Born in Mexico City, Mexico; educated at USC in Los Angeles (mining engineering). Entered American film as second camera operator for William Dieterle's ADORABLE (1933) at Fox. Black-and-white and color cinematographer, long with 20th Century-Fox. MacDonald worked often for Henry Hathaway (CALL NORTHSIDE 777, 1948; NIAGARA, 1953) and made notable contributions to films by Elia Kazan (PINKY, 1940; PANIC IN THE STREETS, 1950; VIVA ZAPATA!, 1952) and Samuel Fuller (PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET, 1953; HELL AND HIGH WATER, 1954). Other notable unnominated director of photography credits include CAPTAIN EDDIE (1945), MY DARLING CLEMENTINE (1946), IT HAPPENS EVERY SPRING (1949), TITANIC and HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE (both 1953), BROKEN LANCE (1954), A HATFUL OF RAIN and WILL SUCCESS SPOIL ROCK HUNTER? (both 1957), TEN NORTH FREDERICK (1958), WARLOCK (1959), THE GALLANT HOURS (1960), WALK ON THE WILD SIDE and TARAS BULBA (both 1962), THE LIST OF ADRIAN MESSENGER (1963), THE CARPETBAGGERS, RIO CONCHOS and WHERE LOVE HAS GONE (all 1964), ALVAREZ KELLY (1966), A GUIDE FOR THE MARRIED MAN (1967) and his last film, MACKENNA'S GOLD (released in 1969).  Nominated for Cinematography (Black & White) 1958: THE YOUNG LIONS  Nominated for Cinematography (Color) 1960: PEPE  Nominated for Cinematography (Color) 1966: THE SAND PEBBLES 3 nominations