Biography
Henri Decaë (31 July 1915 – 7 March 1987) was a French cinematographer. He entered the film industry as a sound engineer and sound editor, and worked as a photojournalist in the French army during the Second World War. After the war he made documentary shorts and industrial and commercial films, directing and photographing them; his first feature film was released in 1947.
Decaë collaborated frequently with directors associated with the French New Wave. He first worked as a cinematographer with Jean-Pierre Melville on Le Silence de la Mer (1949). He shot the debut features of Louis Malle, Claude Chabrol and François Truffaut, including Elevator to the Gallows (1958), Le Beau Serge (1958) and The 400 Blows (1959). Other credits include Purple Noon (1960), Le Samouraï (1967), Le Cercle Rouge (1970) and The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob (1973).
