Floyd Crosby

Floyd Delafield Crosby, ASC (December 12, 1899 – September 30, 1985) was an American cinematographer. He won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography in 1931 for Tabu: A Story of the South Seas, his debut film, before going on to shoot over 120 productions in a career spanning over 40 years. Beginning in the 1950s, he was the regular cinematographer for Roger Corman, totaling 21 films together. He also worked with directors like Fred Zinnemann, John Sturges, and Buzz Kulik.

Crosby was the father of singer-songwriter David Crosby.

Early life

Floyd Delafield Crosby was born and raised in West Philadelphia, the son of Julia Floyd and Frederick Van Schoonhoven Crosby. Through his maternal grandmother, he was descended from the prominent Van Rensselaer family.

Crosby worked at the New York Stock Exchange, before enrolling in the New York Institute of Photography.

Career In 1927, he was hired by marine biologist William Beebe as a cameraman for his expedition to Haiti.

Personal life and death

On December 11, 1930, he married Aliph Van Cortlandt Whitehead. She was the daughter of John Brinton Whitehead. Together, they had two children: Ethan Crosby (1937–1997), a reclusive singer-songwriter David Crosby (1941–2023), a member of the Byrds and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

Crosby divorced in 1960 and married Betty Cormack Andrews in the same year.

He retired in 1972 to Ojai, California, where he died at the age of 85 in 1985.

Selected filmography

Tabu: A Story of the South Seas (1931) Mato Grosso: the Great Brazilian Wilderness (1931) The Plow That Broke the Plains (1936) The River (1937) The Fight for Life (1940) Power and the Land (1940) It's All True The Land (1942) Traffic with the Devil (1946) My Father's House (1947) Of Men and Music (1950) The Brave Bulls (1951) Devil Take Us (1952) High Noon (1952) The Steel Lady (1953) Five Guns West (1954) Naked Paradise (1956) Attack of the Crab Monsters (1956) Rock All Night (1956) She Gods of Shark Reef (1957) The Old Man and the Sea (1958) The Screaming Skull (1958) War of the Satellites (1958) Machine-Gun Kelly (1958) I Mobster (1958) The Cry Baby Killer (1958) The Wonderful Country (1959) Crime and Punishment U.S.A. (1959) Freckles (1960) House of Usher (1960) The Explosive Generation (1960) The Pit and the Pendulum (1961) A Cold Wind in August (1961) The Premature Burial (1962) Tales of Terror (1962) Hand of Death (1962) The Young Racers (1963) The Raven (1963) The Yellow Canary (1963) X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes (1963) Black Zoo (1963) The Haunted Palace (1963) Sallah Shabati (1964) The Comedy of Terrors (1964) Pajama Party (1964) Indian Paint (1965) Fireball 500 (1966) The Cool Ones (1967)