Frank Tidy BSC (17 May 1932 – 27 January 2017) began his career in the 1950s as a stop-motion camera operator at an animation studio in London. He subsequently moved into commercial cinematography, working extensively on television commercials. In 1965, he joined Roger Woodburn and Peter Biziou in establishing Valley Films, a production company through which he worked on commercial productions. His commercial work included a substantial number of films directed by Ridley Scott and Tony Scott.
His association with Ridley Scott continued into feature filmmaking. In 1977, Tidy served as director of photography on Scott's first feature film, The Duellists. The film, starring Keith Carradine and Harvey Keitel, marked Tidy's transition into major feature-film cinematography. His work on the production earned him nominations for both the British Academy Film Award for Best Cinematography and the British Society of Cinematographers' award for cinematography.
Following The Duellists, Tidy developed a career that increasingly centred on feature productions in Britain, Canada and the United States. His cinematography credits included The Grey Fox (1982), Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone (1983), The Mean Season (1985), Code of Silence (1985), One Magic Christmas (1985), Sweet Liberty (1986), Hot Pursuit (1987), The Raggedy Rawney (1988), Slipstream (1989), The Package (1989), The Butcher's Wife (1991), Under Siege (1992), Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot (1992), Chain Reaction (1996) and Hoodlum (1997).
Tidy worked repeatedly with director Andrew Davis. Their collaborations included Code of Silence, The Package, Under Siege, Steal Big Steal Little and Chain Reaction.
His work also included a substantial body of television cinematography. Tidy photographed television films including April Morning (1988), Final Notice (1989), Personals (1990), Through the Eyes of a Killer (1992), Black Fox (1995), The Boys Next Door (1996), The Third Twin (1997), Dead Husbands (1998) and Jewel (2001). He continued working in television alongside his feature-film career.
Frank Tidy died in Kent, England, on 27 January 2017, aged 84.