Camera

John M. Stephens

Born November 17, 1932 · Valparaiso, Indiana, USA

Died June 18, 2015 · aged 82

John Morley Stephens (November 17, 1932 - June 18, 2015) was an American cinematographer. He pioneered a number of cinematographic devices, including the body camera mount for the 1966 film Seconds, and the world's first remotely operated pan-and-tilt-head camera. As a cinematographer, Stephens was known for his work on such films as Billy Jack, Blacula, Martin Scorsese's Boxcar Bertha, and Willi…

Known For

Titanic

Titanic · 1997

MovieDramaRomance

101-year-old Rose DeWitt Bukater tells the story of her life aboard the Titanic, 84 years later. A young Rose boards the ship with her mother and fiancé. Meanwhile, Jack Dawson and Fabrizio De Rossi win third-class tickets aboard the ship. Rose tells the whole story from Titanic's departure through to its death—on its first and last voyage—on April 15, 1912.

Midnight Run

Midnight Run · 1988

MovieComedyCrime

A bounty hunter pursues a former Mafia accountant who is also being chased by a rival bounty hunter, the F.B.I., and his old mob boss after jumping bail.

Ice Station Zebra

Ice Station Zebra · 1968

Ice Station Zebra

MovieThrillerAdventure

A top-secret Soviet spy satellite -- using stolen Western technology -- malfunctions and then goes into a descent that lands it near an isolated Arctic research encampment called Ice Station Zebra, belonging to the British, which starts sending out distress signals before falling silent. The atomic submarine Tigerfish, commanded by Cmdr. James Ferraday, is dispatched to save them.

¡Three Amigos!

¡Three Amigos! · 1986

¡Three Amigos!

MovieComedyWestern

A trio of unemployed silent film actors are mistaken for real heroes by a small Mexican village in search of someone to stop a malevolent bandit.

Marked for Death

Marked for Death · 1990

Marked for Death

MovieActionCrime

Just retired from the Drug Enforcement Agency, John Hatcher returns to his hometown and quickly discovers that drugs have infiltrated his old neighborhood. Determined to drive the dealers out, Hatcher crosses paths with a ferocious Jamaican drug lord who vows that Hatcher and his family are now marked for death.

The Arrival

The Arrival · 1996

MovieScience FictionThriller

Zane Ziminski is an astrophysicist who receives a message that seems to have extraterrestrial origins. Eerily soon after his discovery, Zane is fired. He then embarks on a search to determine the origins of the transmission that leads him into a Hitchcockian labyrinth of paranoia and intrigue.

Sorcerer

Sorcerer · 1977

MovieThrillerAdventure

Four men from different parts of the globe, all hiding from their pasts in the same remote South American town, agree to risk their lives transporting several cases of dynamite (which is so old that it is dripping unstable nitroglycerin) across dangerous jungle terrain.

Beethoven

Beethoven · 1992

MovieFamilyComedy

The Newton family live in their comfortable home, but there seems to something missing. This "hole" is filled by a small puppy, who walks into their home and their lives. Beethoven, as he is named, grows into a giant of a dog... a St Bernard. Doctor Varnick, the local vet has a secret and horrible sideline, which requires lots of dogs for experiments. Beethoven is on the bad doctor's list.

Filmography

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Titanic

Titanic · 1997

MovieDramaRomance

101-year-old Rose DeWitt Bukater tells the story of her life aboard the Titanic, 84 years later. A young Rose boards the ship with her mother and fiancé. Meanwhile, Jack Dawson and Fabrizio De Rossi win third-class tickets aboard the ship. Rose tells the whole story from Titanic's departure through to its death—on its first and last voyage—on April 15, 1912.

Second Unit Director of Photography

Midnight Run

Midnight Run · 1988

MovieComedyCrime

A bounty hunter pursues a former Mafia accountant who is also being chased by a rival bounty hunter, the F.B.I., and his old mob boss after jumping bail.

