Joseph F. Biroc

Camera operator

February 12, 1903 (93 years)

† September 7, 1996

New York City, New York, USA

Biography

Joseph Francis Biroc, ASC (February 12, 1903 – September 7, 1996) was an American cinematographer. He was born in New York City and began working in films at the Paragon Studios in Fort Lee, New Jersey. After working there for approximately six years, he moved to Los Angeles. Once in Southern California, Biroc worked at the RKO Pictures movie studio. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps and filmed the Liberation of Paris in August 1944. In 1950, Biroc left RKO Pictures an…

Filmography

7.3

Airplane!

An ex-fighter pilot forced to take over the controls of an airliner when the flight crew succumbs to food poisoning.

8.3

It's a Wonderful Life

George Bailey has spent his entire life giving to the people of Bedford Falls. All that prevents rich skinflint Mr. Potter from taking over the entire town is George's modest building and loan company. But on Christmas Eve the business's $8,000 is lost and George's troubles begin.

6.1

...All the Marbles

A two-bit promoter tries to take a women's wrestling team to the top.

7.2

Blazing Saddles

A town—where everyone seems to be named Johnson—stands in the way of the railroad. In order to grab their land, robber baron Hedley Lamarr sends his henchmen to make life in the town unbearable. After the sheriff is killed, the town demands a new sheriff from the Governor, so Hedley convinces him to send the town the first black sheriff in the west.

6.7

The Longest Yard

A football player-turned-convict organizes a team of inmates to play against a team of prison guards. His dilemma is that the warden asks him to throw the game in return for an early release, but he is also concerned about the inmates' lack of self-esteem.

7.0

The Towering Inferno

At the opening party of a colossal—but poorly constructed—skyscraper, a massive fire breaks out, threatening to destroy the tower and everyone in it.

6.1

Airplane II: The Sequel

A faulty computer causes a passenger space shuttle to head straight for the sun, and man-with-a-past Ted Striker must save the day and get the shuttle back on track – again – all the while trying to patch up his relationship with Elaine.

6.4

Escape from the Planet of the Apes

The world is shocked by the appearance of three talking chimpanzees, who arrived mysteriously in a spacecraft. Intrigued by their intelligence, humans use them for research - until the apes attempt to escape.

7.8

Washington: Behind Closed Doors

CIA director Bill Martin knows that an incoming president means a new direction for the country—and another set of eyes on the top secret Primula Report. Martin tries to build a rapport with his new boss, but President Richard Monckton is more interested in settling old scores and cleaning house with the help of the FBI.

4.0

Arthur Hailey's The Moneychangers

Two ambitious vice presidents become rivals when an imminent board room vacancy arises.

6.3

Little Women

The two part miniseries chronicles the lives and loves of the four March sisters – Jo, Meg, Amy and Beth – growing up during the American Civil War. While their father leaves for battle, the sisters must rely on each other for strength in the face of tragedies both large and small.

4.9

Scruples

The title of the bestselling 1978 novel by Judith Krantz is the name of an ultra-chic Bevery Hills boutique that rags-to-riches Billy Ikehorn (Lindsay Wagner) established to fill the void left in her life by the illness of her elderly tycoon husband (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) and his subsequent death. To help make Scruples what it has become, Billy had brought in top fashion photographer Spider Elliott (Barry Bostwick) and fashion designer Valentine O'Neill (Marie-France Pisier), and it is the intertwined lives and romances that propel this sumptuous but sudsy saga.

6.2

Viva Las Vegas

Lucky Jackson arrives in town with his car literally in tow ready for the first Las Vegas Grand Prix - once he has the money to buy an engine. He gets the cash easily enough but mislays it when the pretty swimming pool manageress takes his mind off things. It seems he will lose both race and girl, problems made more difficult by rivalry from Elmo Mancini, fellow racer and womaniser.

7.2

The Flight of the Phoenix

A cargo aircraft crashes in a sandstorm in the Sahara with less than a dozen men on board. One of the passengers is an airplane designer who comes up with the idea of ripping off the undamaged wing and using it as the basis for a replacement aircraft they need to build before their food and water run out.

5.9

Bye Bye Birdie

A singer goes to a small town for a performance before he is drafted.

5.1

Beyond the Poseidon Adventure

After "The Poseidon Adventure", in which the ship got flipped over by a tidal wave, the ship drifts bottom-up in the sea. While the passengers are still on board waiting to be rescued, two rivaling salvage parties enter the ship on search for money, gold and a small amount of plutonium.

6.7

The Grissom Gang

Violent crime caper set in 1930s Kansas in which a gang kidnap an heiress and attempt to recover a ransom. However, the scheme is jeopardised when the leader falls in love with their beautiful captive.

7.3

Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte

An aging, reclusive Southern belle plagued by a horrifying family secret descends into madness after the arrival of a lost relative.

6.9

Ulzana's Raid

After fierce war chief Ulzana and a small war party jump the reservation bent on murder and terror, an inexperienced young lieutenant is assigned to track him down.

6.1

Cahill: United States Marshal

J.D. Cahill is the toughest U.S. Marshal they've got, just the sound of his name makes bad guys stop in their tracks, so when his two young boy's want to get his attention they decide to rob a bank. They end up getting more than they bargained for.