Tuesday, February 12, 2013

The One and Only Scotty Welborne

Scotty Welbourne was born on May 14, 1907 in North Carolina and by the end of his career he not only photographed great film stars but also became a wonderfully known cinamatographer and director.

The 'mptv.net' says of Welbourne:

Scotty Welbourne replaced Elmer Fryer as department head at Warner Bros. in 1941, photographing many of the studio's newer stars, including Lana Turner, Ann Sheridan, Ida Lupino, Humphery Bogart, and Alexis Smith, as well as Marlene Dietrich and Merle Oberon. (During the shooting of "Fools for Scandal" (1938), he took 686 pictures of Carole Lombard in one day.)

Welbourne worked at Warners into the 1940s, taking photos of studio stars such as Jane Wyman and Bette Davis. 

However, movie buffs may best know Welbourne for his work in the 1950s horror genre -- he handled photography of the underwater sequences for director Jack Arnold's 1955 3-D gem "Revenge Of The Creature." Recalled Ricou Browning, who was in the gill man's suit when filming took place underwater, "The cameraman, Scotty Welbourne, also did some directing under the water. He built the housings for the two 3-D cameras, which were placed beside each other, and they flooded twice, and had to be overhauled overnight to have them ready to go the next day.”
Welbourne believed that the proper use of light and shadow was the answer to most of the photographer's problems and that "the photograph or the photographer must never overshadow the subject in importance [but] must always be of secondary importance to the star." Welbourne left Warner Bros. in 1945 to set up, with Madison Lacy and former MGM public:ity photographer Bud Graybill, the stills department at Enterprise Productions, a short-lived production company that made three or four films, among them "Arch of Triumph"(1948).

He was often a uncredited still photographer for films such as "Public Enemy," "The Sound and the Fury," and "The Creature From the Black Lagoon." 

He passed away on May 25, 1979 shortly after his 72nd birthday in Los Angeles, California.  His works are on such prestigious sites as Conde Nast and Artnet.

Here he is with some of the stars he worked with.

This one is with Joan Leslie on the set of "Cinderella Jones":

 
And here he is with Peggy Diggins:
 
 
He photographed many and here are some of the great artistic pieces he created:

June Travis above.
 
Alexis Smith
 
Humphrey Bogart
and more of Bogie:
 
 


 
 


3 of Carole Lombard
 

2 of Olivia DeHavilland including a cover from Glamour magazine.
 
Janet Chapman on Halloween.
 
Ruth Chatterton
 
Above is DeHavilland again and below are more sultry pics:
 



 
He did a few of Bette Davis below:
 
 

 
 
 
Ingrid Bergman
 
James Cagney
 
Jane Wyman
 
Lauren Bacall and below a rare color one of same:
 
 
 
Andrea King
 

Without watermark below:
 


The great Marlene Dietrich was a subject of a few sessions as suggested above.
 

Glenda Farrell
 

2 of Ida Lapino
 
Rita Hayworth
 
Barbara Stanwyck
 
And the beautiful Ann Sheridan:
 

 
 

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