Richard Earl Cunha (March 4, 1922 – September 18, 2005) was an American cinematographer and film director. Cunha's father was

Albert "Sonny" Cunha Sonny Cunha, full name Albert Richard Cunha (October 1, 1879 – January 23, 1933) was an American composer, bandleader, pianist, singer, politician and entrepreneur. He was the first to popularize ''hapa haole'' music, a type of Hawaiian music wit ...

, an American songwriter.

Career

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Cunha served as an aerial photographer for the military, and then was transferred to

Hal Roach Studios Hal Roach Studios was an American motion picture and, through its TV production subsidiary, Hal Roach Television Corporation, television production studio. Known as ''The Laugh Factory to the World'', it was founded by producer Hal Roach and busin ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, where he made military training films, newsreels and documentaries. After the war, Cunha worked as a TV photographer, eventually working his way to up director of photography for the TV shows ''

Death Valley Days ''Death Valley Days'' is an American Western (genre), Western anthology series featuring true accounts of the American Old West, particularly the Death Valley country of southeastern California. Created in 1930 by Ruth Woodman, the program was ...

'' and '' Branded''. Cunha wrote and directed only a handful of films, with his four best-known ones all being low-budget, sci fi-horror

B-movies A B movie, or B film, is a type of cheap, low-budget commercial motion picture. Originally, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, this term specifically referred to films meant to be shown as the lesser-known second half of a double feature, s ...

released in 1958 by

Astor Pictures Astor Pictures was a film distribution, motion picture distribution company in the United States from 1930 to 1963. It was founded by Robert M. Savini (29 August 1886 – 29 April 1956). Astor specialized in film re-releases. It later release ...

-- ''

Giant from the Unknown ''Giant from the Unknown'' (working titles ''Giant from Devil's Crag'' and ''The Diablo Giant'' ) is a 1957 independently made American black-and-white science fiction-horror film drama, produced by Marc Frederic and Arthur A. Jacobs, directed by ...

'', ''

She Demons ''She Demons'' is a 1957 American independent film, independent black-and-white science fiction film, science fiction horror film, produced by Arthur A. Jacobs and Marc Frederic, directed and co-written by Richard E. Cunha, that stars Irish McCal ...

'', ''

Missile to the Moon ''Missile to the Moon'' is a 1958 independently made American black-and-white science fiction film drama, produced by Marc Frederic, directed by Richard E. Cunha, that stars Richard Travis, Cathy Downs, and K. T. Stevens. The film was distri ...

'', and ''

Frankenstein's Daughter ''Frankenstein's Daughter'' is an independently made 1958 American black-and-white science fiction/horror film drama, produced by Marc Frederic and George Fowley, directed by Richard E. Cunha, that stars John Ashley, Sandra Knight, Donal ...

''. In an interview with ''The Astounding B Monster Archive'', Cunha said his low-budget films had "budgets

hat A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...

were under $80,000, and we tried very hard to bring them in for approximately $65,000 or less," that the "shooting schedules were always six days," and "you don't run over on these low-budget films - you shoot the opening scenes and the end scenes, and then fill in the picture in between."

Selected filmography

As cinematographer

* '' Red Rock Outlaw '' 1950 * ''

'' (TV) 1952 * ''

'' 1958 * ''

Bloodlust! ''Bloodlust!'' is a 1961 American horror thriller film written, directed and produced by Ralph Brooke and starring Wilton Graff, June Kenney, Joan Lora, Eugene Persson, and Robert Reed. It is based without attribution on Richard Connell's 1924 s ...

'' 1961 * '' The Silent Witness'' 1964 * '' Le Proscrit'' (TV) 1965

As director

* ''

'' with Irish McCalla, Ted Griffin,

Victor Sen Yung Victor Sen Yung (born Victor Cheung Young or Sen Yew Cheung; ; October 18, 1915 – body discovered November 9, 1980) was an American character actor, best known for playing Jimmy Chan in the Charlie Chan films and Hop Sing in the western seri ...

, Rudolph Anders. 1958 * ''

'' with

Ed Kemmer Ed Kemmer (October 29, 1921 – November 9, 2004) was an American motion picture and television actor. Life Kemmer was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, as Edward William Kemmerer, and served as a fighter pilot with the United States Army Air Forc ...

, Sally Fraser,

Buddy Baer Jacob Henry "Buddy" Baer (June 11, 1915 – July 18, 1986) was an American boxer and later an actor with parts in seventeen films, as well as roles on multiple television series in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1941, he came extremely close to b ...

1958 * ''

'' with Richard Travis,

Cathy Downs Catherine N. Downs (March 3, 1926 – December 8, 1976) was an American film actress. Biography Downs was born in Port Jefferson, New York. She was the daughter of James Nelson Downs and Edna Elizabeth Newman. A model for the Walter Thornton ...

, K.T. Stevens, Tommy Cook. 1958 * ''

'' with John Ashley, Sandra Knight, Donald Murphy, Sally Todd, Harold Lloyd. 1958 * '' Girl in Room 13''. 1960 * '' Dog Eat Dog''. 1964

As writer

* ''

''. 1958 * '' Girl in Room 13''. 1960

References

External links

*
Richard E. Cunha, 83; Directed Cult-Status '50s Horror Movies (Los Angeles Times, October 3, 2005)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cunha, Richard E. 1922 births 2005 deaths American cinematographers People from Oceanside, California United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II United States Army Air Forces soldiers American science fiction film directors American people of Portuguese descent