Born in Palermo, Sicily, and in the US from an early age, he was educated in New York and first entered films as a publicity still photographer. He was a lab and camera assistant before graducating to lighting cameraman in 1917. For the next three decades he worked on scores of films for various studios, but his reputation rests mainly on his fine black-and-white cinematography for Warner Bros. in the 30s and 40s, when he frequently worked with such directors as Michael Curtiz and Mervyn LeRoy.  Nominated for Cinematography (Color) 1939: THE PRIVATE LIVES OF ELIZABETH AND ESSEX (w. W. Howard Greene)  Nominated for Cinematography (Black and White) 1941: SERGEANT YORK  Nominated for Cinematography (Color) 1942: CAPTAINS OF THE CLOUDS 3 nominations