James Wong Howe
James Wong Howe was a celebrated Chinese-American cinematographer known for his innovative techniques and significant contributions to the film industry. Born in China and later moving to the United States, Howe faced racial challenges during his early life, which shaped his resilience and determination. He began his career in the film industry as a slate boy and quickly rose to prominence after impressing director Cecil B. DeMille. Howe is recognized for his mastery of both low-key and realistic lighting, capturing the essence of diverse cinematic genres.
Throughout his career, Howe worked with major studios like MGM and Warner Bros., where he was the leading cinematographer for nearly a decade. He developed groundbreaking techniques such as deep-focus photography and was known for his creative camera work, including using roller skates to capture dynamic boxing scenes. With a legacy of over 125 films, Howe earned ten Academy Award nominations and won twice, solidifying his status as one of the greatest American cinematographers. His work continues to influence filmmakers and is celebrated for its artistic depth and technical excellence.
James Wong Howe
Cinematographer
- Born: August 28, 1899
- Birthplace: Guangdong, China
- Died: July 12, 1976
- Place of death: Hollywood, California
Chinese-born cinematographer and film director
Renowned cinematographer James Wong Howe was one of the first Asian Americans to win an Academy Award. He helped pioneer a distinctive style of lighting and had one of the longest careers of any cinematographer.
Born: August 28, 1899; Taishan, Canton (now Guangdong), China
Died: July 12, 1976; Los Angeles, California
Full name: James Wong Howe
Birth name: Wong Tung Jim
Also known as: James Howe; James How; Jimmie Howe; Jimmy Howe
Areas of achievement: Film, photography
Early Life
When James Wong Howe was five years old, his family moved from China to Pasco, Washington, where they opened a restaurant. It was one of his teachers who first called him James Howe, a combination of his name and that of his father, Wong Howe. As the only Chinese student in his classes, he was the frequent victim of racial slurs. Forced to learn to defend himself, young Howe developed sufficient skills to box professionally as a teenager.
After leaving school, Howe drifted between jobs on the West Coast. While wandering around Los Angeles, California, he happened upon a Mack Sennett comedy filming in a park. He asked the camera operator for a job and was directed to producer Jesse Lasky’s studios. Howe was rejected for work as a cameraman because of his diminutive size—just over five feet tall—but he was hired to pick up scraps of film from the cutting-room floor.
Howe eventually began working for director Cecil B. DeMille as a slate boy, holding up a chalkboard slate to identify what scene was being filmed. In 1917, impressed by Howe’s enthusiasm, DeMille made him assistant to cinematographer Alvin Wyckoff. Howe’s big break came in 1923 when DeMille ordered him to photograph actress Mary Miles Minter. Because the actress’s pale blue eyes seemed expressionless in photographs, Howe built a black-velvet frame with a hole in the center for his lens so that the light reflecting off the velvet would make Minter’s eyes darker. Soon actresses were demanding that Howe shoot their films as well.
Life’s Work
Howe’s first film as director of photography was Drums of Fate (1923), starring Minter. His use of low-key lighting helped create the essential fantasy effect of the film adapation Peter Pan (1924), and he was equally adept at realistic lighting, as in the Lon Chaney film Laugh, Clown, Laugh (1928). Howe went to China in 1928 to shoot background scenes for a film he hoped to direct, but the project was never completed, as motion pictures had begun to shift toward adding sound. Director Howard Hawks, however, took a chance on him with The Criminal Code (1931), and Howe was soon in demand again.
Howe went to work for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) studios in 1933. Previously billed as James Howe, he became James Wong Howe when the studio wanted to promote his Chinese background. In 1937, bored with most of his MGM assignments, he joined independent producer David O. Selznick to film Fire over England. For another costume drama released that same year, The Prisoner of Zenda, in which lead actor Ronald Colman played two characters appearing on screen at the same time, Howe developed a sophisticated split-screen method so that Colman could seem to be shaking hands with himself.
Meanwhile, Howe had met novelist Sanora Babb, whom he married in Paris, France, in 1937. Due to antimiscegenation laws, however, their marriage was not legally recognized in the United States until 1948, when the law was repealed.
Because of Howe’s flattering portrayal of actress Hedy Lamarr in the 1938 film Algiers, he landed a contract with Warner Bros., which favored gritty, realistic photography. From 1938 to 1947, he was the studio’s leading cinematographer, shooting such films as The Oklahoma Kid (1939), City for Conquest (1940), Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), and Pursued (1947).
Howe became a freelance cinematographer in the late 1940s and did much of his best work in the 1950s and 1960s. He made Manhattan both glamorous and seedy in Sweet Smell of Success (1957), which features some of the most famous black-and-white images of the city. His bleak Texas landscapes in Hud (1963) underscore the emotional turmoil of the characters. Many experts consider Howe’s best work to be John Frankenheimer’s Seconds (1966), in which images are distorted to reflect the emotional state of the conflicted protagonist. Although Howe specialized in black-and-white photography, he also did excellent work in color, as in Bell, Book and Candle (1958), whose muted colors are fitting for its supernatural subject. The last of his 125 films as cinematographer was Funny Lady (1975), for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Cinematography.
Significance
Howe was one of the greatest American cinematographers and a pioneer in deep-focus photography, in which both foreground and background remain in focus. He was renowned for his bold contributions to the motion-picture industry through the use of innovative techniques and unusual lenses; for a boxing scene in Body and Soul (1947), he strapped on a camera and scooted about the ring on roller skates, while Picnic (1955) includes one of the first examples of a helicopter shot. Howe’s colleagues made him one of the most honored in his profession. He was nominated for ten Academy Awards and won twice, first for The Rose Tattoo (1955) and later for Hud (1963).
Bibliography
Eyman, Scott. Five American Cinematographers: Interviews with Karl Struss, Joseph Ruttenberg, James Wong Howe, Lindwood Dunn, and William H. Clothier. Metuchen: Scarecrow, 1987. Print. Includes anecdotes from Howe about his films and techniques.
LoBrutto, Vincent. “The Surreal Images of Seconds.” American Cinematographer 78.11 (1997): 98–104. Print. A history of the production of Seconds and the technical obstacles Howe had to overcome.
Rainsberger, Todd. James Wong Howe, Cinematographer. San Diego: Barnes, 1981. Print. Discusses the evolution of Howe’s style and his experimentations in lighting.
Silver, Alain. James Wong Howe: The Camera Eye; A Career Interview. Santa Monica: Pendragon, 2010. Print. A collection of in-depth interviews with Howe in which he discusses his personal and professional life. Also includes two essays on cinematography.
Stevens, George, Jr., ed. Conversations with the Great Moviemakers of Hollywood’s Golden Age: At the American Film Institute. New York: Knopf, 2006.Print. Includes a description of Howe’s career and an interview in which he discusses framing and lighting.