Ernest B. Schoedsack

Ernest Beaumont Schoedsack (June 8, 1893 - December 23, 1979) was an American motion picture cinematographer, director, and producer. Born in Council Bluffs, Iowa, Schoedsack is probably best remembered for being the co-director of the 1933 film, King Kong. Schoedsack was fascinated with the mechanics of film photography long before taking his first movie job with the Keystone Studios in 1914. During World War I, he worked as a Signal Corps camer... more

Ernest Beaumont Schoedsack (June 8, 1893 - December 23, 1979) was an American motion picture cinematographer, director, and producer. Born in Council Bluffs, Iowa, Schoedsack is probably best remembered for being the co-director of the 1933 film, King Kong. Schoedsack was fascinated with the mechanics of film photography long before taking his first movie job with the Keystone Studios in 1914. During World War I, he worked as a Signal Corps cameraman, and after the Armistice he worked on behalf of Polish war relief, helping thousand of Poles escape the Russian occupied territories. While in Ukraine in 1920 he met Captain Merian C. Cooper, who, like Schoedsack, was a fervent anti-Bolshevik and also an aspiring film director. The men renewed their friendship after the hostilities, collaborating on several documentary films, Grass (1925) and Chang (1927). Still in partnership with Cooper, Schoedsack co-directed the fictional adventure film The Four Feathers (1929), then, after another... less