Floyd Delafield Crosby,

A.S.C. The American Society of Cinematographers (ASC), founded in Hollywood in 1919, is a cultural, educational, and professional organization that is neither a labor union nor a guild. The society was organized to advance the science and art of ci ...

(December 12, 1899 – September 30, 1985) was an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

-winning American

cinematographer The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the photographing or recording of a film, television production, music video or other live action piece. The cinematographer is the ch ...

, descendant of the

Van Rensselaer family The Van Rensselaer family () is a family of Dutch descent that was prominent during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries in the area now known as the state of New York. Members of this family played a critical role in the formation of the Unit ...

, and father of musicians Ethan and

David Crosby David Van Cortlandt Crosby (born August 14, 1941) is an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. In addition to his solo career, he was a founding member of both the Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash. Crosby joined the Byrds in 1964. They got ...

Early life

Crosby was born and raised in

West Philadelphia West Philadelphia, nicknamed West Philly, is a section of the city of Philadelphia. Alhough there are no officially defined boundaries, it is generally considered to reach from the western shore of the Schuylkill River, to City Avenue to the nort ...

, the son of Julia Floyd (née Delafield) and Frederick Van Schoonhoven Crosby."Floyd Crosby", Great Cinematographers.
/ref> Through his maternal grandmother, he was descended from the prominent

. His maternal grandfather was Dr. Francis Delafield. His maternal uncle was

Edward Henry Delafield Edward Henry Delafield (December 23, 1880 – December 2, 1955) was a Connecticut politician and prominent landowner. Early life Delafield was born in New York, New York on December 23, 1880. He was the son of Dr. Francis Delafield (1841–1915 ...

(18801955).

Career

During his career, Floyd Crosby was involved in the cinematography of more than 100 full-length movies. He won the 1931

Academy Award for Best Cinematography The Academy Award for Best Cinematography is an Academy Award awarded each year to a cinematographer for work on one particular motion picture. History In its first film season, 1927–28, this award (like others such as the acting awards) w ...

for his work on the film '' Tabu: A Story of the South Seas''. In 1973, Crosby participated in an oral history sponsored by the American Film Institute, part of which dealt with his work on '' Tabu: A Story of the South Seas''.https://archive.org/details/TapeIISideOneTapeIISideTwo2BRepaired92617 He was also the cinematographer for ''

High Noon ''High Noon'' is a 1952 American Western film produced by Stanley Kramer from a screenplay by Carl Foreman, directed by Fred Zinnemann, and starring Gary Cooper. The plot, which occurs in real time, centers on a town marshal whose sense ...

'' (1952), for which he won a Golden Globe Award. Crosby also worked with

B-movie A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feat ...

director

Roger Corman Roger William Corman (born April 5, 1926) is an American film director, producer, and actor. He has been called "The Pope of Pop Cinema" and is known as a trailblazer in the world of independent film. Many of Corman's films are based on works t ...

on several films. Crosby served as a cinematographer for the U.S. Army Air Corps film wing, and made

flight training Flight training is a course of study used when learning to pilot an aircraft. The overall purpose of primary and intermediate flight training is the acquisition and honing of basic airmanship skills. Flight training can be conducted under a st ...

films in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. He left the Air Corps in 1946.

Personal life

On December 11, 1930, he married Aliph Van Cortlandt Whitehead. She was the daughter of John Brinton Whitehead. Together, they had two children: * Ethan Crosby (1937–1997), a reclusive singer-songwriter *

(born 1941), a member of

the Byrds The Byrds () were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1964. The band underwent multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn (known as Jim McGuinn until mid-1967) remaining the sole con ...

and

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young Crosby, Stills & Nash (CSN) were a folk rock supergroup made up of American singer-songwriters David Crosby and Stephen Stills and English singer-songwriter Graham Nash. When joined by Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young as a fourth member ...

Crosby divorced in 1960, and married Betty Cormack Andrews in the same year. He retired in 1972 to

Ojai, California Ojai ( ; Chumash: ''’Awhaỳ'') is a city in Ventura County, California. Located in the Ojai Valley, it is northwest of Los Angeles and east of Santa Barbara. The valley is part of the east–west trending Western Transverse Ranges and ...

, where he died in 1985.

