
Harold Rosson
Personal Info
Known for
Camera
Gender
Male
Birthday
1895-04-06
Day of Death
1988-09-06 (93 years old)
Place of Birth
New York City, New York, USA
Harold Rosson
Biography
From Wikipedia
Harold G. "Hal" Rosson, A.S.C. (April 6, 1895 – September 6, 1988) was an American cinematographer who worked during the early and classical Hollywood cinema. He is best known for his work on the 1939 fantasy film The Wizard of Oz.
Harold Rosson began his film career in 1908 as an actor at the Vitagraph Studios in the Flatbush area of Brooklyn, New York City. He became the assistant to Irvin Willat at the Mark Dintenfass Studios. In 1912 he divided his time as an office boy in a stockbrokers firm and as an assistant, extra, and handyman at the Famous Players Studio in New York. His first film for Famous Players was David Harum (1915).
In December 1914, Rosson moved to California and joined Metro Pictures. During World War I, he served in the United States Army. After his demobilization, he went to work on the Marion Davies film The Dark Star. He was offered a contract with the Davies Company. In 1920 he was signed by Mary Pickford, working primarily with her brother Jack Pickford.
In the 1930s, Rosson signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and directed the photography for some of the studio's most popular films including Treasure Island (1934), The Wizard of Oz, Duel in the Sun, and Singin' in the Rain (1952). In 1936, Rosson and fellow cinematographer W. Howard Greene were awarded an Honorary Oscar for the color cinematography of the 1936 David O. Selznick production The Garden of Allah. Rosson later said it was the first time he attempted to film in color.
After a very long and successful career in Hollywood, Rosson retired in 1958. He briefly came out of retirement in 1966 for the Howard Hawks film El Dorado starring John Wayne.
Rosson was married twice, with both marriages ending in divorce, and had no children. While shooting the film Bombshell in 1933, actress Jean Harlow proposed to Rosson. The two had worked together previously on Red-Headed Woman, Dinner at Eight, Hold Your Man, and Red Dust and had struck up a friendship. On September 17, 1933, the two were married in Yuma, Arizona. In an interview with Leicester Wagner, Harlow recalled that she and Rosson grew closer after the death of her second husband, Paul Bern, and he encouraged her to go out and socialize. Rosson and Harlow separated in May 1934 with Harlow charging that Rosson was "rude, sullen and irritable". She was granted a divorce in March 1935.
On October 11, 1936, Rosson married socialite Yvonne Crellin in Beverly Hills. They divorced in June 1945.
On September 6, 1988, Rosson died, age 93, at his home in Palm Beach, Florida. He is buried in Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
Acting
(1993)
Harlow: The Blonde Bombshell
as Self (archive footage)
Crew
(1966)
El Dorado
Director of Photography
(1957)
The Enemy Below
Director of Photography
(1956)
Toward the Unknown
Director of Photography
(1956)
The Bad Seed
Director of Photography
(1955)
Strange Lady in Town
Director of Photography
(1955)
Pete Kelly's Blues
Director of Photography
(1954)
Mambo
Director of Photography
(1954)
Ulysses
Director of Photography
(1953)
The Actress
Director of Photography
(1953)
The Story of Three Loves
Director of Photography
(1953)
Dangerous When Wet
Director of Photography
(1953)
I Love Melvin
Director of Photography
(1952)
Singin' in the Rain
Director of Photography
(1952)
Love Is Better Than Ever
Director of Photography
(1952)
Lone Star
Director of Photography
(1951)
The Red Badge of Courage
Director of Photography
(1950)
The Asphalt Jungle
Director of Photography
(1950)
Key to the City
Director of Photography
(1950)
To Please a Lady
Director of Photography
(1949)
Any Number Can Play
Director of Photography
(1949)
The Stratton Story
Director of Photography
(1949)
On the Town
Director of Photography
(1948)
Homecoming
Director of Photography
(1948)
Command Decision
Director of Photography
(1947)
Living in a Big Way
Director of Photography
(1947)
