---
name: "Nicholas Musuraca"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/nicholas-musuraca"
roles: ["Cinematographer"]
born: "25 October 1892"
died: "3 September 1975"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
updated: "2026-09-16T12:18:29.774101+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."
---

# Nicholas Musuraca

Cinematographer. Born 25 October 1892 in Riace, Calabria, Italy. Died 3 September 1975.

## Details

- **Work:** Cinematographer
- **Born:** 25 October 1892, Riace, Calabria, Italy
- **Died:** 3 September 1975
- **Also known as:** Nick Musuraca, Nicholas Musaraca, Nick Musaraca, Nick, Nick Muscuraca

## Biography

Nicholas Musuraca (also credited as Nick Musuraca) was an Italian-born cinematographer who worked primarily in Hollywood. Born in Riace, Calabria, he emigrated to the United States in 1907. He began his film career as chauffeur to producer J. Stuart Blackton and progressed to camera work on silent films before becoming a director of photography at RKO Radio Pictures in the 1930s.

Musuraca is best known for his contributions to film noir and Val Lewton's low-budget horror films at RKO. He photographed *Stranger on the Third Floor* (1940), often cited as an early noir; *Cat People* (1942) and other Lewton productions; *The Spiral Staircase* (1946); and *Out of the Past* (1947), directed by Jacques Tourneur. He received an Academy Award nomination for his work on *I Remember Mama* (1948).

After leaving RKO in the mid-1950s he worked briefly at Warner Bros. and then at Desilu, where he shot television series including *F Troop* until the mid-1960s. He died in Los Angeles in 1975.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, theasc.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Out of the Past* (1947), Fi1m 89, Cinematography — [page](https://film.one/film/out-of-the-past.md)

## Also known for

- *Cat People* (1942), Director of Photography
- *The Spiral Staircase* (1946), Director of Photography
- *The Hitch-Hiker* (1953), Director of Photography
- *The Seventh Victim* (1943), Director of Photography
- *The Curse of the Cat People* (1944), Director of Photography
- *The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer* (1947), Director of Photography
- *Clash by Night* (1952), Director of Photography
- *Stranger on the Third Floor* (1940), 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/nicholas-musuraca