Aerial Director of Photography

Ice Station Zebra

Ice Station Zebra · 1968

Ice Station Zebra

MovieThrillerAdventure

A top-secret Soviet spy satellite -- using stolen Western technology -- malfunctions and then goes into a descent that lands it near an isolated Arctic research encampment called Ice Station Zebra, belonging to the British, which starts sending out distress signals before falling silent. The atomic submarine Tigerfish, commanded by Cmdr. James Ferraday, is dispatched to save them.

Additional Photography

¡Three Amigos!

¡Three Amigos! · 1986

¡Three Amigos!

MovieComedyWestern

A trio of unemployed silent film actors are mistaken for real heroes by a small Mexican village in search of someone to stop a malevolent bandit.

Second Unit Director

Marked for Death

Marked for Death · 1990

Marked for Death

MovieActionCrime

Just retired from the Drug Enforcement Agency, John Hatcher returns to his hometown and quickly discovers that drugs have infiltrated his old neighborhood. Determined to drive the dealers out, Hatcher crosses paths with a ferocious Jamaican drug lord who vows that Hatcher and his family are now marked for death.

Second Unit Director of Photography

The Arrival

The Arrival · 1996

MovieScience FictionThriller

Zane Ziminski is an astrophysicist who receives a message that seems to have extraterrestrial origins. Eerily soon after his discovery, Zane is fired. He then embarks on a search to determine the origins of the transmission that leads him into a Hitchcockian labyrinth of paranoia and intrigue.

Aerial Camera

Sorcerer

Sorcerer · 1977

MovieThrillerAdventure

Four men from different parts of the globe, all hiding from their pasts in the same remote South American town, agree to risk their lives transporting several cases of dynamite (which is so old that it is dripping unstable nitroglycerin) across dangerous jungle terrain.

Director of Photography

Beethoven

Beethoven · 1992

MovieFamilyComedy

The Newton family live in their comfortable home, but there seems to something missing. This "hole" is filled by a small puppy, who walks into their home and their lives. Beethoven, as he is named, grows into a giant of a dog... a St Bernard. Doctor Varnick, the local vet has a secret and horrible sideline, which requires lots of dogs for experiments. Beethoven is on the bad doctor's list.

Second Unit Director of Photography

Major League II

Major League II · 1994

Major League II

After losing in the ALCS the year before, the Cleveland Indians are determined to make it into the World Series this time! However, they first have to contend with Rachel Phelps again when she buys back the team.

Second Unit Director of Photography

The Hallelujah Trail

The Hallelujah Trail · 1965

The Hallelujah Trail

MovieWesternComedy

A wagon train heads for Denver with a cargo of whisky for the miners. Chaos ensues as the Temperance League, the US cavalry, the miners and the local Indians all try to take control of the valuable cargo.

Camera Operator

Boxcar Bertha

Boxcar Bertha · 1972

MovieCrimeDrama

"Boxcar" Bertha Thompson, a transient woman in Arkansas during the violence-filled Depression of the early '30s, meets up with rabble-rousing union man "Big" Bill Shelly and the two team up to fight the corrupt railroad establishment.

Director of Photography

Grand Prix

Grand Prix · 1966

MovieDramaAction

The most daring drivers in the world have gathered to compete for the 1966 Formula One championship. After a spectacular wreck in the first of a series of races, American wheelman Pete Aron is dropped by his sponsor. Refusing to quit, he joins a Japanese racing team. While juggling his career with a torrid love affair involving an ex-teammate's wife, Pete must also contend with Jean-Pierre Sarti, a French contestant who has previously won two world titles.

Camera Operator

V.I. Warshawski

V.I. Warshawski · 1991

V.I. Warshawski

MovieCrimeMystery

Victoria "V.I" Warshawski is a Chicago based private detective who agrees to babysit for her new boyfriend; then he is murdered. Being the detective type, she makes the murder her next case. In doing so she befriends the victim's daughter, Kat, and together they set out to crack the case.

Second Unit Director of Photography

Out on a Limb

Out on a Limb · 1992

While heading to the town where his sister, Marci, lives, big-city banker Bill Campbell is robbed by a woman who takes everything he has, including his clothes and a business document worth millions of dollars. Bill eventually reunites with Marci, who is in a tizzy because she thinks their stepfather has been killed. While trying to determine if his sister is right, Bill must also get back his valuable paperwork.

