Gilbert Taylor

"Gilbert's work truly stands the test of time. I had long admired his work on films such as A Hard Day's Night and Dr. Strangelove and I had the privilege of working with him on Star Wars. He was a true expert in his craft. Gilbert's inspired work will live on in the many films he contributed to throughout his long career."

―George Lucas^[2]

Gilbert Taylor (April 12, 1914 – August 23, 2013) was a British cinematographer from Bushey Heath, Hertfordshire, England, United Kingdom. He is noted for filming Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope.

Biography[]

"George avoided all meetings and contact with me from day one, so I read the extra-long script many times and made my own decisions as to how I would shoot the picture. I took it upon myself to experiment with photographing the lightsabers and other things onstage before we moved on to our two weeks of location work in Tunisia."

―Taylor, on working on Star Wars^[3]

After six years of wartime service as an Officer in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserves, he became an Operational Cameraman flying in Lancaster bombers documenting the damage after British bombing raids.

He worked on a number of films noted for their stylish cinematography, notably Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove and Richard Lester's A Hard Day's Night, featuring the Beatles. Taylor died on August 23, 2013.