Frank D. Williams

Frank D. Williams

  • Birthday: 1893-03-20
  • Deathday: 1961-10-16
  • Place of birth: Nashville, Missouri, USA
  • Also know as: Frank Douglas Williams

Biography

Frank D. Williams (March 21, 1893 – October 15, 1961) was a pioneering cinematographer who was active in the early days of the motion picture industry. He developed and patented the traveling matte shot. Frank D. Williams was born March 21, 1893, as Frank Douglas Williams, to James and Lucinda Williams in the small community of Nashville, Missouri. In 1912, Williams became a cameraman at Keystone Studios. There, in 1914, he was the photographer for many of Charlie Chaplin's first-year pictures, including Kid Auto Races at Venice which was the first film released in which The Tramp appeared. Williams is credited as appearing in Kid Auto Races at Venice, playing a cameraman, but his appearance is in doubt. For a time he was chief cinematographer at Keystone, and a large number of the studio's 1914 films are credited to him as photographer. He defected to work for the short-lived Sterling Motion Pictures, but returned to Keystone when Sterling closed in 1915. He also worked a camera for Henry Lehrman's L-Ko Kompany, Reliance-Majestic Studios, and Bluebird Photoplays. When Roscoe Arbuckle formed a new motion picture company, Comique, in 1917, he hired Williams to be his cameraman. At Comique, Williams also shot Buster Keaton's first film appearance, The Butcher Boy (1917). His tenure there was also short; he shot three films for Arbuckle (Butcher Boy, A Reckless Romeo, and The Rough House) before departing to start his own lab. His business did not get off the ground quickly, and he supplemented his income by continuing to work as a cameraman. He was director of photography at Sessue Hayakawa's Haworth Pictures Corporation and is credited with 15 pictures that came out of that studio between 1919 and 1921. While he was working as a cameraman at various studios, Williams worked on his idea for a traveling matte in which the actions of actors would be combined with a filmed moving background. Available technology prevented him from achieving the effect he envisioned until he built a printer himself to his own specification. He filed for a patent in May 1916, and it was granted in July 1918. The process was first used in a motion picture in 1922's Wild Honey. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Filmography

Kid Auto Races at Venice

1914

As Cameraman (uncredited)

His Prehistoric Past

1914

As Caveman (uncredited)

Production

A Reckless Romeo

1917

As Director of Photography

Caught in a Cabaret

1914

As Director of Photography

Black Roses

1921

As Director of Photography

Where Lights Are Low

1921

As Director of Photography

The Swamp

1921

As Director of Photography

A Busy Day

1914

As Director of Photography

Making a Living

1914

As Director of Photography

Kid Auto Races at Venice

1914

As Director of Photography

Mabel's Strange Predicament

1914

As Director of Photography

A Film Johnnie

1914

As Director of Photography

Between Showers

1914

As Director of Photography

The Floorwalker

1916

As Director of Photography

The Dragon Painter

1919

As Director of Photography

Recreation

1914

As Director of Photography

The Butcher Boy

1917

As Director of Photography

Hop - The Devil's Brew

1916

As Director of Photography

The Man Beneath

1919

As Director of Photography

The Rough House

1917

As Director of Photography

Tango Tangle

1914

As Director of Photography

Tillie's Punctured Romance

1914

As Director of Photography

The Tong Man

1919

As Director of Photography

The Vagabond

1916

As Director of Photography

His Favorite Pastime

1914

As Director of Photography

The Rounders

1914

As Director of Photography

The Knockout

1914

As Director of Photography

Mabel's Married Life

1914

As Director of Photography

The Devil's Claim

1920

As Director of Photography

His New Profession

1914

As Director of Photography

Getting Acquainted

1914

As Director of Photography

His Prehistoric Past

1914

As Director of Photography

The Property Man

1914

As Director of Photography

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

1927

As Special Effects

Those Love Pangs

1914

As Cinematography

Dough and Dynamite

1914

As Cinematography

Gentlemen of Nerve

1914

As Cinematography

Laughing Gas

1914

As Cinematography

His Musical Career

1914

As Cinematography

Her Friend the Bandit

1914

As Cinematography

Mabel's Busy Day

1914

As Cinematography

His Trysting Places

1914

As Cinematography

The Face on the Barroom Floor

1914

As Cinematography

The Masquerader

1914

As Cinematography

The New Janitor

1914

As Cinematography

King Kong

1933

As Special Effects Technician

The Fatal Mallet

1914

As Cinematography

Caught in the Rain

1914

As Cinematography

The Invisible Man

1933

As Visual Effects Supervisor

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