Second Unit Director of Photography

Ski Patrol

Ski Patrol · 1990

MovieComedyAction

Pops isn't worried about the renewal of the lease for his ski lodge - the safety record is unblemished in spite of the crew of misfits who make up his ski patrol. But a scheming land developer has other plans and the ski patrol is thrust into a skiing showdown in order to save Pops' mountain.

Director of Photography

Undercover Blues

Undercover Blues · 1993

Undercover Blues

MovieComedyCrime

When fun-loving American agents Jeff and Jane Blue are called back from maternity leave for a special assignment in New Orleans, the spy parents decide to skip the sitter and give their bouncing baby girl the adventure of a lifetime.

Second Unit Director of Photography

Steele Justice

Steele Justice · 1987

Steele is ex-cop and Vietnam vet who is determined to bring down Kwan, former South Vietnamese general and now rich and powerful drug lord.

Director of Photography

Oklahoma!

Oklahoma! · 1955

MovieWesternMusic

There's a box social coming up, and Curly asks Laurey if she'll be his date. Trouble is, Laurey thinks he's waited too long, and in a fit of pique accepts an offer from the boorish ranch hand Jud instead. Meanwhile, Laurey's friend Ado Annie is also torn between two men: cowboy Will and foreign peddler Ali Hakim. Both women struggle to know their own hearts before it's too late.

Assistant Camera

Blacula

Blacula · 1972

MovieHorrorFantasy

An 18th century African prince is turned into a vampire while visiting Transylvania. Two centuries later, he rises from his coffin attacking various residents of Los Angeles and meets Tina, a woman who he believes is the reincarnation of his deceased wife.

Director of Photography

Baby Huey's Great Easter Adventure

Baby Huey's Great Easter Adventure · 1999

Baby Huey's Great Easter Adventure

MovieFamilyComedy

In this live-action musical comedy, Baby Huey, the lovable seven foot tall duckling, is taken in by a caring little boy named Nick and his kind but surprised family. A sinister scientist and a mean Las Vegas producer want Baby Huey for themselves, but they don't know what a little boy, a caring community, and a baby bird that's bigger than all of them is capable of.

Director of Photography

Billy Jack

Billy Jack · 1971

MovieActionDrama

A Euro-Indigenous American Ex-Green Beret hapkido expert saves wild horses from being slaughtered for dog food and helps protect a desert "freedom school" for runaways.

Director of Photography

The Yin and the Yang of Mr. Go

The Yin and the Yang of Mr. Go · 1974

The Yin and the Yang of Mr. Go

MovieMysteryThriller

An American draft dodger and aspiring writer named Nero Finnigan becomes involved with the notorious Mr. Go, an organized crime mastermind. They conspire to blackmail an American weapons scientist into providing secrets to Mr. Go's organization for resale to the highest bidder. "The Dolphin" then arrives, who is an American CIA agent and James Joyce scholar, and is charged with recovering the scientist and his work by whatever means necessary.

Director of Photography

Half Nelson

Half Nelson · 1985

MovieTV MovieComedy

Rocky Nelson is a New York cop, who after making a major bust and selling the rights of his story to Hollywood decides to try his luck out as an actor. However, when he gets there, the directors think that he is too short to be an actor. He is then approach by someone who offers him a job at a Hollywood security agency, cause he would fit in there being an ex-cop and while working there he could come in contact with some Hollywood heavy-weights who could give him the break he needs. And at the same he gets to live in Dean Martin's guest-house.

Cinematography

Eve of Destruction

Eve of Destruction · 1991

Eve of Destruction

MovieScience FictionAction

Eve is a military robot made to look exactly like her creator, Dr. Eve Simmons. When she is damaged during a bank robbery, the robot becomes an unstoppable killing machine. Colonel Jim McQuade is assigned to stop the robot and with the help from Dr. Simmons they have to predict where she will go next.

Camera Operator

Tremors

Tremors · 2003

SeriesComedySci-Fi & Fantasy

Inspired by the cult classic Tremors movies, locals attempt to coexist with the monstrous, man-eating Graboids, Shriekers, and Ass-blasters, which are now on a "protected species" list.

Second Unit Director