{{Short description|Czech cinematographer (1896–1970)}} {{Other people|Otto Heller}} {{Infobox person | name = Otto Heller | image = Album representantů všech oborů veřejného života československého - 1927 - Otto Heller.png | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Otto Heller | birth_date = {{Birth date|1896|3|8|df=y}} | birth_place = [[Prague]], [[Bohemia]], [[Austria-Hungary]] | death_date = {{Death date and age|1970|2|19|1896|3|8|df=y}} | death_place = [[London]], United Kingdom | nationality = | other_names = | known_for = | occupation = [[Cinematographer]] | years_active = 1919–1969 }}
'''Otto Heller''', [[British Society of Cinematographers|B.S.C.]] (8 March 1896 – 19 February 1970)<ref name="csfd.cz">{{cite web |url=http://www.csfd.cz/herec/27790-otto-heller/ |title=Otto Heller |access-date=2011-01-24 |work=csfd.cz |archive-date=2010-11-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101102035659/http://www.csfd.cz/herec/27790-otto-heller/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> was a [[Czech Republic|Czech]] [[cinematography|cinematographer]] long resident in the United Kingdom. He worked on more than 250 films, including ''[[Richard III (1955 film)|Richard III]]'' (1955), ''[[The Ladykillers (1955 film)|The Ladykillers]]'' (1955) and ''[[Peeping Tom (1960 film)|Peeping Tom]]'' (1960).
== Life == Otto Heller was born in Prague on 8 March 1896. As a teenager, he became a projectionist in the [[Lucerna Music Bar|Lucerna]] cinema. During World War I, he worked in a film laboratory in Vienna. After the war, he started to work as a documentary cameraman at Pragafilm. During the 1920s, he was the most requested cinematographer in Czechoslovakia. Together with [[Karel Lamač]], [[Anny Ondra]] and [[Václav Wasserman]], he made many movies both for domestic and international audience. He often worked with [[Svatopluk Innemann]], [[Martin Frič]] and [[Jan S. Kolár]]. Because of the rise of Nazism, he left Czechoslovakia in 1938 with Lamač.{{cn|date=March 2026}}
In an interview for the extra materials on the [[Blu-ray Disk]] version of [[The Ipcress File (film)|The Ipcress File]], [[Michael Caine]] recollects how Otto Heller told the story of leaving [[Nazi Germany]] in 1939. His camera crew were all Germans and they kept telling him to leave but he did not believe he needed to go and he would refuse, saying they were having a great time doing movies. Then one day his camera operator came dressed in an [[SS]] uniform and told him that he has joined the SS and urged Heller to go "now". Heller told Michael Caine that he "went to the toilet, went out through the toilet window and I never stopped running till I got to [[London]]".<ref name="m.caine.interview.ipcress.file.bluray">{{cite AV media |title=Interview - Sir Michael Caine|type=Bonus Material on The Ipcress File film Blu-ray disk|date=2006}}</ref>
He became a British citizen in 1945. Heller continued to live and make movies in UK until his death.<ref name="csfd.cz" />
He died in London on 19 February 1970.<ref name="bfi">{{cite web |url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/518832/index.html|publisher=BFI| title=Otto Heller Biography | website=Screenonline }}</ref>
==Selected filmography== {{div col|colwidth=25em}} * ''[[The Arrival from the Darkness]]'' (1921) * ''[[The Poisoned Light]]'' (1921) * ''[[The Cross by the Brook]]'' (1921) * ''[[White Paradise (1924 film)|White Paradise]]'' (1924) * ''[[The Lantern (1925 film)|The Lantern]]'' (1925) * ''[[The Countess from Podskalí]]'' (1926) * ''[[The Kreutzer Sonata (1927 film)|The Kreutzer Sonata]]'' (1927) * ''[[Suzy Saxophone]]'' (1928) * ''[[Eve's Daughters]]'' (1928) * ''[[Sinful and Sweet]]'' (1929) * ''[[Street Acquaintances (1929 film)|Street Acquaintances]]'' (1929) * ''[[The Girl with the Whip]]'' (1929) * ''[[Sin