20 - Wednesday, March 14, 1990 - North Shore News Cinematographer recalls the glory days of Hollywcod | EETING OSMOND Borradaile for the first time is a lesson in humility. v On ihe wall in his tiny, cluttered den, strewn with tattered scrapbooks and old photos, hangs the Order of Canada, a tribute to 40 years of skilled craftmanship that took Bor- radaile to work on six continents. “1 guess they thought | needed something to cheer me up,” the elfin Borradaile says modestly with a smile. ““! was the first Canadian to be shipped around the world. It was always my dream to see as much of it (the world) before they snapshots that capture Hollywood's glittering stars: Rudolph Valentino, Gloria Swan- son, Jean Harlow and Mary Eaton. to name just a few. {twas Borradaile’s skill with ex- terior camera work, however, that earned him a name as an expert cinematographer. ‘‘l was always interested in location work, | didn't like working indoors all the time. So I got on as many locations as | could,”’ he explains, sitting in his sun-filled room. eprint, Anbar His adeptness with the big cam- d . era is evidenced by such films as NEWS photo Mike Wakefield The Scarlet Pimpernel, The Ele- phant Boy, The Four Feathers push me off it.” OSMOND BORRADAILE today, in his Horseshoe Bay home. Described as ‘‘the greatest exterior camera artist in the world,’’ Borradaile worked on six continents with Hallywood’s most iNustrious directors. EVELYN @C7 JACOB} * spotlight feature A master cinematographer, Bor- radaile has worked with the likes of Alfred Hitchcock, Otto Prem- inger, Sir Alexander and Zoltan Korda, and shot Hollywood's most glamorous stars. Today the tiger-skin rugs, framed awards and assortment of exotic bric-a-brac that decorate his Horseshoe Bay den bear testimony to an electrifying career that flourished for four decades. At 92, Borradaile says he doesn’t miss those adventurous days which saw him riding elephants and stalking tigers while pumping out film footage under the open skies. Being the first passenger to fly in a plane with Howard Hughes is now just 2 distant memory. But the man Raymond Massey once referred to as ‘‘the greatest exterior camera artist in the world” still cherishes al! of his memories with greedy pleasure — greedy, until you ask him to show you his photo collection. Out comes a barrage of yellowing (Borradaile’s personal favorite), Forty-Ninth Parallel, starring Sir Laurence Olivier and Leslie Howard, and in the 1940 film The Thiet of Bagdad, which won an Academy Award for best cinematography. As associate photographer for The Thief of Bagdad, Borradaile was too humble to ask for his own Oscar. “After the war,’’ he recalls, ‘I cal'ed in on Georges Perinel (the film's cinematographer)in London and | saw an Oscar sitting on his mantel. ! said, ‘Where did you steal that from?’ He said, ‘How is yours?’ | told him | didn’t get one and then he said ‘You should have, you shot one-third of the picture.’ Well, | never bothered to write to the Academy. Then one day Georges kicked up his heels and died and left his Oscar to me.” | mention that | have never seen a real-life Oscar and Borradaile picks up the lead-weight icon. “Hold it,” he says, relishing the thrill as much as |. Born in Winnipeg in 1898, Bor- radaile’s family lived in Victoria until his brother's illness forced them to move to California. “1 decided | could never learn any- thing in school. | played hookie all See Great Page 21 Fast relief for the best siressed couple Special weekend getaway! 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