Adrian Biddle

Adrian Biddle, B.S.C. (born on 20 July 1952 in Woolwich, London – 7 December 2005 in London), was an English cinematographer.

Background

Biddle was a talented swimmer in his youth. It was through this that he broke into the film industry. In 1969 the underwater photographer Egil Woxholt hired him to be his apprentice. In this capacity he worked, uncredited, on both the James Bond film "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" (1969) and "Murphy's War" (1971). After this, Biddle worked for Ridley Scott's advertising company RSA. He worked on a large number of adverts with Scott and when Scott moved into films, Biddle followed him. On "The Duellists" (1977) he worked as a clapper loader, before advancing to the position of focus puller on "Alien" (1979).

Following "Alien", Biddle returned to working as a cinematographer on adverts. During this time he developed a number of new lighting techniques and worked on a number of famous campaigns. His most famous advert was "1984" (1984), directed by Ridley Scott, for Apple. The advert's photography, combined with a personal recommendation from Scott, prompted James Cameron to hire Biddle as his cinematographer for "Aliens" (1986), the first film Biddle worked on in this role.

Biddle went on to work as a cinematographer on a further twenty-five feature films, including "Thelma and Louise" (1991), for which he received a nomination for the Oscar for Best Cinematography. In 1997 he was voted as the European Cinematographer of the Year for his work on "The Butcher Boy". The last film that he worked on, prior to his death from a myocardial infarction, was "V for Vendetta" (2006) which was dedicated to his memory.

His brother is cinematographer Adam Biddle.

Filmography (as cinematographer)

*"Aliens" (1986)
*"The Princess Bride" (1987)
*"Willow" (1988)
*"The Dawning" (1989)
*"The Tall Guy" (1989)
*"Thelma and Louise" (1991)
*"" (1992)
*"" (1994)
*"Judge Dredd" (1995)
*"101 Dalmatians" (1996)
*"The Butcher Boy" (1997)
*"Event Horizon" (1997)
*"Fierce Creatures" (1997)
*"Holy Man" (1998)
*"The World Is Not Enough" (1999)
*"The Mummy" (1999)
*"The Weight of Water" (2000)
*"Gangster No. 1" (2000)
*"102 Dalmatians" (2000)
*"The Mummy Returns" (2001)
*"Reign of Fire" (2002)
*"Shanghai Knights" (2003)
*"" (2004)
*"Laws of Attraction" (2004)
*"An American Haunting" (2005)
*"V for Vendetta" (2006)

External links

*imdb name|id=0000939|name=Adrian Biddle
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,,1689515,00.html Guardian Unlimited obituary]