Loyal (Allen) Griggs, born August 15, 1906 in Michigan (undetermined location), died May 6, 1978 in Laguna Hills, California, was an American cinematographer and visual effects technician, a member of the ASC.
Loyal Griggs joined Paramount Pictures in 1924, where he spent most of his career until... More
Loyal (Allen) Griggs, born August 15, 1906 in Michigan (undetermined location), died May 6, 1978 in Laguna Hills, California, was an American cinematographer and visual effects technician, a member of the ASC.
Loyal Griggs joined Paramount Pictures in 1924, where he spent most of his career until 1969. He began as a first assistant cameraman in 1928, on two films by William A. Wellman (whom he would later reunite with), and as a camera operator the same year. He became a cinematographer in 1950, for three films by Lewis R. Foster, released in 1951.
As a director of photography, he contributed to forty American films (the last in 1971), one of the best known being Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments, released in 1956. He also collaborated with directors Michael Curtiz (e.g., the musical White Christmas in 1954), Otto Preminger (e.g., the war film First Victory in 1965), and George Stevens (e.g., the western The Man from the Lost Valleys in 1953), among others. For television, he was the cinematographer on a 1959 TV movie, Destination Space by Lewis R. Foster.
Loyal Griggs also distinguished himself as a visual effects technician on numerous films between 1932 and 1953. These included Mitchell Leisen's The Duchess of the Lower Depths (1945) and George Stevens' A Place in the Sun (1951). He was also called upon several times as a second-unit photographer, for example on Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958) and George Seaton's Airport (1970).
During his career, he received four Academy Award nominations for Best Cinematography (winning one). As a visual effects technician, he received an honorary Oscar (see "Awards" below).
United States