Adrian Biddle

For other uses, see Biddle (surname).

Adrian Biddle, BSC (20 July 1952 – 7 December 2005), was an English cinematographer.

Adrian Biddle
Biddle during filming of Event Horizon (1997)
Born	(1952-07-20)20 July 1952 Woolwich, London, England
Died	7 December 2005(2005-12-07) (aged 53) London, England
Years active	1967–2005
Relatives	Adam Biddle (brother)

Early life

Biddle was a talented swimmer in his youth, and it was through this that he broke into the film industry. In 1967 the underwater photographer Egil Woxholt hired him to be his apprentice. Uncredited, he worked in this capacity on both the James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) and Murphy's War (1971).

Career

After this, Biddle worked for Ridley Scott's advertising company R.S.A., where he worked on many advertisements with Scott; and, when Scott moved into films, Biddle followed him.

He worked as a clapper loader on The Duellists (1977) before advancing to the position of focus puller on Alien (1979).

Following Alien, Biddle returned to working as a cinematographer on advertisements. During this time he developed some new lighting techniques and worked on several famous campaigns, most notably 1984 (1984), directed by Ridley Scott, for Apple. The advert's photography, combined with a personal recommendation from Scott, prompted James Cameron to hire Biddle for Aliens (1986) after the original cinematographer Dick Bush left over creative differences with Cameron. This marked Biddle's first credit as cinematographer in a feature film.^[1]

Biddle was a cinematographer on another 25 feature films, including Thelma & Louise (1991), for which he received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography. In 1997, he was voted European Cinematographer of the Year for his work on The Butcher Boy.

Death

The last film that he worked on—prior to his death from myocardial infarction on 7 December 2005 as he was being driven by his wife, Mo, to a commercials shoot in the city centre—was V for Vendetta (2005), which was dedicated to his memory.^[2]

He was survived by his wife and his three children, Alice, Esther and Alfie, who is also a cinematographer.^[3]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Director	Notes
1986	Aliens	James Cameron
1987	The Princess Bride	Rob Reiner
1988	Willow	Ron Howard
	The Dawning	Robert Knights
1989	The Tall Guy	Mel Smith
1991	Thelma & Louise	Ridley Scott
1992	1492: Conquest of Paradise
1994	City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold	Paul Weiland
1995	Judge Dredd	Danny Cannon
1996	101 Dalmatians	Stephen Herek
1997	The Butcher Boy	Neil Jordan
	Event Horizon	Paul W. S. Anderson
	Fierce Creatures	Robert Young Fred Schepisi	With Ian Baker
1998	Holy Man	Stephen Herek
1999	The World Is Not Enough	Michael Apted
	The Mummy	Stephen Sommers
2000	The Weight of Water	Kathryn Bigelow
	102 Dalmatians	Kevin Lima	With Roger Pratt
2001	The Mummy Returns	Stephen Sommers
2002	Reign of Fire	Rob Bowman
2003	Shanghai Knights	David Dobkin
2004	Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason	Beeban Kidron
	Laws of Attraction	Peter Howitt
2005	An American Haunting	Courtney Solomon	Posthumous release
	V for Vendetta	James McTeigue

Television

Year	Title	Director	Notes
1989	Smith and Jones in Small Doses	Paul Weiland	Episode "Second Thoughts"

Accolades

Year	Award	Category	Title	Result
1991	Academy Awards	Best Cinematography	Thelma & Louise	Nominated
	BAFTA Awards	Best Cinematography		Nominated
	British Society of Cinematographers	Best Cinematography		Nominated
1992			1492: Conquest of Paradise	Nominated

References

1. Alien Quadrillogy DVD Set, Aliens Special Features: 'This Time It's War' (1985) production documentary
2. Mitchell, Wendy (9 December 2005). "Cinematographer Adrian Biddle dies aged 53". Screen Daily. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
3. "Cinematographer Adrian Biddle Dies Aged 54". The Irish Film & Television Network. 8 December 2005. Retrieved 20 July 2020.

External links

• Adrian Biddle at IMDb
• Guardian Unlimited obituary