Lucien Ballard (May 6, 1904 – October 1, 1988) was an American cinematographer. He worked on more than 130 films during his 50-year career, collaborating multiple times with directors including Josef von Sternberg, John Brahm, Henry Hathaway, Budd Boetticher, Raoul Walsh, Sam Peckinpah and Tom Gries. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography for The Caretakers (1963).
Biography
Ballard was born in Miami, Oklahoma in 1904. His mother Ada was Cherokee and Lucien is listed on the Dawes Rolls as 1/16th Cherokee by Blood. He attended the University of Oklahoma and the University of Pennsylvania
Ballard began working on films at Paramount Studios in 1929 after dating a script woman there.
Lucien Ballard was taken on as an assistant to Lee Garmes on Josef von Sternberg's Morocco (1930).
Director Von Sternberg left Columbia after only two pictures, but Lucien Ballard stayed with the company and became a valuable member of the staff. After filming Dorothy Arzner's Craig's Wife he took assignments for the studio's "B" features such as The Devil's Playground (1937), Penitentiary (1938), and The Lone Wolf in Paris (1938). She was involved in a near-fatal car crash in London, and sustained facial scarring. Ballard invented a special light for Oberon's benefit: the invention, mounted by the side of the camera, provided direct light onto a subject's face while reducing the appearance of blemishes and wrinkles. Named the "catch light" (informally the "Obie", short for "Oberon"), the device became widely used in the film industry.
In 1941's Howard Hughes film The Outlaw, Hughes cast Jane Russell in the lead and had numerous shots of her cleavage, which got the attention of the Hollywood censors. The film was shot in 1940 and 1941 but took five years to be released to selected theaters. Ballard was the camera man for the screen tests, did some of the second unit work for director Howard Hawks, and assisted cinematographer Gregg Toland on the first unit crew.
He also formed a partnership with Tom Gries making five films, including Will Penny (1968) and Breakheart Pass (1976). who was killed in an automobile accident in 1982.