Born May 27, 1898 in Peoria, Illinois, Lee Garmes came to Hollywood in 1916. His first job was as a painter’s assistant in the paint department at the old Thomas H. Ince Studios.
Garmes and future director Henry Hathaway were property boys together at “Inceville” where Sunset Blvd, met the Pacific Ocean. The New York Motion Picture Company had leased the land and put Ince in charge of it. Garmes soon became a camera assistant before graduating to full-time cameraman. His earliest films were comedy shorts, but his career didn’t fully take off until the dawn of sound films.
Garmes was married to first wife Hazel Kitching from 1921-1931. He married second wife, actress Ruth Hall in 1933 with whom he would have two daughters. They would be together until his death.
Influenced by the paintings of Rembrandt, Garmes showed a great flair as a cinematographer in the use of chiaroscuro, light and shade, which enhanced the expressionistic European look of darkly exotic ventures such as Josef von Sternberg’s Morocco (1930) and Shanghai Express (1932), both of which earned him Oscar nominations. He won for the latter.
Other early films on which Garmes was director of cinematographer on included Alfred E. Green’s Disraeli (1929), von Sternberg’s An American Tragedy (1931), Howard Hawks’ Scarface (1932), and Crime Without Passion (1934) which he cowrote and codirected with Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur. He photographed the first hour of Gone with the Wind, mostly under George Cukor’s direction, before he was fired by producer Davis O. Selznick who wanted more picture postcard cinematography. His replacement, Ernest Haller, won an Oscar for it.
Garmes was credited with creating both the romantic moods of Julien Duvivier’s Lydia (1941) and the exotic splendor of Zoltan Korda’s The Jungle Book (942).
Although the historical drama, Forever and a Day (1943) had seven credited directors, none of the film’s four cinematographers including Garmes were credited. Working again for Selznick on John Cromwell’s Since You Went Away (1944), he and Stanley Cortez were hired to replace George Barnes who left the production. Cortez and Garmes were nominated for an Oscar, Cortez (The Magnificent Ambersons) for the second time, Garmes for the third.
Garmes’ late 1940s films included Alfred Hitchcock’s The Paradine Case (1947), William Dieterle’s Portrait of Jennie (1948), and Mark Robson’s My Foolish Heart (1949), followed by Anthony Mann’s The Furies (1950). He was later credited with establishing the semi-documentary realism of William Wyler’s Detective Story (1951).
Garmes received his fourth and final Oscar nomination for Frank Bozage’s The Big Fisherman (1959). He served as President of the American Society of Cinematographers from1960-1961.
Garmes’ 1960s films included Martin Ritt’s Hemingway’s Adventres of a Young Man (1962), Walter Grauman’s Lady in a Cage (1964), and Fielder Cook’s A Big Hand for the Little Lady. Cook’s How to Save Your Marriage and Ruin Your Life (1968) would be his next-to-last film. He retired after making Victor Stoff’s Why (1973).
Lee Garmes died August 31, 1978 at 80.
ESSENTIAL FILMS
SHANGHAI EXPRESS (1932), directed by Josef von Sternberg
Garmes was Oscar nominated for his superb cinematography on von Sternberg’s 1930 Morocco starring Marlene Dietrich, then photographed an equally stunning Dishonored for von Sternberg also starring Dietrich. Still working with von Sternberg, he turned in a beautifully filmed version of Theodore Dreiser’s An American Tragedy. He continued working with von Sternberg, once again photographing Dietrich at her breathless best in this political thriller which also featured fascinating performances by Anna May Wong and Warner Oland, for which Garmes received his second Oscar nomination and only win.
SCARFACE (1932), directed by Howard Hawks
Released just two months after Shanghai Express, Garmes proved his versatility with his virtuoso photography of one of the most controversial films of all time, a gangster masterpiece that was banned in Chicago until 1941. Paul Muni’s masterful portrayal of an Al Capone like gangster is still talked about today as are the female performances of Ann Dvorak and Karen Morley. The 1983 remake with Al Pacino may have made more money but this is the one that broke ground along with the previous year’s Little Caesar with Edward G. Robinson and The Public Enemy with James Cagney establishing the genre’s box-office clout.
GONE WITH THE WIND (1939), directed by George Cukor and Victor Fleming
Garmes photographed most of the legendary film’s first hour before he was fired by producer David O. Selznick because Selznick wanted picture postcard photography not the muted tones Garmes was producing. Most of the direction of the film’s first hour was provided by George Cukor who was earlier fired by Selznick to appease star Clark Gable who was annoyed with Cukor’s concentration on his direction of the film’s female stars, Vivien Leigh and Olivia de Havilland. He was replaced by Ernest Haller who was also a highly versatile cinematographer (Rebel Without a Cause, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?).
SINCE YOU WENT AWAY (1944), directed by John Cromwell
Working again for Selznick, but this time replacing a cinematographer (George Barnes) instead of being replaced by one, Garmes shared the job with Stanley Cortez, another legendary cinematographer (The Magnificent Ambersons) on this World War II Homefront drama. Together they turned in almost three hours of sublime entertainment directed by the underrated John Cromwell (The Prisoner of Zenda). Cortez and Garmes were jointly nominated for an Oscar, one of the film’s 9 nominations, winning just one for the film’s score. Claudette Colbert, Jennifer Jones, and Monty Woolley were nominated for their performances.
DETECTIVE STORY (1951), directed by William Wyler
Garmes is credited with giving the film its semi-documentary realism which elevated Wyler’s adaptation of Sidney Kingsley’s stage play. This was Wyler’s second film from a Kingsley stage play, made fourteen years after Dead End which earned an Oscar nomination fifth billed Claire Trevor playing a prostitute. This time around, second billed Eleanor Parker playing lead detective Kirk Douglas’ wife and ninth billed Lee Grant in her film debut as a shoplifter were the film’s only acting nominees in a powerful cast that included Douglas, William Bendix, Cathy O’Donnell, George Macready, Horace McMahon, Gladys George, and Joseph Wiseman.
LEE GARMES AND OSCAR
Morocco (1929/30) – nominated – Best Cinematography
Shanghai Express (1931/32) – Oscar – Best Cinematography
Since You Went Away (1944) – nominated – Best Cinematography – black-and-White
The Big Fisherman (1959) – nominated – Best Cinematography – Color
