Karl Freund

Personal Info

Known For Camera

Gender Male

Birthday 1890-01-16

Deathday 1969-05-03 (79 years old)

Place of Birth Königinhof, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary [now Dvur Kralove, Czech Republic]

Also Known As Carl Freund, Karl W. Freund

Karl Freund

Biography

​From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.   Karl W. Freund, A.S.C. (January 16, 1890-May 3, 1969) was a cinematographer and film director. Born in Dvůr Králové (Königinhof), Bohemia, his career began in 1905 when, at age 15, he got a job as an assistant projectionist for a film company in Berlin where his family moved in 1901. He worked as a cinematographer on over 100 films, including the German Expressionist films The Golem (1920), The Last Laugh (1924) and Metropolis (1927). Freund emigrated to the United States in 1929 where he continued to shoot well remembered films such as Dracula (1931) and Key Largo (1948). He won an Academy Award for Best Cinematography for The Good Earth (1937). In 1937, he went to Germany to bring his only daughter, Gerda Maria Freund, back to the United States, saving her from almost certain death in the concentration camps. Karl's ex-wife, Susette Freund (née Liepmannssohn), remained in Germany where she was interned at the Ravensbrück concentration camp and eventually taken in March, 1942 to Bernburg Euthanasia Center where she was murdered. Between 1921 and 1935, Freund also directed ten films, of which the best known are probably The Mummy (1932) starring Boris Karloff, and his last film as director, Mad Love (1935) starring Peter Lorre. Freund's only known film as an actor is Carl Dreyer's Michael (1924) in which he has a cameo as a sycophantic art dealer who saves the tobacco ashes dropped by a famous painter. At the beginning of the 1950s, he was persuaded by Desi Arnaz at Desilu to be the cinematographer in 1951 for the televisions series I Love Lucy. Critics have credited Freund for the show's lustrous black and white cinematography, but more importantly, Freund designed the "flat lighting" system for shooting sitcoms that is still in use today. This system covers the set in light, thus eliminating shadows and allowing the use of three moving cameras without having to modify the lighting in-between shots. And where Freund did not invent the three camera shooting system, he did perfect it for use with film cameras in front of a live audience. Freund and his production team also worked on other sitcoms produced at/through Desilu such as "Our Miss Brooks". Description above from the Wikipedia article Karl Freund, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Known For