Selected filmography

* '' Tabu: A Story of the South Seas'' (1931) * ''Mato Grosso: the Great Brazilian Wilderness'' (1931) * ''

The Plow that Broke the Plains ''The Plow That Broke the Plains'' is a 1936 short documentary film that shows the cultivation of the Great Plains region of the United States and Canada following the Civil War and leading up to the Dust Bowl as a result of farmers' exploitati ...

'' (1936) * '' The River'' (1937) * ''

The Fight for Life ''The Fight for Life'' is a 1940 American medical drama film nominated for the Best Original Score of a Picture composed by Louis Gruenberg and released by Columbia Pictures. Plot At the City Hospital a young intern witnesses the death of a you ...

'' (1940) * ''

Power and the Land Power most often refers to: * Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work" ** Engine power, the power put out by an engine ** Electric power * Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events ** Abusive power Power may a ...

'' (1940) * '' It's All True'' * '' The Land'' (1942) * ''

Traffic with the Devil ''Traffic with the Devil'' is a 1946 American short documentary film about traffic problems in Los Angeles, directed by Gunther von Fritsch. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short. Plot summary Cast * Charles Rein ...

'' (1946) * ''

My Father's House ''My Father's House'' ( he, בית אבי) is a 1947 British Mandatory Palestine-American drama film directed by Herbert Kline, with a script by Jewish-American novelist and journalist Meyer Levin. Kline and Levin produced the film. The cinematogra ...

'' (1947) * '' Of Men and Music'' (1950) * ''

The Brave Bulls ''The Brave Bulls'' (aka ''Toros Bravos'' and ''The Brave Bulls, A Novel'') is a 1949 Western novel written by Tom Lea (his first) about the raising of bulls, on the ranch Las Astas, for bullfighting in Mexico. Las Astas is based on the real "L ...

'' (1952) * ''

Devil Take Us ''Devil Take Us'' is a 1952 American short documentary film on driving safety directed by Herbert Morgan. It was part of the Theatre of Life documentary series. It was nominated for two Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as ...

'' (1952) * ''

The Steel Lady ''The Steel Lady'' (also known as ''Treasure of Kalifa'') is a 1953 American action film directed by Ewald André Dupont starring Rod Cameron and Tab Hunter. In the film, four Americans are stranded in the deserts of North Africa. They discover a ...

'' (1953) * '' Five Guns West'' (1954) * ''

Naked Paradise ''Naked Paradise'' (sometimes credited as ''Thunder Over Hawaii'') is a 1957 drama film directed by Roger Corman. It stars Richard Denning and Beverly Garland. Corman later asked Charles Griffith, who worked on the script, to reuse his screenplay ...

'' (1956) * ''

Attack of the Crab Monsters Attack may refer to: Warfare and combat * Offensive (military) * Charge (warfare) * Attack (fencing) * Strike (attack) * Attack (computing) * Attack aircraft Books and publishing * ''The Attack'' (novel), a book * ''Attack No. 1'', comic an ...

'' (1956) * ''

Rock All Night ''Rock All Night'' is a 1957 crime drama film produced and directed by Roger Corman. Distributed by American International Pictures, it is based on a 25-minute television episode of '' The Jane Wyman Show'' from 1955 called "The Little Guy." It s ...

'' (1956) * ''

She Gods of Shark Reef ''She Gods of Shark Reef'' is a 1958 B-adventure film directed by Roger Corman that was partially filmed on location in Kaua'i back to back with '' Thunder over Hawaii'' in 1956. The film was distributed in 1958 by American International Pictures ...

'' (1957) * ''

The Old Man and the Sea ''The Old Man and the Sea'' is a novella written by the American author Ernest Hemingway in 1951 in Cayo Blanco (Cuba), and published in 1952. It was the last major work of fiction written by Hemingway that was published during his lifetime. O ...

'' (1958) * ''

The Screaming Skull ''The Screaming Skull'' is a 1958 independently made American black-and-white horror film, produced by John Kneubuhl and directed by Alex Nicol, starring John Hudson, Peggy Webber, Russ Conway, Tony Johnson, and Nicol. ''The Screaming Skull'' m ...

'' (1958) * ''

War of the Satellites ''War of the Satellites'' is a 1958 independently made American black-and-white science fiction film drama, produced and directed by Roger Corman, and starring Richard Devon, Dick Miller and Susan Cabot. It was distributed in the U.S. and the U. ...

