Adrian Biddle

Adrian Biddle, BSC (20 July 1952 – 7 December 2005), was an English cinematographer.

For other uses, see Biddle (surname).
Adrian Biddle
Born(1952-07-20)20 July 1952
Woolwich, London, England
Died7 December 2005(2005-12-07) (aged 53)
London, England
NationalityBritish
OccupationCinematographer
Years active1986–2005

Early years

Biddle was a talented swimmer in his youth, and it was through this that he broke into the film industry. In 1967 the underwater photographer Egil Woxholt hired him to be his apprentice. Uncredited, he worked in this capacity on both the James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) and Murphy's War (1971).

Career

After this, Biddle worked for Ridley Scott's advertising company R.S.A. where he worked on many advertisements with Scott and when Scott moved into films, Biddle followed him.

On The Duellists (1977) he was working 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 advertisements. During this time he developed a number of new lighting techniques and worked on a number of famous campaigns. His most famous advertisement 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 for Aliens (1986) after the original cinematographer Dick Bush left over creative differences with Cameron. This marked Biddle's first credit as cinematographer in a feature film.[1]

Biddle was a cinematographer on another 25 feature films, including Thelma & Louise (1991), for which he received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography. In 1997, he was voted European Cinematographer of the Year for his work on The Butcher Boy. The last film that he worked on, prior to his death from myocardial infarction on 7 December 2005 as he was being driven by his wife Mo to a commercials shoot in the city centre, was V for Vendetta (2005), which was dedicated to his memory.[2] He was survived by his wife and his three children, Alice, Esther and Alfie.[3]

His brother is cinematographer Adam Biddle.

Filmography
Year Title Director Notes
1986 Aliens James Cameron
1987 The Princess Bride Rob Reiner
1988 Willow Ron Howard
The Dawning Robert Knights
1989 The Tall Guy Mel Smith
1991 Thelma & Louise Ridley Scott Nominated – Academy Award for Best Cinematography
Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Cinematography
1992 1492: Conquest of Paradise
1994 City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold Paul Weiland
1995 Judge Dredd Danny Cannon
1996 101 Dalmatians Stephen Herek
1997 The Butcher Boy Neil Jordan
Event Horizon Paul W. S. Anderson
Fierce Creatures Robert Young
Fred Schepisi
1998 Holy Man Stephen Herek
1999 The World Is Not Enough Michael Apted
The Mummy Stephen Sommers
2000 The Weight of Water Kathryn Bigelow
Gangster No. 1 Paul McGuigan
102 Dalmatians Kevin Lima
2001 The Mummy Returns Stephen Sommers
2002 Reign of Fire Rob Bowman
2003 Shanghai Knights David Dobkin
2004 Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason Beeban Kidron
Laws of Attraction Peter Howitt
2005 An American Haunting Courtney Solomon Posthumous release
V for Vendetta James McTeigue
gollark: Just as planned.
gollark: ++hack NASA
gollark: ++hack NSA
gollark: ++hack pentagon
gollark: Their thing wasn't connecting to the network, so they used the autothingy, and it turned on WiFi, which Windows had apparently randomly turned off.

References
  1. Alien Quadrillogy DVD Set, Aliens Special Features: 'This Time It's War' (1985) production documentary
  2. Mitchell, Wendy (9 December 2005). "Cinematographer Adrian Biddle dies aged 53". Screen Daily. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  3. "Cinematographer Adrian Biddle Dies Aged 54". The Irish Film & Television Network. 8 December 2005. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
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