Karl Freund
Known For: Camera
Gender: Male
Date of Birth: January 16, 1890
Day of Death: May 3, 1969 (79 years old)
Place of Birth: Königinhof, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary [now Dvur Kralove, Czech Republic]
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Karl W. Freund, A.S.C. (January 16, 1890-May 3, 1969) was a cinematographer and film director. Born in Dvůr Králové (Königinhof), Bohemia, his career began in 1905 when, at age 15, he got a job as an assistant projectionist for a film company in Berlin where his family moved in 1901. He worked as a cinematographer on over 100 films, including the German Expressionist films The Golem (1920), The Last Laugh (1924) and Metropolis (1927). Freund emigrated to the United States in 1929 where he continued to shoot well remembered films such as Dracula (1931) and Key Largo (1948). He won an Academy Award for Best Cinematography for The Good Earth (1937). In 1937, he went to Germany to bring his only daughter, Gerda Maria Freund, back to the United States, saving her from almost certain death in the concentration camps. Karl's ex-wife, Susette Freund (née Liepmannssohn), remained in Germany where she was interned at the Ravensbrück concentration camp and eventually taken in March, 1942 to Bernburg Euthanasia Center where she was murdered. Between 1921 and 1935, Freund also directed ten films, of which the best known are probably The Mummy (1932) starring Boris Karloff, and his last film as director, Mad Love (1935) starring Peter Lorre. Freund's only known film as an actor is Carl Dreyer's Michael (1924) in which he has a cameo as a sycophantic art dealer who saves the tobacco ashes dropped by a famous painter. At the beginning of the 1950s, he was persuaded by Desi Arnaz at Desilu to be the cinematographer in 1951 for the televisions series I Love Lucy. Critics have credited Freund for the show's lustrous black and white cinematography, but more importantly, Freund designed the "flat lighting" system for shooting sitcoms that is still in use today. This system covers the set in light, thus eliminating shadows and allowing the use of three moving cameras without having to modify the lighting in-between shots. And where Freund did not invent the three camera shooting system, he did perfect it for use with film cameras in front of a live audience. Freund and his production team also worked on other sitcoms produced at/through Desilu such as "Our Miss Brooks". Description above from the Wikipedia article Karl Freund, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Director of Photography
The Golem: How He Came Into the World
Director of Photography
The Head of Janus
Director of Photography
The Spiders: Part 2 - The Diamond Ship
Cinematography
Catherine the Great
Director of Photography
The Hunchback and the Dancer
Director of Photography
Panic in the House of Ardon
Director of Photography
Satanas
Director of Photography
Die Nacht auf Goldenhall
1919
Director of Photography
The Spiders: Part 1 - The Golden Sea
Cinematography
Augen
Camera Department Manager
Augen
Director of Photography
Phantome des Lebens
Director of Photography
Emerald of Death
Director of Photography
The Arc
Director of Photography
Die Arche. 2. Teil: Die letzten Menschen
Director of Photography
Intoxication
1918
Director of Photography
Die Heimkehr des Odysseus
Director of Photography
Agnes Arnau und ihre drei Freier
Director of Photography
Die Dame, der Teufel und die Probiermamsell
Director of Photography
Die blaue Laterne
Director of Photography
Countess Kitchenmaid
Director of Photography
Auf Probe gestellt
Director of Photography
Das Maskenfest des Lebens
Director of Photography
Das Geschlecht derer von Ringwall
