Charles G. Rosher, A.S.C. (17 November 1885 – 15 January 1974) was an English-born cinematographer who worked from the early days of silent films through the 1950s.

He was Mary Pickford's favourite cinematographer and a personal friend, shooting all of the films in which she starred from 1918 to 1927, before they had a falling-out during production of Coquette (1929). He was the first cinematographer to receive an Academy Award, along with Karl Struss, for Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927), and won again for The Yearling (1946), with Leonard Smith and Arthur Arling. He was also nominated four times.

Biography

right|thumb|Rosher with [[Mary Pickford (1921)]]

Charles Rosher was born in London in 1885. According to an interview of him in the documentary The Image Makers: The Adventures of America's Pioneer Cinematographers, he was originally unhappily studying naval architecture, but enrolled in London Polytechnic's school of photography, photography being a hobby of his. He eventually became an assistant to Richard Speaight, the official photographer of the British royal family.

Rosher is the father of actress Joan Marsh and cinematographer Charles Rosher Jr. (1935–2015), who filmed 3 Women (1977) and A Wedding (1978) for Robert Altman, as well as Semi-Tough (1977), The Onion Field (1979) and Independence Day (1983).

Death

Rosher died of an accidental fall in Lisbon, Portugal, on 15 January 1974. He was 88 years old.

Awards

  • 1929 – Oscar for Best Cinematography, with Karl Struss, for Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
  • 1935 – Best Cinematography Oscar nomination for The Affairs of Cellini
  • 1945 – Oscar nomination for Kismet
  • 1947 – Best Cinematography Oscar, with Leonard Smith and Arthur E. Arling, for The Yearling
  • 1951 – Oscar nomination for Annie Get Your Gun
  • 1952 – Oscar nomination for Show Boat
  • 1955 and 1957 – George Eastman Award, given by George Eastman House for distinguished contribution to the art of film

In addition, Rosher received Photoplay magazine's Gold Medal, and the only fellowship awarded by the Society of Motion Picture Engineers.

Filmography

:* indicates a Pickford film.

  • The Indian Raiders (1912 short)
  • Early Days in the West (1912 short)
  • Life of Villa (1912 documentary)
  • With Pancho Villa in Mexico (1913)
  • The Next in Command (1914)
  • The Oath of a Viking (1914 short)
  • The Mystery of the Poison Pool (1914)
  • Santo Icario (1914)
  • The Smuggler's Lass (1915 short)
  • The Mad Maid of the Forest (1915 short)
  • Gene of the Northland (1915 short)
  • The Voice in the Fog (1915)
  • Blackbirds (1915)
  • The Blacklist (1916)
  • The Sowers (1916)
  • The Clown (1916)
  • Common Ground (1916)
  • Anton the Terrible (1916)
  • The Heir to the Hoorah (1916)
  • The Plow Girl (1916)
  • On Record (1917)
  • A Mormon Maid (1917)
  • The Primrose Ring (1917)
  • At First Sight (1917)
  • Hashimura Togo (1917)
  • A Little Princess* (1917), with Walter Stradling
  • The Secret Game (1917)
  • The Widow's Might (1918)
  • One More American (1918)
  • The Honor of His House (1918)
  • The White Man's Law (1918)
  • How Could You, Jean?* (1918)
  • Johanna Enlists* (1918)
  • Too Many Millions (1918)
  • The Dub (1919)
  • Captain Kidd, Jr.* (1919)
  • Daddy-Long-Legs* (1919)
  • The Hoodlum* (1919)
  • Heart o' the Hills* (1919)
  • Pollyanna* (1920)
  • Suds* (1920), with L. William O'Connell
  • The White Circle (1920), with Alfred Ortlieb
  • Dinty (1920), with David Kesson and Foster Leonard
  • The Love Light* (1921)
  • Through the Back Door* (1921)
  • Little Lord Fauntleroy* (1921)
  • Smilin' Through (1922), with J. Roy Hunt
  • Tess of the Storm Country* (1922)
  • Sant'Ilario (1923)
  • Rosita* (1923)
  • Tiger Rose (1923)
  • Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall* (1924)
  • Three Women (1924), with Charles Van Enger
  • Little Annie Rooney* (1925), with Hal Mohr
  • Sparrows* (1926), with Hal Mohr
  • Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)
  • My Best Girl* (1927)
  • Tempest (1928)
  • Coquette* (1929) (uncredited)
  • Eternal Love (1929), with Oliver T. Marsh
  • The Vagabond Queen (1929)
  • Atlantik (1929)
  • Atlantic (1929)
  • The Road Is Fine (1930)
  • Knowing Men (1930)
  • Two Worlds (1930)
  • Zwei Welten (1930), with Mutz Greenbaum
  • The Price of Things (1930)
  • Atlantis (1930)
  • War Nurse (1930)
  • Paid (1930)
  • Les deux mondes (1930)
  • Dance, Fools, Dance (1931)
  • Laughing Sinners (1931)
  • This Modern Age (1931)
  • Silence (1931)
  • The Beloved Bachelor (1931)
  • Husband's Holiday (1931)
  • What Price Hollywood? (1932)
  • Two Against the World (1932)
  • Flaming Gold (1932)
  • Rockabye (1932)
  • The Past of Mary Holmes (1933)
  • Our Betters (1933)
  • The Silver Cord (1933)
  • Bed of Roses (1933)
  • After Tonight (1933)
  • Moulin Rouge (1934)
  • The Affairs of Cellini (1934)
  • Outcast Lady (1934)
  • What Every Woman Knows (1934)
  • After Office Hours (1935)
  • Call of the Wild (1935)
  • Broadway Melody of 1936 (1935)
  • Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936)
  • Small Town Girl (1936), with Oliver T. Marsh
  • Men Are Not Gods (1936)
  • The Woman I Love (1937)
  • The Perfect Specimen (1937)
  • Hollywood Hotel (1937), with George Barnes
  • White Banners (1938)
  • Hard to Get (1938)
  • Off the Record (1939)
  • Yes, My Darling Daughter (1939)
  • Hell's Kitchen (1939)
  • Espionage Agent (1939)
  • A Child Is Born (1939)
  • Brother Rat and a Baby (1940)
  • Three Cheers for the Irish (1940)
  • My Love Came Back (1940)
  • Four Mothers (1941)
  • Million Dollar Baby (1941)
  • One Foot in Heaven (1941)
  • Mokey (1942)
  • Pierre of the Plains (1942)
  • Stand By for Action (1942)
  • Assignment in Brittany (1943)
  • I Dood It (1943) (uncredited)
  • Swing Fever (1943)
  • Kismet (1944)
  • Ziegfeld Follies (1945), with George Folsey and Ray June (uncredited)
  • Yolanda and the Thief (1945)
  • The Yearling (1946), with Arthur Arling and Leonard Smith
  • Fiesta (1947), with Wilfrid M. Cline and Sidney Wagner
  • Dark Delusion (1947)
  • Song of the Thin Man (1947)
  • On an Island with You (1948)
  • Words and Music (1948), with Harry Stradling
  • Neptune's Daughter (1949)
  • The Red Danube (1949)
  • East Side, West Side (1949)
  • Annie Get Your Gun (1950)
  • Pagan Love Song (1950)
  • Show Boat (1951)
  • Scaramouche (1952)
  • The Story of Three Loves (1953)
  • Young Bess (1953), with Harold Rosson
  • Kiss Me Kate (1953)
  • Jupiter's Darling (1955), with Paul C. Vogel

References

  • Biography in the New York Times