Russell Stewart Boyd, , ACS, ASC, (born 21 April 1944) is an Australian cinematographer, known as a key figure of the Australian New Wave movement in the 1970s, with his work on Picnic at Hanging Rock helping to shape the visual aesthetic of Australian cinema.
In 2003, Boyd won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.
Early life
Born into a rural Victorian family, he spent his early years on a small farm near Geelong, where his father worked as a wool classer.
Career
Boyd started his professional career at Cinesound in Melbourne as a general assistant. Seeking broader opportunities, he moved to Sydney in the mid-1960s, where he worked on documentaries and commercials at Supreme Studios.
Boyd's breakthrough into feature films came in 1973 with Between Wars, directed by Michael Thornhill, which earned him the Australian Cinematographers Society (ACS) Milli Award for Australian Cinematographer of the Year.
Australian New Wave and collaboration with Peter Weir
Boyd played a pivotal role in the Australian New Wave cinema movement of the 1970s, which revitalized the country's film industry. His collaboration with director Peter Weir began in 1975 with Picnic at Hanging Rock, a film that is widely credited with putting Australian cinema on the world map. His work on the film also earned Boyd a BAFTA Award for Best Cinematography.
Boyd would later work on five other movies with Weir: The Last Wave (1977), Gallipoli (1981), The Year of Living Dangerously (1982), Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), and The Way Back (2010).
Hollywood career
In the early 1980s, Boyd expanded his career to Hollywood, working with Australian directors who had also made the transition. He served as cinematographer on Bruce Beresford's Tender Mercies (1983) and Gillian Armstrong's Mrs. Soffel (1984).
He also worked on mainstream productions like Liar Liar (1997) and Dr. Dolittle (1998).
Filmography
<!---
Short film
{| class="wikitable"
! Year
! Title
! Director
! Notes
|-
| 1969
| The American Poet's Visit
|rowspan=2|Michael Thornhill
|
|-
| 1970
| The Girl from the Family of Man
|
|-
|rowspan=3|1973
| Lanshan
| Graham Shirley
|
|-
| Cheryl and Kevin
|rowspan=2|Michael Thornhill
|
|-
| Mr. Fixit, My Dad
|
|-
|rowspan=2|1978
| The Sparks Obituary
| Ian Barry
| With Chris Ashbrook, Shalagh McCarty, John Seale and John Tweg
|-
| Tapak Dewata Java
|rowspan=2|Phillip Noyce
| With Tom Cowan
|-
| 1979
| Bali: Island of the Gods
|
|-
| 1982
| Night of Shadows
| Brian Thomson
|
|-
| 2002
| The Birthday
| Samantha Rebillet
|
|-
| 2007
| What They Don't Know
| Samuel Bennetts
|
|-
| 2008
| Finders Keepers
| Melanie Bridge
|
|-
| 2013
| Light
| Matt Murphy
|
|-
| 2018
| The Defector
| Scott Mannion
|
|}
Documentary short
{|class="wikitable"
! Year
! Title
! Director
! Notes
|-
| 1974
| What went wrong at Currajong?
| John Dick
| With Paul Dallwitz and Milton Ingerson
|-
| 1976
| Making a Living
| Penny Chapman
|
|-
| 1979
| Days I'll Remember in South Australia
| Howard Rubie
|
|-
|}
--->
Feature film
{| class="wikitable"
! Year
! Title
! Director
|-
|rowspan=2|1974
| Matchless
| John Papadopoulos
|-
| Between Wars
| Michael Thornhill
|-
|rowspan=3|1975
| The Man from Hong Kong
| Brian Trenchard-Smith
|-
| Picnic at Hanging Rock
| Peter Weir
|-
| The Golden Cage
| Ayten Kuyululu
|-
|rowspan=2|1976
| Summer of Secrets
| Jim Sharman
|-
| Break of Day
| Ken Hannam
|-
|rowspan=3|1977
| The Singer and the Dancer
| Gillian Armstrong
|-
| Backroads
| Phillip Noyce
|-
| The Last Wave
| Peter Weir
|-
|rowspan=2|1979
| Dawn!
