Robert Paynter BSC (12 March 1928 – 20 October 2010) was a British cinematographer whose career developed from documentary and commercial cinematography into feature films and television. He was particularly known for his collaborations with directors Michael Winner and John Landis, and for his work on Superman II, An American Werewolf in London, Trading Places, The Muppets Take Manhattan, Little Shop of Horrors and Michael Jackson's Thriller.
Born in South London, Paynter entered the film industry as a teenager. He initially worked with the Ministry of Information's Colonial Film Unit, gaining practical experience as a camera assistant and subsequently as a cameraman. After the Second World War he joined British Transport Films, where he worked alongside cinematographers including David Watkin and Billy Williams. Among his documentary work was Elizabethan Express (1954) and Snowdrift at Bleath Gill (1955), the latter noted for its dramatic railway photography.
During the late 1950s and 1960s, Paynter became extensively involved in television commercials, photographing campaigns for companies including Kellogg's, Mars, Guinness and Oxo. This period gave him considerable experience in controlled lighting, colour photography and rapidly executed commercial production.
Paynter moved into feature cinematography with Michael Winner's Hannibal Brooks (1969). He subsequently became Winner's regular cinematographer, working with him throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s on films including The Games, Lawman, The Nightcomers, Scorpio and The Big Sleep.
His career also included a significant collaboration with Richard Lester. For Superman II (1980), Lester brought Paynter in to create a deliberately graphic, comic-book-inspired visual style. Paynter used pastel colours, controlled compositions and relatively static framing to achieve the flatter appearance requested by the director. He subsequently photographed Superman III (1983).
Paynter's work with John Landis produced some of his most widely recognised credits. He photographed An American Werewolf in London (1981), Trading Places (1983), Into the Night (1985) and Spies Like Us (1985). He also served as cinematographer on Michael Jackson's Thriller (1983). Shot on 35mm film, the production combined horror-film imagery with the visual style of a pop music video and became one of the most influential music videos of its era.
Paynter also worked with Frank Oz, photographing The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984) and Little Shop of Horrors (1986). These productions allowed him to employ vivid, stylised colour photography suited to their deliberately heightened visual worlds. Later credits included When the Whales Came (1989), Strike It Rich (1990) and the live-action sequences of Rock-A-Doodle (1991).
Paynter was a member of the British Society of Cinematographers (BSC). His career demonstrated considerable versatility, moving from documentary camerawork and commercials to feature cinematography, large-scale studio productions and highly stylised genre and comedy films. His ability to adapt his photographic approach to different directors was particularly evident in his contrasting work for Michael Winner, Richard Lester, John Landis and Frank Oz.
Robert Paynter died on 20 October 2010, aged 82, on the Isle of Wight.