RONNIE TAYLOR

Written by Michael Darvell
 

(27 October 1924 - 3 August 2018)

Ronnie Taylor

The British cinematographer Ronnie Taylor, who has died at the age of 93, following complications after a stroke, had a long career working with many famous directors such as Jack Clayton, Karel Reisz, Ken Russell, Bryan Forbes, Anthony Harvey, Dario Argento, Richard Attenborough, Stanley Kubrick and George Lucas. His film career began in the 1940s as a clapper loader and focus puller until his first credit came as camera operator on It’s Not Cricket (1949) with Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne. He spent much of his working life as a camera operator on such titles as Boys in Brown, Brandy for the Parson, The Scamp, Room at the Top, The Rough and the Smooth, The Battle of the Sexes, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, The Innocents, The Wrong Box and The Whisperers. In 1969 he worked for Attenborough on Oh! What a Lovely War and then on Young Winston. He was also director of photography on Attenborough’s Gandhi (for which he won an Oscar), A Chorus Line and Cry Freedom. Taylor also worked with Ken Russell on Tommy, Valentino, Savage Messiah and The Devils. With Kubrick he photographed Barry Lyndon and for Argento he was DP on Opera, The Phantom of the Opera and Sleepless, Taylor’s last picture in 2001. Ronnie Taylor worked on countless other films including the first Star Wars in 1977, did a few movies for television and five episodes of The Avengers in 1965. He was married to Mary Devetta and they have two children. He retired to Spain and died on the island of Ibiza.

MICHAEL DARVELL

 
Michael Darvell

Michael Darvell trained as a librarian at Watford and in Surrey before joining Ealing Libraries where he became Music Librarian for the borough. He edited Masthead, the magazine of the University of North London School of Librarianship, The Surrealist, the staff magazine of Surrey County Library, and contributed to the Assistant Librarian and London Librarian professional journals. A freelance film reviewer since 1970, he has written for Film, Films Illustrated, Film Review, Movie Maker and Radio Times, as well as editing Montage, the London film societies magazine, for ten years. A change of career saw him joining What’s On in London as Features Editor and he eventually stepped into the shoes of the late F. Maurice Speed (founding father of Film Review annual) as the magazine’s Editor. From 2007 to 2015, he was co-editor of the Film Review annual with Mansel Stimpson. As well as writing about films, Michael has reviewed theatre for The Stage newspaper, and has written about music theatre and cabaret for the Classical Source and Musical Theatre Review websites. He is also a former restaurant critic for the ViewLondon website. Michael has been a member of the London Film Critics’ Circle since 2005.

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