John Alton, born Johann Jacob Altmann, in Sopron, Kingdom of Hungary, was an American cinematographer of Hungarian-German origin.
15 Facts About John Alton
2.
John Alton moved to the US to attend college and first became involved in the film industry when he was spotted by a gateman at Cosmopolitan Studios in New York looking for extras.
3.
John Alton began as a lab technician in Los Angeles in the 1920s, later becoming a cameraman within four years.
4.
John Alton moved to France with Ernst Lubitsch to film backgrounds for The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg and ended up staying for one year heading the camera department of Paramount Pictures's Joinville Studios.
5.
John Alton intended to stay for a year but ended up staying for seven.
6.
John Alton won a prize for best photography in Argentina in 1937.
7.
John Alton returned to Hollywood in the late 1930s, and shot 30 B-movies in seven years, mostly for Republic Pictures and RKO.
8.
John Alton's style is most notable in the films noir: He Walked by Night, The Amazing Mr X, Raw Deal and The Big Combo.
9.
John Alton photographed many color movies including Slightly Scarlet.
10.
John Alton worked with Vincente Minnelli at MGM for 10 years including on Father of the Bride and An American in Paris, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Color Cinematography with Alfred Gilks.
11.
John Alton worked multiple times with Richard Brooks including on Battle Circus and The Brothers Karamazov.
12.
John Alton was reinstated at his request less than a year later, with the help of Leon Shamroy, but ended up resigning a second and final time in March 1954 after a personal dispute with the president.
13.
John Alton worked with director Charles Crichton on Birdman of Alcatraz but both were fired after two weeks and Alton quit the industry.
14.
In 1966, John Alton shot the pilot for Mission: Impossible, which became a successful television series.
15.
John Alton wrote Painting with Light, one of the first books written by a working studio cinematographer.