F
Camera

Frank Stanley

Born 5 May 1922 · New York, New York, U.S · Died 21 December 1999

Frank Walter Stanley (May 5, 1922 – December 21, 1999) was an American cinematographer. He is best known for four Clint Eastwood films in a row: Breezy (1973), Magnum Force (1973), Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974) and The Eiger Sanction (1975). During the filming of The Eiger Sanction, shot in Switzerland, which required a great deal of precarious mountain-climbing cinematography, Stanley fell during the shoot but survived. He used a wheelchair for some time and was taken out of action. Stanley, who later managed to complete filming after a delay under pressure from an unsympathetic Clint Eastwood, would later blame Eastwood for the accident due to a lack of preparation, describing him both as a director and an actor as "a very impatient man who doesn't really plan his pictures or do any homework. He figures he can go right in and sail through these things". Stanley was never hired by Eastwood or Malpaso Productions again. Bruce Surtees was Eastwood's regular cinematographer before and after this period, on a total of twelve films.

Known for

Magnum Force
Grease 2
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot
The Eiger Sanction
10
Breezy
Car Wash
Tom Sawyer
Corvette Summer
Under the Rainbow
Snowbeast
The Big Fix
Consenting Adult
Love, Mary
Passions
The Three Wishes of Billy Grier
Heart of Steel
The Prodigal
Secrets of a Mother and Daughter
Grease 2
The Other Victim
Under the Rainbow
Wholly Moses
10
The Last Ride of the Dalton Gang
The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh
Corvette Summer
When Every Day Was the Fourth of July
The Big Fix
Snowbeast
The Strange Possession of Mrs. Oliver
Heroes
A Hero Ain't Nothin' But a Sandwich
James Dean
Nightmare in Badham County
Car Wash
I Want to Keep My Baby!
The Eiger Sanction
Katherine
Mr. Ricco
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot
Winter Kill
Breezy
Magnum Force
Tom Sawyer
The Carey Treatment
J.W. Coop
A Separate Peace
Frank Stanley · Midrow