Cornel Lucas is a British photographer.
Cornel Lucas with his Plate Camera, 1986
Photographed by Fi McGhee 
Brigitte Bardot 1954 -“When I first photographed Brigitte Bardot, she was going through a divorce from director Roger Vadim and was rather unhappy.-
Marlene Dietrich, 1948 – “In the photographs, Marlene is wearing a wonderful mink cape with rose petals attached that she’d had made especially in Paris. I found out later that it had cost $40,000. –
Profile
Working first as a portraitist for British Film Studios during the 1940s and 1950s, and then as a freelance advertising and fashion photographer, Cornel Lucas has enjoyed a career at the forefront of portrait photography for over forty years.
Cornel Lucas was born in Highbury in London on 12th September 1920. One of eight children, he had six sisters and one elder brother whose work in a film-processing laboratory provided a first introduction to the film industry. Lucas started work aged fifteen as a junior trainee and also studied photography at the Regent Street Polytechnic. During World War Two he worked at the RAF Photographic School at Farnborough before going to work at Denham Studios in 1945. An early task was assisting Cecil Beaton on a portrait session for an Alexander Korda film.
His skill as a portraitist and stills man in the late 1940s lead to a special portrait session with Marlene Dietrich during the making of ‘No Highway’ (1951). The success of these images and the many others created up to this point lead to the Rank Organization suggesting he leave Denham and set up a specially equipped ‘Pool’ studio at Pinewood to photograph the fifty plus major stars they had under contract. A specially created portrait studio was fitted out on the site of an old swimming pool to mirror what Hollywood photographers such as Clarence Sinclair Bull had created for MGM in Hollywood in the 1930s.
From the late 1940s until the end of the 1950s Lucas took thousands of photographs at Pinewood and other studios as well as on film locations, creating many iconic images of the leading players of the era. In 1959 he left Pinewood to open his own studio in Flood Street in Chelsea where he made a second career embracing other aspects of photography including advertising and fashion photography whilst still continuing as a portraitist.
In the 1980s David Puttnam paid tribute to Lucas’ enduring talent by reviving interest in his career by commissioning new work on films that he had produced such as The Mission (1986) as well as writing the foreword to Lucas’ first book. In 1998 Lucas became the first Stills Photographer ever to be awarded a Bafta for his services to the British Film industry.
Anouk Aimée – “My over-riding recollection is of Anouk Aimée’s hair blowing in the winds of the Sahara desert while we were filming ‘The Golden Salamander’ with Trevor Howard. –
Leslie Caron, 1964 -“It was none other than Gene Kelly who discovered Leslie Caron, dancing with Roland Petit’s ballet company in Paris. When he saw her for the first time, he announced that he had found the leading lady for his new film ‘An American In Paris’. – 
Claudia Cardinale , 1958 – “With over one hundred movies to her name, and more in production, this great Italian beauty became an international star in the 60s. Her finest work was to be found in the films of the great Italian directors, particularly those of Luchino Visconti. – 
Katharine Hepburn, 1950 – “My first encounter with Katharine Hepburn was approached with trepidation. My friend Jack Hilyard, the lighting cameraman, was quick to point out that I had cause to be nervous: “She can be unforthcoming, even sharp, and will not be persuaded to do anything she doesn’t want to. Aside from this she doesn’t wear makeup. Best of luck!” –
Susan Travers, 1961 – “I have known a number of exceptional and beautiful women in my lifetime, but Susan has more than enough grace and beauty to inspire any artist.
I met my wife when she was 18 years old and was sent to me by the Rank Organisation to be photographed. They were offering her a contract, as were ABC and 20th Century Fox in Hollywood.
How lucky I was that she decided two years later to award the very best contract of all to me. Susan has given me a life-long contract of marriage.
She thought she could have everything: a career, marriage and at least four children, but it was inevitable that we would decide that the last two would have priority. But she has continued to work, appearing on British television and in the theatre.” –
Gene Tierney, 1952 – “I had seen Miss Tierney in Preminger’s ‘Laura’ in 1944. It was a classic romantic tale of passion and obsession and Miss Tierney’s performance in it was electrifying. Her heart-shaped face was a dream factory creation that had astonishing impact in close-up. – 
Cornel with Anne Heywood
There was a time in Hollywood, during the 1940s and 1950s, when the making of a good glamour portrait could do as much for an actor’s reputation as a good movie.
Via Website: http://www.cornellucas.com/
Bluetramontana Style
Posted by mc090205660 
Fashion,Latest fashion 