Friend Baker
{{Short description|American cinematographer}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Friend Baker
| birth_name = Friend Frederick Baker
| birth_date = April 10, 1890
| birth_place = Nebraska, US
| death_date = March 20, 1988 (aged 98)
| death_place = Orange, California, US
| occupation = Cinematographer
| spouse = Annabelle Jackson
}}
Friend Baker was an American cinematographer who worked in Hollywood in the 1910s and 1920s.{{Cite web|date=27 Feb 1953|title=3-Dimensions Fill Hollywood with Optimism|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/38972002/?terms=%22friend%20baker%22&match=1|access-date=2021-03-27|website=The Times|language=en}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S08_AAAAYAAJ&q=%22friend+baker%22+cinematographer|title=American Cinematographer|date=1922|publisher=ASC Holding Corporation|language=en}} Later on in his career, he worked as a camera technician.{{Cite journal|last=Theakston|first=Jack|title=House of Wax|journal=Library of Congress}}{{Cite book|last=Raimondo-Souto|first=H. Mario|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2aNMXaOSboAC&dq=%22friend+baker%22+cinematographer&pg=PA127|title=Motion Picture Photography: A History, 1891-1960|date=2014-11-18|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-8407-2|language=en}} He was an early member of the American Society of Cinematographers.
Biography
Friend was born in Nebraska to Jesse Baker and Jennie Wallace.
Among his innovations as a cameraman, he reportedly built an early 3-D camera alongside fellow cinematographer Virgil Williams while working at Universal Pictures in 1918.{{Cite journal|last=Mitchell|first=Rick|date=2004|title=The Tragedy of 3-D Cinema|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3815533|journal=Film History|volume=16|issue=3|pages=208–215|doi=10.2979/FIL.2004.16.3.208|jstor=3815533|issn=0892-2160}} He also developed an early technique for produced color film.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7EdJAQAAMAAJ&dq=%22friend+baker%22+cinematographer&pg=PA126|title=Motion Picture Daily: Formerly Exhibitors Daily Review and Motion Pictures Today|date=1921|publisher=Exhibitors Trade Review, Incorporated|language=en}} He served as chief cameraman for the studio for a number of years.{{Cite web|date=8 Jun 1924|title=Trapping Tornadoes His Dream|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/380453086/?terms=%22friend%20baker%22&match=1|access-date=2021-03-27|website=The Los Angeles Times|language=en}}
He married Annabelle Jackson in Los Angeles in 1915. The pair had several children.
Selected filmography
- Heart's Haven (1922)
- The Gray Dawn (1922)
- While the Devil Laughs (1921)
- The Girl of My Heart (1920)
- Trumpet Island (1920)
- Merely Mary Ann (1920)
- The Broken Commandments (1919)
- Chasing Rainbows (1919)
- The Sneak (1919)
- The Rebellious Bride (1919)
- Hell-Roarin' Reform (1919)
- The Call of the Soul (1919)
- Kultur (1918)
- The Bird of Prey (1918)
- The Scarlet Road (1918)
- The Devil's Wheel (1918)
- Nobody's Wife (1918)
- Painted Lips (1918)
- Her American Husband (1918)
- Cheyenne's Pal (1917)
- The Clean-Up (1917)
- The Car of Chance (1917)
- The Clock (1917)
- The Man Who Took a Chance (1917)
- The Devil's Pay Day (1917)
- Love Never Dies (1916)
- What Love Can Do (1916)
- The Long Chance (1915)
References
{{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Friend}}
Category:American cinematographers
Category:Mass media people from Nebraska
{{US-cinematographer-stub}}