Billy Williams (cinematographer)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Billy Williams OBE, BSC (born 3 June 1929, Walthamstow, London) is a British cinematographer.[1][2]

Williams was responsible for shooting a number of films, including

RAF as a photographer. On leaving the RAF he obtained a job with British Transport Films (BTF), filming all forms of transportation.[4]

After this, it was to

The Exorcist, 1973), filming for the Iraq Petroleum Company. At this time he owned his own Arriflex
camera. He spent several years in documentary work, hoping that one day he could break into features.

Before his feature debut, he became a cameraman on commercials, where he made contact with future directors Ken Russell and John Schlesinger (who had directed for BTF as well).[5] In 1965, he shot his first feature as director of photography (San Ferry Ann), having by-passed the focus puller and operator stages. He made several others before shooting Billion Dollar Brain with Russell in 1967.[1]

Williams can be seen in a cameo in the film

Berber tribesmen. He also appeared with Cher in 1987's Suspect
.

Williams retired on New Year's Day 1996. Since retirement he has travelled, conducting workshops on film. He was appointed

Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2009 Birthday Honours.[6] Williams is featured in the book Conversations with Cinematographers by David A. Ellis, published by Scarecrow Press.[7]

Selected filmography

References

  1. ^ a b "Billy Williams". Archived from the original on 11 November 2017.
  2. ^ "BSC Members - British Society of Cinematographers". bscine.com.
  3. ^ "Billy Williams - Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos - AllMovie". AllMovie.
  4. ^ "Cinematography: A Dialogue with Billy Williams OBE, BSC & Vanessa Whyte – University of Greenwich Galleries". www.greenwichunigalleries.co.uk.
  5. ^ "BILLY WILLIAMS". www.cinematographers.nl.
  6. ^ "No. 59090". The London Gazette (Supplement). 13 June 2009. p. 13.
  7. – via Google Books.

External links