'' (1958) * '' Machine-Gun Kelly'' (1958) * '' I, Mobster'' (1958) * '' The Cry Baby Killer'' (1958) * ''

The Wonderful Country ''The Wonderful Country'' (aka ''The Wonderful Country, A Novel'') is a 1952 Western novel written by Tom Lea. The book is set in Chihuahua and Sonora, Mexico, and Texas and New Mexico in the United States. It was filmed in 1959. After the fi ...

'' (1959) * ''

Crime and Punishment U.S.A. ''Crime and Punishment U.S.A.'' (1959) is an American feature film directed by Denis Sanders, written by Walter Newman and starring George Hamilton in his first screen role. The film was released on November 1, 1959. ''The New York Times'' cal ...

'' (1959) * '' Freckles'' (1960) * '' House of Usher'' (1960) * ''

The Explosive Generation ''The Explosive Generation'' is a 1961 film directed by Buzz Kulik. It stars William Shatner and Patty McCormack. Plot The story is about Peter Gifford, a teacher who wants to teach high school students to think for themselves and express themse ...

'' (1960) * '' The Pit and the Pendulum'' (1961) * ''

A Cold Wind in August ''A Cold Wind in August'' (1961) is a low-budget, drama-exploitation film directed by Alexander Singer and adapted from the eponymous novel by Burton Wohl. The film stars Lola Albright as a mentally unbalanced burlesque show stripper in her 30s w ...

'' (1961) * '' The Premature Burial'' (1962) * ''

Tales of Terror ''Tales of Terror'' is a 1962 American International Pictures horror film in colour and Panavision, produced by Samuel Z. Arkoff, James H. Nicholson, and Roger Corman, who also directed. The screenplay was written by Richard Matheson, and the ...

'' (1962) * '' Hand of Death'' (1962) * ''

The Young Racers ''The Young Racers'' is a 1963 sports drama film directed by Roger Corman and starring Mark Damon, William Campbell, Luana Anders and Patrick Magee. It is based on the Formula One races in Europe. Plot Joe Machin ( William Campbell), an Ameri ...

'' (1963) * ''

The Raven "The Raven" is a narrative poem by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. First published in January 1845, the poem is often noted for its musicality, stylized language, and supernatural atmosphere. It tells of a distraught lover who is paid a myst ...

'' (1963) * ''

The Yellow Canary ''The Yellow Canary'' is a 1963 American thriller film directed by Buzz Kulik and starring Pat Boone and Barbara Eden. It was adapted by Rod Serling from a novel by Whit Masterson, who also wrote the novel that was the basis for Orson Welles' '' ...

'' (1963) * '' X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes'' (1963) * ''

Black Zoo ''Black Zoo'' is a 1963 American horror film directed by Robert Gordon and starring Michael Gough, Jeanne Cooper, Rod Lauren, Virginia Grey, Jerome Cowan, and Elisha Cook, Jr. It was produced and co-written by Herman Cohen. It is a violent, go ...

'' (1963) * ''

The Haunted Palace ''The Haunted Palace'' is a 1963 horror film released by American International Pictures, starring Vincent Price, Lon Chaney Jr. and Debra Paget (in her final film), in a story about a village held in the grip of a dead necromancer. The film wa ...

'' (1963) * ''

Sallah Shabati ''Sallah Shabati'' ( he, סאלח שבתי) is a 1964 Israeli comedy film about the chaos of Israeli immigration and resettlement. This social satire placed the director Ephraim Kishon and producer Menahem Golan among the first Israeli filmmaker ...

'' (1964) * '' Comedy of Terrors'' (1964) * '' Pajama Party'' (1964) * '' Indian Paint'' (1965) * ''

Fireball 500 ''Fireball 500'' is a 1966 stock car racing film, blended with the beach party film genre. A vehicle for stars Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello, and Fabian, it was one of a string of similar racing films from the 1960s. Written by William Ashe ...

'' (1966) * ''

The Cool Ones ''The Cool Ones'' (aka ''Cool, Baby Cool'') is a 1967 film starring Roddy McDowall and directed by Gene Nelson. The 1960s novelty singer known as Mrs. Miller performs in a cameo role, and the film features performances by the bands the Leaves an ...

'' (1967)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Crosby, Floyd 1899 births 1985 deaths Military personnel from Philadelphia Photographers from Philadelphia American cinematographers American people of Dutch descent Best Cinematographer Academy Award winners Burials at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery Delafield family