Biography

Of mixed German and English family, Erwin studied briefly at an art in Berlin but was then forced to leave and find a job. A friend introduced him to the great genius of German silent films, F.W. Murnau who looked at Erwin's paintings and asked him to become a camera assistant on his next (and final) picture, Tabu: A Story of the South Seas (1931). Because Murnau was a promiscuous homosexual, Hillier's father forced Erwin to stop working with Murnau. Murnau took no offence and instead introduced Erwin to another director friend of his: Fritz Lang. So Erwin's first real job was as a camera assistant on Lang's first sound film, M (1931), starring Peter Lorre.

- IMDb mini biography by: Steve Crook <steve@brainstorm.co.uk>

Cinematographer Erwin Hillier was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1911. He began his film career at Germany's prestigious UFA Studios and was assistant cameraman on Fritz Lang's classic M (1931) at that studio. He moved to the UK, and went to work as a camera assistant at Gaumont, working on films by such directors as Alfred Hitchcock and Victor Saville.

It was while he was working on a "quota quickie", The Girl in the Crowd (1934), that his work came to the attention of the film's director, Michael Powell. Powell kept note of Hillier's career, and in 1944 he and his partner in The Archers production company Emeric Pressburger gave Hillier his big break by making him cinematographer on their A Canterbury Tale (1944) and I Know Where I'm Going! (1945). While the collaboration between Hillier and The Archers was fruitful, it came to a sudden end in 1946 when Powell decided to use both Hillier and Jack Cardiff on A Matter of Life and Death (1946) and Hilier refused, even though Powell offered to give him a shared credit.

Hillier later worked with such directors as Roy Ward Baker on The October Man (1947), noted for its noir-ish photography, and became a regular collaborator with director Michael Anderson on such films as The Dam Busters (1955), Chase a Crooked Shadow (1958) and The Quiller Memorandum (1966). He retired in 1968 after finishing The Valley of Gwangi (1969).

He died in London, England, in 2005 at age 93.

- IMDb mini biography by: frankfob2@yahoo.com