. After serving with the Signal Corps, Biroc returned to Hollywood to work on Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life. The film was not a financial success, and Biroc slipped to the B-list of photographers. One of his low-budget assignments turned out to be "A" in box-office pull: Biroc was the man behind the camera for the first 3-D feature, Bwana Devil (1952). While filming the inexpensive TV series China Smith in 1953, Biroc befriended the program's principal director, Robert Aldrich. When Aldrich branched out into independent production, he took Biroc with him, and from that moment until Aldrich's death in 1983 the two collaborated on such films as Attack (1955) The Legend of Lylah Clare (1968) and The Longest Yard. In 1973, Biroc shared an Academy Award with Fred Koenekamp for The Towering Inferno. Joseph Biroc retired in 1982 after Airplane II: The Sequel; seven years later, he was honored with the Life Achievement Award from the American Society of Cinematographers.