The Hucksters
Director of Photography
(1946)
Duel in the Sun
Director of Photography
(1946)
Three Wise Fools
Director of Photography
(1946)
No Leave, No Love
Director of Photography
(1945)
Between Two Women
Director of Photography
(1944)
An American Romance
Director of Photography
(1944)
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo
Director of Photography
(1943)
Slightly Dangerous
Director of Photography
(1942)
Somewhere I'll Find You
Director of Photography
(1942)
Tennessee Johnson
Director of Photography
(1941)
Johnny Eager
Director of Photography
(1941)
Washington Melodrama
Director of Photography
(1940)
Boom Town
Director of Photography
(1940)
Dr. Kildare Goes Home
Director of Photography
(1940)
I Take This Woman
Director of Photography
(1939)
The Wizard of Oz
Director of Photography
(1939)
Forgotten Victory
Director of Photography
(1938)
A Yank at Oxford
Cinematography
(1938)
That Mothers Might Live
Director of Photography
(1938)
Too Hot to Handle
Director of Photography
(1937)
The Emperor's Candlesticks
Director of Photography
(1937)
They Gave Him a Gun
Director of Photography
(1937)
Captains Courageous
Director of Photography
(1937)
Double Wedding
Director of Photography
(1936)
The Devil Is a Sissy
Director of Photography
(1936)
As You Like It
Director of Photography
(1936)
The Man Who Could Work Miracles
Director of Photography
(1935)
The Ghost Goes West
Director of Photography
(1934)
The Scarlet Pimpernel
Director of Photography
(1934)
This Side of Heaven
Director of Photography
(1934)
The Cat and the Fiddle
Director of Photography
(1934)
Treasure Island
Director of Photography
(1933)
Penthouse
Director of Photography
(1933)
The Barbarian
Director of Photography
(1933)
Bombshell
Director of Photography
(1933)
Hold Your Man
Director of Photography
(1933)
Turn Back the Clock
Director of Photography
(1932)
Red Dust
Director of Photography
(1932)
Kongo
Director of Photography
(1932)
Red-Headed Woman
Director of Photography
(1932)
Downstairs
Director of Photography
(1932)
Tarzan the Ape Man
Director of Photography
(1931)
The Squaw Man
Director of Photography
(1931)
The Cuban Love Song
Director of Photography
(1931)
Men Call It Love
Director of Photography
(1931)
Sporting Blood
Director of Photography
(1931)
Love in Every Port
Cinematography
(1931)
Son of India
Director of Photography
(1930)
Madam Satan
Director of Photography
(1930)
This Mad World
Director of Photography
(1930)
Passion Flower
Director of Photography
(1929)
Frozen Justice
Cinematography
(1929)
Trent's Last Case
Director of Photography
(1929)
South Sea Rose
Director of Photography
(1929)
The Far Call
Cinematography
(1929)
The Case of Lena Smith
Director of Photography
(1928)
The Docks of New York
Director of Photography
(1928)
Abie's Irish Rose
Director of Photography
(1928)
The Drag Net
Director of Photography
(1928)
Three Week Ends
Director of Photography
(1928)
The Sawdust Paradise
Director of Photography
(1928)
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Director of Photography
(1927)
Open Range
Cinematography
(1927)
Rough House Rosie
Director of Photography
(1927)
Evening Clothes
Director of Photography
(1927)
A Gentleman of Paris
Director of Photography
(1927)
Man Bait
Director of Photography
(1927)
Getting Gertie's Garter
Director of Photography
(1927)
Service for Ladies
Director of Photography
(1926)
Almost a Lady
Director of Photography
(1926)
Up in Mabel's Room
Director of Photography
(1925)
The Little French Girl
Cinematography
(1925)
Too Many Kisses
Director of Photography
(1925)
A Man Must Live
Director of Photography
(1924)
Manhandled
Director of Photography
(1924)
Manhattan
Cinematography
(1923)
Dark Secrets
Director of Photography
(1923)
Zaza
Director of Photography
(1923)
The Glimpses of the Moon
Director of Photography
(1923)
Big Brother
Director of Photography
(1921)
Buried Treasure
Director of Photography
(1920)
Heliotrope
Camera Operator
(1919)
The Cinema Murder
Director of Photography
(1917)
The American Consul
Director of Photography
(1917)
Panthea
Director of Photography
(1916)
Oliver Twist
Director of Photography