Douglas Slocombe, ‘Indiana Jones’ Cinematographer, Dies at 103

Douglas Slocombe, the British cinematographer who filmed the Nazi invasion of Poland, the adventures of “Indiana Jones” and the madcap farce of Ealing Studios comedies, died on Monday in London. He was 103.

His daughter, Georgina, confirmed his death.

One of Britain’s most acclaimed cinematographers, Mr. Slocombe shot some 80 films, working with directors as varied as George Cukor, John Huston, Norman Jewison and Roman Polanski. His career began with the famed Ealing black comedies of the late 1940s and early ’50s, and ended with three “Indiana Jones” films for Steven Spielberg.

“Dougie Slocombe was facile, enthusiastic, and loved the action of filmmaking,” Mr. Spielberg said. “Harrison Ford was Indiana Jones in front of the camera, but with his whip-smart crew, Dougie was my behind-the-scenes hero for the first three Indy movies.”

Mr. Slocombe was nominated for three Academy Awards and won three British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards for “The Servant” (1963), “The Great Gatsby” (1974) and “Julia” (1977). The British Society of Cinematographers gave him a lifetime achievement award in 1995.

His Oscar nominations were for Cukor’s “Travels With My Aunt” (1972), with Maggie Smith; “Julia,” directed by Fred Zinnemann, with Jane Fonda and Vanessa Redgrave; and “Raiders of the Lost Ark” (1981), the first of the Indiana Jones movies.
Mr. Slocombe was born on Feb. 10, 1913, in London. His daughter, Georgina, a photographer, is his only immediate survivor.

While in his 20s, Mr. Slocombe documented Germany’s 1939 invasion of Poland as a newsreel cameraman. His footage was used in “Lights Out in Europe,” Herbert Kline’s 1940 documentary about the outbreak of World War II, written by James Hilton and narrated by Frederic March.

“I had no understanding of the concept of blitzkrieg,” Mr. Slocombe told the BBC in 2014. “I had been expecting trouble, but I thought it would be in trenches, like WWI. The Germans were coming over the border at a great pace.”

After the war, he became the house cinematographer for Ealing, filming classic comedies like “Kind Hearts and Coronets,” “The Man in the White Suit,” “The Lavender Hill Mob” and “The Titfield Thunderbolt.”

After Ealing’s demise, Mr. Slocombe signed on to a number of CinemaScope releases, including “A High Wind in Jamaica” and “Guns at Batasi.” His other credits through the 1960s and ’70s included “The Lion in Winter,” “The Italian Job,” “Jesus Christ Superstar” and “Rollerball.”

“A lot of cameramen try to evolve a technique and then apply that to everything,” Mr. Slocombe once said. “But I suffer from a bad memory and could never remember how I’d done something before, so I could always approach something afresh. I found I was able to change techniques on picture after picture.”

Mr. Slocombe shot scenes for Mr. Spielberg’s “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” (1977) before being enlisted for “Raiders of the Lost Ark” (1981) as well as two sequels: “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” (1984) and “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” (1989), his last film.