January 3, 2025

Roger Pratt BSC 1947-2024

Pictured - “ROGER PRATT BSC in Morocco for TROY (2004 d. Wolfgang Petersen)"

It is with deepest sadness that we learn of the passing of our friend and colleague Roger Pratt BSC

ROGER PRATT BSC

1947 - 2024

Honorary Full Member

Born in Leicester in 1947, Roger’s father was an Anglican vicar, himself a type of showman. Every year he brought a 16mm projector into the church to show ‘Fact and Faith’ Christian films produced by the Moody Institute of Science in Los Angeles. ‘These films were a real achievement of accurate scientific photography, recording some of the most recent discoveries of modern science, quite apart from their religious challenge.’ At nine-years-old, Roger found the mixture of the camera mechanics and the content of the films fascinating.

He enrolled at the London Film School in the late 1960s and decided that he didn’t want to direct. He knew that he wanted to be involved with cameras, but worked on a number of sound and editing assignment to gain more all-round experience. During his final year, Roger got his first production as camera assistant on Bleak Moments (1971) directed by fellow student, Mike Leigh. It proved difficult to make and with very little money. He went back to film school and met Julian Doyle, who worked with the Monty Python team and was preparing to make a feature film with them. Roger became clapper loader on Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975 d. Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones), during which he formed, ‘a strange and close relationship’ with Gilliam.

He then followed the traditional route to becoming a cinematographer, serving as camera loader, focus puller and operator, before his DP debut on Roger Christian’s The Sender (1982). Not long after, Terry Gilliam asked Roger to photograph Brazil (1985) followed by two more films with Gilliam, The Fisher King (1991) and 12 Monkeys (1995). Roger photographed four films with Sir Richard Attenborough, Shadowlands (1993), In Love and War (1996), Grey Owl (1999) and Closing the Ring (2007), as well as Meantime (1983) and High Hopes (1988) with Mike Leigh.

Roger also photographed Batman (1989 d. Tim Burton), The End of the Affair (1999 d. Neil Jordan), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002 d. Chris Columbus), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005 d. Mike Newell). His last listed credit is for Keeping Rosy (2014 d. Steve Reeves) which was nominated for a Raindance Award at the British Independent Film Awards 2014 after which Roger retired.

In a New Yorker interview, Roger said of his work: ‘Because my job is concerned with big lumps of lights, metal cameras and laboratories, it makes me very pragmatic – it’s the opposite of artistic. I look at myself as a technician. Photography relies on science. Photographs are just chemicals in labs – light on paper – images in silver halide – but they turn into live things.’

He was made a member of the BSC in 1986.

Roger retired due to young onset Familial Alzheimer's Disease, as he would most certainly wouldn't have willingly retired at any point! Roger has donated his brain to the national brain bank to further research the disease. 

OTHER CREDITS: Mona Lisa, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, 102 Dalmatians, Chocolat, Iris, Troy

SELECTED AWARDS:

BSC Nomination: Shadowlands (1993 d. Richard Attenborough)

BSC Nomination: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994 d. Kenneth Branagh)

OSCAR & BAFTA Nomination: The End of the Affair (1999 d. Neil Jordan)

BAFTA Nomination: Chocolat (2000 d. Lasse Hallström)

BSC Nomination: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005 d. Mike Newell)

Biography from BSC’s Preserving the Vision (Phil Méheux BSC and James Friend ASC BSC).