Camera

1953
I Love Lucy: The Movie

as Director of Photography

1950
Bright Leaf

as Director of Photography

1950
Montana

as Director of Photography

1949
South of St. Louis

as Director of Photography

1948
Key Largo

as Director of Photography

1948
The Decision of Christopher Blake

as Director of Photography

1948
Wallflower

as Director of Photography

1947
That Hagen Girl

as Director of Photography

1947
This Time for Keeps

as Director of Photography

1946
Undercurrent

as Director of Photography

1946
Two Smart People

as Director of Photography

1946
A Letter for Evie

as Director of Photography

1945
Without Love

as Director of Photography

1945
Dangerous Partners

as Director of Photography

1944
The Seventh Cross

as Director of Photography

1944
The Thin Man Goes Home

as Director of Photography

1943
A Guy Named Joe

as Director of Photography

1943
Cry 'Havoc'

as Director of Photography

1943
Du Barry was a Lady

as Director of Photography

1942
Tortilla Flat

as Director of Photography

1942
The War Against Mrs. Hadley

as Director of Photography

1942
The Affairs of Martha

as Director of Photography

1942
A Yank at Eton

as Director of Photography

1941
The Chocolate Soldier

as Director of Photography

1941
Blossoms in the Dust

as Director of Photography

1940
Pride and Prejudice

as Director of Photography

1940
Green Hell

as Director of Photography

1940
The Earl of Chicago

as Director of Photography

1940
We Who Are Young

as Director of Photography

1940
Florian

as Director of Photography

1940
Comrade X

as Camera Operator

1939
Golden Boy

as Director of Photography

1939
Balalaika

as Director of Photography

1939
Rose of Washington Square

as Director of Photography

1939
Tail Spin

as Director of Photography

1939
Barricade

as Director of Photography

1938
Port of Seven Seas

as Director of Photography

1938
Letter of Introduction

as Director of Photography

1938
Three Comrades

as Director of Photography

1938
Man-Proof

as Director of Photography

1937
Conquest

as Director of Photography

1937
The Good Earth

as Director of Photography

1937
Parnell

as Director of Photography

1936
Camille

as Director of Photography

1936
The Great Ziegfeld

as Director of Photography

1933
The Kiss Before the Mirror

as Director of Photography

1932
Murders in the Rue Morgue

as Director of Photography

1932
Scandal for Sale

as Director of Photography

1932
Afraid to Talk

as Director of Photography

1932
Air Mail

as Director of Photography

1932
Back Street

as Director of Photography

1931
Dracula

as Director of Photography

1931
Up for Murder

as Director of Photography

1931
Personal Maid

as Director of Photography

1931
Strictly Dishonorable

as Director of Photography

1931
The Bad Sister

as Director of Photography

1930
The Lottery Bride

as Director of Photography

1930
All Quiet on the Western Front

as Director of Photography

1930
The Boudoir Diplomat

as Director of Photography

1930
Sleeping Partners

as Director of Photography

1929
Fräulein Else

as Director of Photography

1928
A Knight in London

as Director of Photography

1928
Lady Juan

as Director of Photography

1927
Metropolis

as Director of Photography

1927
Berlin: Symphony of a Great City

as Director of Photography

1927
Metropolis

as Camera Operator

1926
Manon Lescaut

as Director of Photography

1926
Tartuffe

as Director of Photography

1925
Variety

as Director of Photography

1924
The Last Laugh

as Director of Photography

1924
The Finances of the Grand Duke

as Director of Photography

1924
Michael

as Director of Photography

1923
Der Tiger des Zirkus Farini

as Director of Photography

1923
Driven from Home

as Director of Photography

1922
Herzog Ferrantes Ende

as Director of Photography

1922
Das blinde Glück

as Director of Photography

1922
The Burning Soil

as Director of Photography

1922
Lucrezia Borgia

as Director of Photography

1922
Marizza

as Director of Photography

1921
Der verlorene Schatten

as Director of Photography

1921
The Rats

as Director of Photography

1921
Torgus

as Director of Photography

1920
The Golem: How He Came Into the World

as Director of Photography

1920
The Head of Janus

as Director of Photography

1920
The Spiders: Part 2 - The Diamond Ship

as Director of Photography

1920
The Hunchback and the Dancer

as Director of Photography

1920
Panic in the House of Ardon

as Director of Photography

1920
Satanas

as Director of Photography

1920
Die Nacht auf Goldenhall

as Director of Photography

1919
The Spiders: Part 1 - The Golden Sea

as Director of Photography

1919
Augen

as Camera Department Manager

1919
Phantome des Lebens

as Director of Photography

1919
Emerald of Death

as Director of Photography

1919
Die Arche. 2. Teil: Die letzten Menschen

as Director of Photography

1919
The Arc

as Director of Photography

1919
Intoxication

as Director of Photography

1918
Die Heimkehr des Odysseus

as Director of Photography

1918
Agnes Arnau und ihre drei Freier

as Director of Photography

1918
1918
Die blaue Laterne

as Director of Photography

1918
Countess Kitchenmaid

as Director of Photography

1918
Auf Probe gestellt

as Director of Photography

1918
Das Geschlecht derer von Ringwall

as Director of Photography

1918
Das Maskenfest des Lebens

as Director of Photography

1917
Gefangene Seele

as Director of Photography

1917
The Giant's Fist

as Director of Photography

1917
Der Liebesbrief der Königin

as Director of Photography

1917
Die Claudi vom Geiserhof

as Director of Photography

1917
Die Ehe der Luise Rohrbach

as Director of Photography

1917
Christa Hartungen

as Director of Photography

1916
The White Roses

as Director of Photography

1916
Little Angel's Wedding

as Camera Operator

1916
Das wandernde Licht

as Director of Photography

1916
Frau Eva

as Director of Photography

1916
The Man in the Mirror

as Director of Photography

1916
The Robber Bride

as Director of Photography

1916
Bummelstudenten

as Director of Photography

1914
Zapata's Gang

as Director of Photography

1914
Little Angel

as Director of Photography

1914
A Venetian Night

as Director of Photography

1914
The Hound of the Baskervilles

as Director of Photography

1913
The Suffragette

as Director of Photography

1913
The Film Prima Donna

as Director of Photography

1912
Poor Mother

as Director of Photography

Director

1935
Mad Love

as Director

1934
Gift of Gab

as Director

1934
Madame Spy

as Director

1934
I Give My Love

as Director

1933
1932
The Mummy

as Director

1931
Dracula

as Co-Director

Producer

Writer

1914
Das Feuer

as Writer

Crew

1920
Catherine the Great

as Cinematography

1919
Augen

as Cinematography

Actor

1924
Michael

as LeBlanc - Art Dealer