King D. Gray — Little Close-Ups of the A. S. C. (1922) 🇺🇸

For ten years King Gray, A. S. C, has been a knight of the camera and for the most part his work has been with feature films.

“The Squaw Man,” featuring Dustin Farnum, a Lasky [Jesse L. Lasky] production, was his first big picture and then he went to Universal to film “Hell Morgan’s Girl,” with Dorothy Phillips, which was the best exploited picture of those days . He remained with Miss Phillips for two more pictures and then filmed “Shoes,” “Bread” and “Vanity Pool,” starring Mary McLaren and under direction of Lois Weber.

Mr. Gray went with Charlie Chaplin for one picture and then returned to Universal where he directed the photography for the big Holubar–Phillips production, “The Heart of Humanity.” Following this he went to Fox for one picture with Peggy Hyland, then in succession photographed pictures featuring Bessie Love, Ben F. Wilson, Priscilla Dean, Fannie Ward, Carter De Haven and returned again to Dorothy Phillips to film “The Grand Passion.” These are but a few of the many pictures Mr. Gray has to his credit, but cinematographers are like poets, they do so many works they can’t recall the names of them.

Mr. Gray [King D. Gray] claims that no man’s work is so precarious as that of the cameraman. As a case in point he relates that during the filming of The Heart of Humanity the camera was mounted on a very high tripod to get close ups of a number of aeroplanes that were playing close to the ground. Suddenly a plane went wild and swooped directly into the camera, demolishing it and knocking Mr. Gray senseless. When he regained consciousness he still held the camera crank.

A cameraman is like the Roman sentinel of Pompeii — everybody else can get away, but he must stick till he dies if a scene is being shot.

Mr. Gray’s present connection is with Director Roy Clements at the Berwilla Studio.

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Collection: American Cinematographer, February 1922

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