Adrian Biddle

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

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 a large number of 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, Biddle stepped in to replace him in his first feature film role.^[1]

Biddle was a cinematographer on a further 25 feature films, including Thelma and Louise (1991), for which he received a nomination for the Oscar 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, was V for Vendetta (2006) which was dedicated to his memory.

His brother is cinematographer Adam Biddle.

Filmography

References

External links

• Adrian Biddle at the Internet Movie Database
• Guardian Unlimited obituary