Gerald Leslie “Gerry” Turpin BSC (1 September 1925 – 16 September 1997) began his career in 1945 at Ealing Studios, where he worked as a camera assistant to Douglas Slocombe BSC and Stanley Pavey BSC. He subsequently developed his experience within the British studio system, working as an assistant on a series of feature films before becoming a camera operator in 1953. During his years as an operator, he worked with cinematographers including Stanley Pavey, Gordon Dines BSC, Desmond Dickinson BSC, Otto Heller BSC, Gilbert Taylor BSC, Reginald H. Wyer BSC and Harry Waxman BSC.
His early camera-department credits included work on productions such as Dick Barton Strikes Back (1949), where he worked as a camera assistant, and Fire Down Below (1957), on which he was credited as a camera operator under the name Gerald Turpin. He also operated on Michael Powell's Peeping Tom (1960), among other British productions of the period.
Turpin made his first film as director of photography on Michael Powell's The Queen's Guards (1961). The film marked his progression from camera operation into principal cinematography.
His subsequent work included a series of films during the 1960s that established him as a director of photography. These included Séance on a Wet Afternoon (1964), The Wrong Box (1966), The Bobo (1967), The Whisperers (1967), Deadfall (1968) and Diamonds for Breakfast (1968). He also photographed the television series The Avengers, contributing to five episodes in 1965.
Turpin's first collaboration with director Bryan Forbes was Séance on a Wet Afternoon. His cinematography on the film resulted in a British Academy Film Award nomination in 1965. He subsequently worked with Forbes on The Whisperers (1967), for which Turpin received the BAFTA Award for Best Cinematography.
In 1969, Turpin photographed Richard Attenborough's directorial debut, Oh! What a Lovely War. The production was photographed using a combination of studio and location work, and Turpin received the British Society of Cinematographers' award for Best Cinematography for the film. He also received his second BAFTA nomination for cinematography.
Turpin continued his association with Attenborough on Young Winston (1972), serving as director of photography. During the production he used a camera-mounted device he had developed called ColorFlex, designed as an alternative to conventional pre-exposure of film negative. He subsequently developed the system further into Lightflex, a photographic process that was used by cinematographers on later productions.
His other feature-film cinematography credits included Hoffman (1970), The Man Who Had Power Over Women (1970), I Want What I Want (1972), What Became of Jack and Jill? (1972), The Last of Sheila (1973) and The Doctor and the Devils (1985). His work encompassed British productions as well as American and international co-productions.
Turpin's technical work extended beyond cinematography itself. From 1973, he developed the ColorFlex concept into the Lightflex system, which was subsequently used by cinematographers including Oswald Morris, Freddie Francis, Sven Nykvist, Adam Greenberg and Jost Vacano. In 1984, Turpin received a Scientific and Engineering Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the Flex system.
Gerry Turpin died on 16 September 1997 in the North Cotswold area of Gloucestershire, aged 72. He served as British Society of Cinematographers President between 1977 and 1979.