I just saw a fabulous one and an
half
hour documentary of Jack
Card
iff as an

i
ntroductory of him being
honored as the star
celebr
ity of the month.
He
a
lso spoke of Errol, but no ment
ioning
of the ill-fated
mov
ie of
William
Tell. He was the c
inematographer
for 'The Master of
Ballantrae
1953' and 'Crossed Swords 1954',
it
must have been dur
ing
this
time
that
they became fr
iends as
later
Errol chose h
im to be his
director
for 'William
Tell', w
ith which
Errol would have g
iven
him
his
first
chance
to d
irect a movie and
w
ith his
most fabulous c
inematography
expert
ise it
would have been a fantast
ic
movie.  Apparently

a
nd as stated
in
the documentary Jack
Card
iff
was
very
interested to
direct
movies and as it
looks like Errol maybe saw
the talent
in
his
capac
ity and
wanted
for Jack a start
of
a
'dream
come true'. What a great
p
ity that it
didn't
fly! Jack, although
went

i
nto directing
from 1960 to 1974 and d
irected
eight
movies and
was
beh
ind
the camera from
1936 to 2000. He speaks of Errol collaps
ing
on the set
during
the filming
of 'Crossed Swords' at wh
ich
time
the doctors told
him
his
liver is
gone
and
he
is on his
way
out or so to say. Not Errol –
he came back
w
ith a tumbler
full of Vodka
in
his
hand.

We all
have
read
that
Errol was hosp
italized in
Naples
for that l
iver
problem, but
not during what
mov
ie, now we know – it
was
'Crossed Swords'. 

Taken from the Jack Cardiff website – Errol resting during 'Crossed Swords'

Jack'
s mov
ie credits as a cinematographer are incredible!
He worked with
Marlene
D
ietrich, 
Mar
ilyn
Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, Kather
ine
Hepburn,
Deborah Kerr, Soph
ia Loren, Ingrid
Bergman, Dav
id
Niven,
Humphrey
Bogart,
K
irk Douglas,
Charlton
Heston, James Mason
just
to name a few

a
nd of course w
ith our Errol!

Jack
Card
iff
was
qu
ite a man and
to be
a
dm
ired for his
great contr
ibution
to the movie industry
(if
you are

i
nterested read all about
h
im
jackcardiff.com

and therefore it is
not surprising
that
Hollywood gave h
im

a
n honorary Oscar
for h
is accomplishments. As
we
a
ll know they are qu
ite
stingy
with
them. Apparently and
please correct me
if I am
wrong,
I am
not up to par w
ith
Oscars, c
inematography is
not one of the Osc
ar

a
ward
ing
category
or was not
in
his
time.
Whatever
the case he rece
ived

one
,
although late
in
his
life,
for serving the movie industry a
l
ifetime
most outstand
ingly!

Errol,
would he have l
ived
to see it
would have been very pleased about
it!