Karl Freund

Person Details

Birthday:

Aliases: Carl Freund , Karl W. Freund

Gender: Male

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

Homepage:

Movie Involvements: 137

TV Involvements: 1

Most Famous Work

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.

Most Famous Work

Average

Acting

Year	Character	Movie/Tv
1951	Self	Deutscher Filmpreis 1951-01-01 TV Show
1924	LeBlanc - Art Dealer	Michael 1924-09-26 Movie
Year	Character	Movie/Tv

Camera

Year	Role	Movie/Tv
1953	Director of Photography	I Love Lucy: The Movie 1953-01-01 Movie
1950	Director of Photography	Bright Leaf 1950-06-16 Movie
	Director of Photography	Montana 1950-01-28 Movie
1949	Director of Photography	South of St. Louis 1949-03-06 Movie
1948	Director of Photography	The Decision of Christopher Blake 1948-12-23 Movie
	Director of Photography	Key Largo 1948-07-16 Movie
	Director of Photography	Wallflower 1948-06-13 Movie
1947	Director of Photography	That Hagen Girl 1947-11-01 Movie
	Director of Photography	This Time for Keeps 1947-10-17 Movie
1946	Director of Photography	Undercurrent 1946-11-11 Movie
	Director of Photography	Two Smart People 1946-06-04 Movie
	Director of Photography	A Letter for Evie 1946-01-28 Movie
1945	Director of Photography	Dangerous Partners 1945-06-07 Movie
	Director of Photography	Without Love 1945-03-22 Movie
1944	Director of Photography	The Thin Man Goes Home 1944-12-24 Movie
	Director of Photography	The Seventh Cross 1944-07-24 Movie
1943	Director of Photography	A Guy Named Joe 1943-12-24 Movie
	Director of Photography	Cry 'Havoc' 1943-11-23 Movie
	Director of Photography	Du Barry was a Lady 1943-08-13 Movie
1942	Director of Photography	A Yank at Eton 1942-09-01 Movie
	Director of Photography	The War Against Mrs. Hadley 1942-08-07 Movie
	Director of Photography	The Affairs of Martha 1942-06-21 Movie
	Director of Photography	Tortilla Flat 1942-05-21 Movie
1941	Director of Photography	The Chocolate Soldier 1941-11-01 Movie
	Director of Photography	Blossoms in the Dust 1941-08-15 Movie
1940	Camera Operator	Comrade X 1940-12-13 Movie
	Director of Photography	Pride and Prejudice 1940-07-26 Movie
	Director of Photography	We Who Are Young 1940-07-19 Movie
	Director of Photography	Florian 1940-06-05 Movie
	Director of Photography	Green Hell 1940-01-26 Movie
	Director of Photography	The Earl of Chicago 1940-01-05 Movie
1939	Director of Photography	Balalaika 1939-12-15 Movie
	Director of Photography	Barricade 1939-12-08 Movie
	Director of Photography	Golden Boy 1939-09-05 Movie
	Director of Photography	Rose of Washington Square 1939-05-05 Movie
	Director of Photography	Tail Spin 1939-02-19 Movie
1938	Director of Photography	Letter of Introduction 1938-08-05 Movie
	Director of Photography	Port of Seven Seas 1938-07-01 Movie
	Director of Photography	Three Comrades 1938-06-02 Movie
	Director of Photography	Man-Proof 1938-01-07 Movie
1937	Director of Photography	Conquest 1937-10-22 Movie
	Director of Photography	Parnell 1937-06-04 Movie
	Director of Photography	The Good Earth 1937-06-02 Movie
1936	Director of Photography	Camille 1936-12-26 Movie
	Director of Photography	The Great Ziegfeld 1936-04-08 Movie
1933	Director of Photography	The Kiss Before the Mirror 1933-05-04 Movie
1932	Director of Photography	Afraid to Talk 1932-11-17 Movie
	Director of Photography	Air Mail 1932-11-03 Movie
	Director of Photography	Back Street 1932-08-04 Movie
	Director of Photography	Scandal for Sale 1932-04-01 Movie
	Director of Photography	Murders in the Rue Morgue 1932-01-27 Movie
1931	Director of Photography	Strictly Dishonorable 1931-12-01 Movie
	Director of Photography	Personal Maid 1931-09-12 Movie
	Director of Photography	Up for Murder 1931-05-26 Movie
	Director of Photography	The Bad Sister 1931-03-29 Movie
	Director of Photography	Dracula 1931-02-12 Movie
1930	Director of Photography	The Boudoir Diplomat 1930-12-05 Movie
	Director of Photography	The Lottery Bride 1930-09-29 Movie
	Director of Photography	All Quiet on the Western Front 1930-04-29 Movie
	Director of Photography	Sleeping Partners 1930-03-18 Movie
1929	Director of Photography	Fräulein Else 1929-03-07 Movie
