Ray Rennahan

Ray Rennahan started working behind movie cameras from 1917. Early on, he had the foresight to recognise the potential for dramatically enhancing motion pictures by the application of colour cinematography. During the 1920's, he was regarded as a leading innovator in the development of the three-strip Technicolor process. This was first applied in several sequences of an MGM musical, The Cat and the Fiddle (1934), and then saw the light of day in its entirety, in a live action two-reel short, entitled La Cucaracha (1934). Both were appropriately photographed by Rennahan. His next project was Becky Sharp (1935), the first feature length all-Technicolor movie. The visual quality of this picture, particularly noted in the striking set pieces, prompted Darryl F. Zanuck at 20th Century Fox to hire Rennahan for Wings of the Morning (1937). This rather stolid melodrama was filmed on location in Ireland and England in 1935. It starred Henry Fonda and Annabella, and what was lacking in script, was primarily redeemed by Rennahan's stunning outdoor photography of the verdant countryside, and by his spectacular horse racing sequences (his first camera operator for this picture was one of the future greats of cinematography, Jack Cardiff). Rennahan continued with the racing theme in Kentucky (1938), and then worked with Bert Glennon on the outdoor western Drums Along the Mohawk (1939). That same year, he gained an Oscar (in conjunction with Ernest Haller) for his outstanding colour photography on Gone with the Wind (1939), for which he employed a faster film stock which required less lighting. Rennahan later won a second statuette for Blood and Sand (1941). When not working directly behind the camera, Rennahan and his specialist team were often employed as consultants on the colour process. As director of photography, he also worked for David O. Selznick again, this time on the brilliant western epic Duel in the Sun (1946), constituting possibly some of his finest work. Between 1945 and 1953, he was under contract to Paramount. After 1957, he worked almost exclusively in television, with special emphasis on outdoor subjects and westerns.