Born Today July 11: Benjamin H. Kline

1894-1974

Long serving cinematographer and sometime director Benjamin Harrison Kline was born on this day in Birmingham, Alabama.  He started his very long career as a cinematographer at Universal in 1920 on the picture The Red Lane.  Throughout his career, he worked on almost as many television programs as he did films--he was also known as one of the principle cinematographers for The Three Stooges.  During the silent era, his most prolific years were 1920-1923.  He also directed 8 films, the first of which came in 1931 with The Lightning Warrior, a Rin-Tin-Tin picture.  He made his television debut in 1949, photographing an episode of The Silver Theater.  In all he worked on more than 350 films and television shows through the span of his career.  He also worked almost right up to the time of his death.  The last director of photography credit that he had was a made for TV movie The Bull Of The West starring Charles Bronson.  I am personally a fan his work on the B-Film Noir Detour (1945).  Kline was the brother-in-law of director Phil Rosen and the father of cinematographer Richard H. Kline.  Benjamin died in Hollywood on the 7th of January, 1974.  He is interred in the mausoleum at The Hollywood Forever cemetery.

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