1928	Director of Photography	A Knight in London 1928-12-17 Movie
	Director of Photography	Lady Juan 1928-01-24 Movie
1927	Director of Photography	Berlin: Symphony of a Great City 1927-09-23 Movie
	Director of Photography	Metropolis 1927-02-06 Movie
	Camera Operator	Metropolis 1927-02-06 Movie
1926	Director of Photography	Manon Lescaut 1926-02-15 Movie
	Director of Photography	Tartuffe 1926-01-25 Movie
1925	Director of Photography	Variety 1925-11-16 Movie
1924	Director of Photography	The Last Laugh 1924-12-23 Movie
	Director of Photography	Michael 1924-09-26 Movie
	Director of Photography	The Finances of the Grand Duke 1924-01-07 Movie
1923	Director of Photography	Driven from Home 1923-10-23 Movie
	Director of Photography	Der Tiger des Zirkus Farini 1923-08-02 Movie
1922	Director of Photography	Herzog Ferrantes Ende 1922-11-01 Movie
	Director of Photography	Lucrezia Borgia 1922-10-20 Movie
	Director of Photography	The Burning Soil 1922-03-03 Movie
	Director of Photography	Marizza 1922-01-19 Movie
	Director of Photography	Das blinde Glück 1922-01-01 Movie
1921	Director of Photography	Torgus 1921-10-20 Movie
	Director of Photography	The Rats 1921-07-29 Movie
	Director of Photography	Der verlorene Schatten 1921-02-03 Movie
1920	Director of Photography	The Golem: How He Came into the World 1920-10-28 Movie
	Director of Photography	Panic in the House of Ardon 1920-10-04 Movie
	Director of Photography	The Head of Janus 1920-08-26 Movie
	Director of Photography	The Hunchback and the Dancer 1920-07-08 Movie
	Director of Photography	The Spiders - The Diamond Ship 1920-02-06 Movie
	Director of Photography	Satanas 1920-01-30 Movie
1919	Director of Photography	The Spiders - The Golden Sea 1919-10-03 Movie
	Director of Photography	Die Arche. 2. Teil: Die letzten Menschen 1919-10-01 Movie
	Director of Photography	The Arc 1919-09-05 Movie
	Director of Photography	Intoxication 1919-08-01 Movie
	Director of Photography	Emerald of Death 1919-07-01 Movie
	Camera Department Manager	Augen 1919-01-01 Movie
1918	Director of Photography	Die Dame, der Teufel und die Probiermamsell 1918-12-16 Movie
	Director of Photography	Die blaue Laterne 1918-11-29 Movie
	Director of Photography	Die Heimkehr des Odysseus 1918-10-25 Movie
	Director of Photography	Das Maskenfest des Lebens 1918-08-30 Movie
	Director of Photography	Das Geschlecht derer von Ringwall 1918-04-19 Movie
	Director of Photography	Auf Probe gestellt 1918-03-15 Movie
	Director of Photography	Countess Kitchenmaid 1918-01-18 Movie
1917	Director of Photography	The Giant's Fist 1917-11-18 Movie
	Director of Photography	Die Claudi vom Geiserhof 1917-09-29 Movie
	Director of Photography	Gefangene Seele 1917-08-31 Movie
	Director of Photography	Christa Hartungen 1917-05-04 Movie
	Director of Photography	Der Liebesbrief der Königin 1917-03-30 Movie
	Director of Photography	Die Ehe der Luise Rohrbach 1917-02-02 Movie
1916	Director of Photography	White Roses 1916-10-23 Movie
	Director of Photography	The Robber Bride 1916-09-29 Movie
	Director of Photography	Das wandernde Licht 1916-09-01 Movie
	Camera Operator	Little Angel's Wedding 1916-03-24 Movie
	Director of Photography	Frau Eva 1916-02-01 Movie
	Director of Photography	The Man in the Mirror 1916-01-01 Movie
	Director of Photography	Bummelstudenten 1916-01-01 Movie
1914	Director of Photography	The Hound of the Baskervilles 1914-06-12 Movie
	Director of Photography	A Venetian Night 1914-04-15 Movie
	Director of Photography	Zapata's Gang 1914-02-27 Movie
	Director of Photography	Little Angel 1914-01-03 Movie
1913	Director of Photography	The Film Prima Donna 1913-12-06 Movie
	Director of Photography	The Suffragette 1913-09-12 Movie
1912	Director of Photography	Poor Mother 1912-03-20 Movie
Year	Role	Movie/Tv

Directing

Year	Role	Movie/Tv
1935	Director	Mad Love 1935-07-12 Movie
1934	Director	Gift of Gab 1934-09-01 Movie
	Director	I Give My Love 1934-07-17 Movie
	Director	The Countess of Monte Cristo 1934-03-18 Movie
	Director	Madame Spy 1934-02-10 Movie
1933	Director	Moonlight and Pretzels 1933-08-01 Movie
1932	Director	The Mummy 1932-01-01 Movie
1931	Co-Director	Dracula 1931-02-12 Movie
	Director	Dracula 1931-02-12 Movie
Year	Role	Movie/Tv