From 1944 through 1949, California-born Robert Burks headed the Special
Photographic Effects division at Warner Bros., specializing in
forced-perspective miniatures. A full director of photography by 1949,
Burks worked with Alfred Hitchcock on the director's fourth Warners
production, Strangers on a Train. Hitchcock liked Burks' crisp, clean,
deep-focus visual style, retaining the cameraman's services for the rest
of his Warners films.
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When Hitchcock moved to Paramount, Burks moved along with him, winning
an Academy Award for 1955's To Catch a Thief. When Hitchcock set up shop
at Universal in the early 1960s, Burks collaborated on such pictures as
The Birds (1963) and Marnie (1964); both of which were heavily reliant
on the sort of miniature and process work in which Burks specialized in
his earliest Warner Bros. days.
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Robert Burks died along with his wife in a fire at his Los Angeles home
in July of 1968. -- Hal Erickson
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Copyright © 1992-2005 All Media LLC.
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Burks photographed 12 Hitchcock films. Asked about his exceptionally
long collaboration with a director often noted for his dictatorial
habits on set, Burks once said: "You never have any trouble with him as
long as you know your job and do it. Hitchcock insists on perfection."
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