---
name: "James Wong Howe"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/james-wong-howe"
roles: ["Cinematographer"]
born: "27 August 1899"
died: "12 July 1976"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
updated: "2026-09-17T05:58:49.517700+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# James Wong Howe

Cinematographer. Born 27 August 1899 in Guangzhou, China. Died 12 July 1976.

## Details

- **Work:** Cinematographer
- **Born:** 27 August 1899, Guangzhou, China
- **Died:** 12 July 1976
- **Also known as:** James How, Wong Tung Jim, Jimmie Howe, James Howe
- **Elsewhere:** https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q266521, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002146/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/14569

## Streaming the US now

- **Disney+:** [*Fantasia*](https://film.one/film/fantasia.md) (80)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Biography

James Wong Howe was a Chinese-born American cinematographer who worked on more than 130 films. Born Wong Tung Jim in Guangdong, China, on 28 August 1899, he immigrated to the United States at the age of five and grew up in Washington state. He began his career in Hollywood in the silent era and became one of the most sought-after cinematographers of the 1930s and 1940s.

Howe received ten Academy Award nominations for cinematography and won twice, for *The Rose Tattoo* (1955) and *Hud* (1963). His credits include *Fantasia* (1940), *The Thin Man* (1934), *Sweet Smell of Success* (1957), *Yankee Doodle Dandy* (1942), *Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House* (1948), *Bell, Book and Candle* (1958), *Seconds* (1966) and *Hombre* (1967). In a survey by the International Cinematographers Guild he was named among the ten most influential cinematographers in history. He died on 12 July 1976.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, nytimes.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Fantasia* (1940), Fi1m 80, Cinematography — [page](https://film.one/film/fantasia.md)

## Also known for

- *Sweet Smell of Success* (1957), Director of Photography
- *The Thin Man* (1934), Director of Photography
- *Seconds* (1966), Director of Photography
- *Hud* (1963), Director of Photography
- *Bell, Book and Candle* (1958), Director of Photography
- *Hombre* (1967), Director of Photography
- *Shanghai Express* (1932), Additional Photography
- *Yankee Doodle Dandy* (1942), Director of Photography

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/james-wong-howe