Byron Haskin

Byron Conrad Haskin (April 22, 1899 – April 16, 1984) was an American film and television director, special effects creator and cinematographer. He is best known for directing The War of the Worlds (1953), one of many films where he teamed with producer George Pal. Career Haskin was born in Portland, Oregon, where his father was employed as a schoolteacher. Both Haskins' mother and father were natives of California. Haskin was raised primarily in San Francisco. He graduated from the University of California. He went out to Hollywood in 1917 and became the apprentice of cameraman H. Lyman Broening. He was hired as the cinematographer in 1922 for Hurricane's Gal. In his early career, he was also a special effects artist, with a number of credits on Warner Bros. films, eventually becoming the head of the studio's special effects department (1937–1945). During his tenure there, he earned four Oscar nominations for his effects work, all shared with Nathan Levinson: The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939) The Sea Hawk (1940) The Sea Wolf (1941) Desperate Journey (1942) In 1938, he and the Warner Bros. special effects department were awarded a Academy Scientific and Technical Award for developing a rear-projection system useful in effects photography. In the late 1940s, he returned to directing, having directed four films in 1927. He helmed two film-noir thrillers: I Walk Alone (1947), starring Burt Lancaster, Lizabeth Scott and Kirk Douglas, and Too Late for Tears (1949), starring Lizabeth Scott. Hal B. Wallis had previously sent the then-unknown Lancaster to audition for Haskin; this led to him being signed by Wallis and cast as the male lead in The Killers (1946), the role which made him a star. Amongst Haskin's other prominent films as director was Treasure Island (1950), one of Walt Disney's earliest live-action features. Following The War of the Worlds, he continued his collaboration with George Pal with The Naked Jungle (1954), Conquest of Space (1955), and The Power (1968). His other significant film is the science fiction adventure Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964).