Philip H. Lathrop

Philip H. Lathrop, born October 22, 1912 in Merced, California, died April 12, 1995 in Los Angeles, California, was an American cinematographer and member of the ASC. After beginning his career in film as a second assistant cameraman in 1935, Philip H. Lathrop became a first assistant cameraman i... More

Philip H. Lathrop, born October 22, 1912 in Merced, California, died April 12, 1995 in Los Angeles, California, was an American cinematographer and member of the ASC. After beginning his career in film as a second assistant cameraman in 1935, Philip H. Lathrop became a first assistant cameraman in 1946, then worked as a camera operator between 1948 and 1958, on twenty films, assisting cinematographer Russell Metty (e.g., Douglas Sirk's All That Heaven Allows in 1955 and Orson Welles' Touch of Evil in 1958). He became a cinematographer himself in 1958 and contributed to sixty-five American films, the last of which (a short) was in 1987. He notably collaborated on eight films directed by Blake Edwards, including The Pink Panther in 1963, starring Peter Sellers and David Niven. He also contributed to the disaster film genre, with Mark Robson's Earthquake (1974) and three films in the Airport film series (e.g., The 747 in 1977). Other directors he worked with include Walter Hill (e.g., Driver in 1978, with Ryan O'Neal and Isabelle Adjani), Norman Jewison (The Cincinnati Kid in 1965, with Steve McQueen and Edward G. Robinson), Sydney Pollack (They Shoot Horses, Don't They? in 1969, with Jane Fonda and Michael Sarrazin), Boris Sagal (e.g., Murder Motel in 1963, with Richard Chamberlain, Nick Adams, and Claude Rains), and Jack Smight (e.g., Love at Four Hands in 1980, with Shirley MacLaine, James Coburn, and Susan Sarandon). Quake earned him a second Oscar nomination for Best Cinematography in 1975 (he had already received his first nomination in 1965 for The Games of Love and War, with James Garner and Julie Andrews, released in 1964). Philip H. Lathrop was also a television cameraman, between 1958 and 1988 (the year he retired), on ten series - including sixty episodes of Peter Gunn, a series produced by Blake Edwards, from 1958 to 1960 - and ten television films.