| Ken Hannam
|-
| Just Out of Reach
| Linda Blagg
|-
| 1980
| The Chain Reaction
| Ian Barry
|-
|rowspan=2|1981
| ...Maybe This Time
| Chris McGill
|-
| Gallipoli
| Peter Weir
|-
|rowspan=2|1982
| Starstruck
| Gillian Armstrong
|-
| The Year of Living Dangerously
| Peter Weir
|-
|rowspan=2|1983
| Tender Mercies
| Bruce Beresford
|-
| Phar Lap
| Simon Wincer
|-
|rowspan=3|1984
| A Soldier's Story
| Norman Jewison
|-
| Mrs. Soffel
| Gillian Armstrong
|-
| Stanley
| Esben Storm
|-
| 1985
| Burke & Wills
| Graeme Clifford
|-
| 1986
| Crocodile Dundee
| Peter Faiman
|-
|rowspan=2|1987
| High Tide
| Gillian Armstrong
|-
| The Perfectionist
| Chris Thomson
|-
|rowspan=2|1988
| Crocodile Dundee II
| John Cornell
|-
| The Rescue
| Ferdinand Fairfax
|-
| 1989
| In Country
| Norman Jewison
|-
|rowspan=2|1990
| Blood Oath
| Stephen Wallace
|-
| Almost an Angel
| John Cornell
|-
| 1991
| Sweet Talker
| Michael Jenkins
|-
|rowspan=3|1992
| Turtle Beach
| Stephen Wallace
|-
| White Men Can't Jump
| Ron Shelton
|-
| Forever Young
| Steve Miner
|-
| 1994
| Cobb
| Ron Shelton
|-
| 1995
| Operation Dumbo Drop
| Simon Wincer
|-
| 1996
| Tin Cup
| Ron Shelton
|-
| 1997
| Liar Liar
| Tom Shadyac
|-
| 1998
| Dr. Dolittle
| Betty Thomas
|-
| 2000
| Company Man
| Peter Askin<br>Douglas McGrath
|-
|rowspan=2|2001
| Serenades
| Mojgan Khadem
|-
| American Outlaws
| Les Mayfield
|-
| 2003
| Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
| Peter Weir
|-
| 2007
| Ghost Rider
| Mark Steven Johnson
|-
| 2010
| The Way Back
| Peter Weir
|}
<!---
Documentary film
{|class="wikitable"
! Year
! Title
! Director
! Notes
|-
| 1980
| A Club With Three Members
| Frank Heimans
|
|-
| 1988
| Street of Dreams - Mirror Musical Maze
| Martin Sharp
| With Geoff Burton, Tom Cowan, Michael Edols, David Sanderson and Simon Smith
|}
--->
Television
{|class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Director
! Notes
|-
|rowspan=2|1972
| The Spoiler
|
|
|-
| The Marty Feldman Show
| Brian Trenchard-Smith
| TV special
|-
| 1975
| CBS Children's Film Festival
| Bert Salzman
| Episode "Me and You, Kangaroo"
|-
| 1981
| A Town Like Alice
| David Stevens
| Miniseries
|-
| 1986
| The Challenge
| Chris Thomson
| 3 episodes
|-
| 2012
| Watch with Mother
| Paul Bruty<br>The Glue Society
| 2 episodes
|}
TV movies
{|class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Director
|-
| 1976
| Is There Anybody There?
| Peter Maxwell
|-
|rowspan=3|1977
| The Alternative
| Paul Eddey
|-
| Mama's Gone A-Hunting
| Peter Maxwell
|-
| Benny Hill Down Under
| Rod Kinnear<br>Richard McCarthy
|-
|rowspan=3|1978
| Gone to Ground
| Kevin James Dobson
|-
| The Night Nurse
| Igor Auzins
|-
| Plunge Into Darkness
| Peter Maxwell
|-
| 1985
| The Perfectionist
| Chris Thomson
|-
|}
Documentary film
{|class="wikitable"
! Year
! Title
! Director
! Notes
|-
| 1979
| New South Wales Images
| Himself
| With John Seale
|}
Awards and recognition
Boyd has been a member of the Australian Cinematographers Society (ACS) since 1975, and was inducted into their Hall of Fame in 1998.
In 2004, he became a member of the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC).
In 1988, Boyd became the first of the only two cinematographers to receive the Australian Film Institute's Raymond Longford Award, recognizing his "unwavering commitment over many years to excellence in the film and television industries".
In 2021, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for "distinguished service to the visual arts as a cinematographer of Australian feature films and television productions" in the Queen's Birthday Honours.
Major awards
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Award
! Category
! Title
! Result
! Ref.
|-
| 1975
|rowspan=2|BAFTA Awards
|rowspan=2|Best Cinematography
| Picnic at Hanging Rock
|
|
|-
|rowspan=3|2003
|rowspan=3|Master and Commander:<br>The Far Side of the World
|
|
|-
| Academy Awards
| Best Cinematography
|
|
|-
| American Society of Cinematographers
| Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography
|
|
|-
|}
Australian awards
Australian Film Institute Awards
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Award
! Title
! Result
! Ref.
|-
| 1977
|rowspan=5|Best Cinematography
| Break of Day
|
|rowspan=2|
|-
| 1978
| The Last Wave
|
|-
| 1980
| The Chain Reaction
|
|
|-
| 1983
| The Year of Living Dangerously
|
|
|-
| 1986
| Burke & Wills
|
|
|-
| 1988
|colspan=2|Raymond Longford Award
|
|
|-
| 1990
| Best Cinematography
| Blood Oath
|
|
|-
|}
Australian Cinematographers Society
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Award
! Title
! Result
|-
| 1976
|rowspan=2|Cinematographer of the Year
| Between Wars
|
|-
| 1982
| Gallipoli
|
|-
| 1998
|colspan=2|Hall of Fame Award
|
|-
|}
Other awards
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Award
! Category
! Title
! Result
! Ref.
|-
| 1976
| British Society of Cinematographers
| Best Cinematography
|rowspan=2|Picnic at Hanging Rock
|
|
|-
| 1979
| Saturn Awards
| Best Cinematography
|
|
|-
| 2002
| FCCA Award
|colspan=2|Special Achievement Award
|
|
|-
|rowspan=3|2003
|rowspan=2|Camerimage
| Special Award for Duo Cinematographer-Director
|rowspan=3|Master and Commander:<br>The Far Side of the World
|
|
|-
| Golden Frog
|
|
|-
| Satellite Awards
| Best Cinematography<br>(shared with Sandi Sissel on second unit)
|
|
|-
| 2005
| Kodak Awards
|colspan=2|Excellence in Cinematography
|
|
|-
|}