Born May 26, 1905 in Del Rio, Tennessee, Burnett Guffey attended school in Etowah, Tennessee. He worked as a messenger boy in a bank and then as a camera assistant at Fox beginning in 1923. His first film was that year’s The Courtship of Myles Standish that same year. John Ford picked him for second unit photography on the epic, The Iron Horse the following year. Later in the decade he worked for Famous Players-Laskey, then worked again for Fox and other studios.

Among Gufffey’s films as camera operator in the ten-year period from 1935-1944 included Richard Boleslawski’s Clive of India, Ford’s The Informer, Fritz Lang’s You Only Live Once, Alfred Hitchcock’s Foreign Correspondent, Tay Garnett’s Seven Sinners, Alexander Korda’s That Hamilton Woman, and Charles Vidor’s Cover Girl.

Guffey’s first film as cinematographer was 1944’s Sailor’s Holiday. Highly regarded for his crisp imaging and superb compositions, he was especially good at film noir, having made twenty of them over the course of his career.

Among the major films Guffey photographed between 1944 and 1953 were Joseph H. Lewis’ My Name Is Julia Ross, Richard Wallace’s Framed, Nicholas Ray’s Knock on Any Door, Max Ophuls’ The Reckless Moment, Robert Rossen’s Oscar-winning All the King’s Men , Ray’s In a Lonely Place, Edward Dmytryk’s The Sniper, and Fred Zinnemann’s From Here to Eternity for which he won an Oscar on his first nomination after thirty years in the business.

Guffey’s post-Oscar films of the next three years included Lang’s Human Desire, Don Siegel’s Private Hell 36, Lewis Seiler’s The Bamboo Prison, Rudolph Maté’s The Violent Men, Phil Karlson’s Tight Spot, George Sherman’s Count Three and Pray, Robson’s The Harder They Fall for which he received a second Oscar nomination, Daniel Taradash’s Storm Center, and Jacques Tourneur’s Nightfall. He then became President of the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) from 1957-1958.

From 1957-1962, Guffey worked on such films as Jack Garfein’s The Strange One, Karlson’s The Brothers Rico, Gerd Oswald’s Screaming Mimi, Peter Glenville’s Me and the Colonel, Paul Wendkos’ Gidget, Rossen’s They Came to Cordura, Karlson’s Hell to Eternity, and John Frankenheimer’s Bird Man of Alcatraz for which he received a third Oscar nomination.

Bryan Forbes’ 1965 film, King Rat, would earn him a fourth Oscar nomination, and Arthur’s Penn’s 1967 film, Bonnie and Clyde would earn his fifth nomination and second Oscar.

Martin Ritt’s 1970 film, The Great White Hope, would be Guffey’s last film of distinction. The following year’s The Stealge would be his last.

Burnett Guffey died May 30, 1983 at 78.

ESSENTIAL FILMS

ALL THE KING’S MEN (1949), directed by Robert Rossen

This film’s about “the rise and fall of a corrupt politician, who makes his friends richer and retains power by dint of a populist appeal.” Ah, the good old days, when the exposure of evil men led to their downfall. This one received seven Oscar nominations and won three for Best Picture, Actor (Broderick Crawford), and Supporting Actress (Mercedes McCambridge). It had also been nominated for Best Supporting Actor (John Ireland), Director, Screenplay, and Film Editing, but not Cinematography even though it won Guffey a Golden Globe in one of those rare years when the Globes honored that discipline. It was a shocking oversight.

IN A LONELY PLACE (1950), directed by Nicholas Ray

Guffey was the Cinematographer on twenty films noir, of which this is probably the most famous. Humphrey Bogart’s portrayal of a writer accused of murder is said to be closer to the actor’s real-life persona than other character he ever played. Gloria Grahame, who has the best role of her career here under the direction of Ray, her husband at the time, was in the midst of her breakup with him, the director spending his nights sleeping on the film’s set patterned after his first Los Angeles home. Guffey’s meticulous camerawork is one of the film’s highlights, but again, no Oscar nomination came his way.

FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1953), directed by Fred Zinnemann

Guffey finally received not only an Oscar nomination, but one of the film’s eight wins out of thirteen nominations. The film’s haunting images ranging from Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr on the beach to the bombing of Pearl Harbor are etched in the memory of anyone who has seen the film which provided Lancaster, Kerr and Montgomery Clift with acting nominations for their indelible performances along with wins for key supporting players Frank Sinatra and Donna Reed. It also won for Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, Film Editing, and Sound. Nominations had also gone to the film’s Costume Design and Scoring.

BIRD MAN OF ALCATRAZ (1962), directed by John Frankenheimer

The great cinematographer had his work cut out for him, for which he earned his third Oscar nomination, filming much of it in the confines of prison cells. Robert Stroud, the title character, was really the bird man of Leavenworth, where he kept his birds and did his research during his long years in captivity. He was not allowed to have birds during his confinement in Alcatraz. This was one of four films that star Burt Lancaster was forced to make at United Artists during this period at a severely reduced salary to pay for cost overruns on films he was responsible for. Lancaster, Telly Savalas, and Thelma Ritter earned Oscar nominations for their performances.

BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967), directed by Arthur Penn

Guffey earned his fifth Oscar nomination second Oscar for this box-office smash. Warner Bros. thought so little of the film that they initially released it to small town theatres and drive-ins, rereleasing it in major markets after several influential critics championed it. Produced by star Warren Beatty, who played bank robber Clyde Barrow, the film became a fashion phenomenon thanks to the outfits worn by Faye Dunaway as Bonnie Parker. Nominated for ten Oscars, including Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Supporting Actors Gene Hackman and Michael J. Pollard, winning only for Guffey and Supporting Actress Estelle Parsons.

BURNETT GUFFEY AND OSCAR

• From Here to Eternity (1953) – Oscar – Best Cinematography – Black-and-White
• The Harder They Fall (1956) – nominated – Best Cinematography – Black-and-White
• Bird Man of Alcatraz (1962) – nominated – Best Cinematography – Black-and-White
• King Rat (1965) – nominated – Best Cinematography – Black-and-White
• Bonnie and Clyde (1967) – Oscar – Best Cinematography