British-born cinematographer-director Freddie Francis, known for his luminous black-and-white photography in both English and American films, died in London Saturday from the stroke he suffered in December. He was 89. After WWII, he worked as a camera operator for the likes of John Huston before making his debut as a cinematographer with 1956’s A Hill in Korea; soon after, he was in top form with Room at the Top, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, and Sons and Lovers. Like any photographer, he wanted to direct, which he did starting in 1962 with Two and Two Make Six, followed by such films as Paranoiac; Dr Terror’s House of Horrors, They Came from Beyond Space, Dracula Has Risen from the Grave, Trog, and Tales That Witness Madness. “I realized I was becoming a cult figure in horror films,” he said in 1998, “and nobody would back me to direct anything else.” Until 1980, when David Lynch hired him to photograph The Elephant Man. Francis would go on to shoot The French Lieutenant’s Woman, Cape Fear, and Lynch’s Dune and The Straight Story. (LA Times)