of a Beautiful Woman]]'' (1929) * ''[[Prague Seamstresses]]'' (1929) * ''[[The Caviar Princess]]'' (1930) * ''[[The Cabinet of Doctor Larifari]]'' (1930) * ''[[Fairground People]]'' (1930) * ''[[St. Wenceslas (film)|St. Wenceslas]]'' (1930) * ''[[The Typist]]'' (1931) * ''[[Die Fledermaus (1931 film)|Die Fledermaus]]'' (1931) * ''[[The Private Secretary (1931 German film)|The Private Secretary]]'' (1931) * ''[[Mamsell Nitouche (1932 film)|Mamsell Nitouche]]'' (1932) * ''[[The Ringer (1932 film)|The Ringer]]'' (1932) * ''[[Kiki (1932 film)|Kiki]]'' (1932) * ''[[Make-Up (1932 film)|Make-Up]]'' (1932) * ''[[A Night in Paradise (1932 film)|A Night in Paradise]]'' (1932) * ''[[The Love Hotel]]'' (1933) * ''[[Daughter of the Regiment (1933 film)|Daughter of the Regiment]]'' (1933) * ''[[Public Not Admitted]]'' (1933) * ''[[Simone Is Like That]]'' (1933) * ''[[Polish Blood]]'' (1934) * ''[[The Switched Bride]]'' (1934) * ''[[Little Dorrit (1934 film)|Little Dorrit]]'' (1934) * ''[[A Woman Who Knows What She Wants]]'' (1934) * ''[[The Young Count]]'' (1935) * ''[[Raging Barbora]]'' (1935) * ''[[The Eleventh Commandment (1935 film)|The Eleventh Commandment]]'' (1935) * ''[[Knockout (1935 film)|Knockout]]'' (1935) * ''[[Dreams Come True (1936 film)|Dreams Come True]]'' (1936) * ''[[Tomorrow We Live (1936 film)|Tomorrow We Live]]'' (1936) * ''[[Port Arthur (film)|Port Arthur]]'' (1936) * ''[[Secret Lives (film)|Secret Lives]]'' (1937) * ''[[Threats (film)|Threats]]'' (1940) * ''[[Sarajevo (1940 French film)|Sarajevo]]'' (1940) * ''[[Alibi (1942 film)|Alibi]]'' (1942) * ''[[The Dark Tower (1943 film)|The Dark Tower]]'' (1943) * ''[[They Met in the Dark]]'' (1943) * ''[[The Night Invader]]'' (1943) * ''[[Candlelight in Algeria]]'' (1943) * ''[[Gaiety George]]'' (1946) * ''[[Night Boat to Dublin]]'' (1946) * ''[[They Made Me a Fugitive]]'' (1947) * ''[[Temptation Harbour]]'' (1947) * ''[[Bond Street (film)|Bond Street]]'' (1948) * ''[[Golden Arrow (1949 film)|Golden Arrow]]'' (1949) * ''[[The Queen of Spades (1949 film)|The Queen of Spades]]'' (1949) * ''[[The Woman with No Name]]'' (1950) * ''[[I'll Get You for This]]'' (1951) * ''[[The Crimson Pirate]]'' (1952) * ''[[The Man Who Watched Trains Go By]]'' (1952) * ''[[The Rainbow Jacket]]'' (1954) * ''[[The Divided Heart]]'' (1954) * ''[[The Ladykillers (1955 film)|The Ladykillers]]'' (1955) * ''[[Richard III (1955 film)|Richard III]]'' (1955) * ''[[The Vicious Circle (1957 film)|The Vicious Circle]]'' (1957) * ''[[The Silent Enemy (1958 film)|The Silent Enemy]]'' (1958) * ''[[Peeping Tom (1960 film)|Peeping Tom]]'' (1960) * ''[[Victim (1961 film)|Victim]]'' (1961) * ''[[Light in the Piazza (film)|Light in the Piazza]]'' (1962) * ''[[West 11]]'' (1963) * ''[[The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb]]'' (1964) * ''[[Woman of Straw]]'' (1964) * ''[[The Ipcress File (film)|The Ipcress File]]'' (1965) * ''[[Masquerade (1965 film)|Masquerade]]'' (1965) * ''[[That Riviera Touch]]'' (1966) * ''[[Alfie (1966 film)|Alfie]]'' (1966) * ''[[Funeral in Berlin (film)|Funeral in Berlin]]'' (1966) * ''[[Billion Dollar Brain]]'' (1967) * ''[[I'll Never Forget What's 'Isname]]'' (1967) * ''[[Duffy (film)|Duffy]]'' (1968) * ''[[Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?]]'' (1969) * ''[[Bloomfield (film)|Bloomfield]]'' (1971) {{div col end}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb name|id=0005740}}
{{BAFTA Award for Best Cinematography 1963–1984}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heller, Otto}} [[Category:1896 births]] [[Category:1970 deaths]] [[Category:Best Cinematography BAFTA Award winners]] [[Category:Mass media people from Prague]] [[Category:Jews from Bohemia]] [[Category:20th-century Czech Jews]] [[Category:Czech cinematographers]] [[Category:Exiles from Nazi Germany]]