Biography
After an early sojourn at the New York Stock Exchange, American cinematographer Floyd Crosby turned his hobby of photography into a vocation. His earliest film work was in the documentaries of such filmmakers as
Robert Flaherty; in 1931 Crosby was honored with an Academy Award for his work on the Flaherty/F.W. Murnau collaboration
Tabu (1931). Crosby's career in the non-documentary field began in 1951 when he functioned as co-photographer with
James Wong Howe for
Robert Rossen's
The Brave Bulls. The following years, Crosby's crisp black-and-white photography was a major contributing factor in the success of
High Noon (1952). His second-unit location photography for
The Old Man and the Sea far outclassed the studio-tank medium shots of star
Spencer Tracy. From 1960 through 1966, Crosby was principal director of photography for the low-budget, high-grossing films of producer/director Floyd Crosby, including such visual banquets as
The Pit and the Pendulum (1960) and
The Raven (1963). Floyd Crosby was the father of singer
David Crosby (of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide