Lucien Ballard
| Lucien Ballard | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
6 May 1908 Miami, Oklahoma |
| Died | 1 October 1988 (aged 80) Rancho Mirage, California |
| Occupation | Cinematographer |
Lucien Ballard, A.S.C. (6 May 1908 – 1 October 1988) was an American cinematographer and director of photography.
Ballard began working on films at Paramount Studios in 1929. He later joked in an interview that it was a three-day party at the home of actress Clara Bow that convinced him "this is the business for me". He began his career loading trucks at Paramount, and became a camera assistant, often working for director Josef von Sternberg. Von Sternberg allowed him credit for his work on The Devil is a Woman (1935), and the two shared a Venice Film Festival award for "Best Cinematography" in 1935. He also worked with him on The King Steps Out (1936), based on the life of Empress Elisabeth of Austria.
On the set of The Lodger (1944), Ballard met and then married actress Merle Oberon; they remained married from 1945 until 1949. After she was involved in a near fatal car crash in London, he invented a light which was mounted by the side of the camera, to provide direct light onto a subject's face, with the aim of reducing blemishes and wrinkles. Named the "Obie", the device benefited Oberon who had sustained facial scarring in the car accident. The Obie would become widely used in the film industry.
One film of note is 1941's controversial Howard Hughes film The Outlaw. Hughes cast Jane Russell in the lead, and had numerous camera shots of her ample cleavage. This would get the attention of the Hollywood censors. The film was shot in 1940 and 1941 but would take five years to get to selected theaters. Ballard was the camera man for the screen tests and did some of the second unit work with both director Howard Hawks and assisted cinematographer Gregg Toland on the first unit crew.
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