Biography
Theodor Sparkuhl (7 October 1894 – 13 June 1946) was a German-born cinematographer. He began his career as a projectionist in 1911 and trained as a newsreel cameraman at Gaumont in Berlin in 1912. During the First World War he filmed battles in the Middle East and Russia. From 1916 he worked as a lighting director in the German film industry, shooting films for Ernst Lubitsch among others until 1928.
Sparkuhl worked in Britain from 1928 to 1930 and in France in 1930–31 before emigrating to Hollywood in December 1931. He joined Paramount Pictures and remained under contract there until 1945. His credits include La Chienne (1931), Beau Geste (1939), The Glass Key (1942) and Wake Island (1942). He also shot The Doll (1919), The Oyster Princess (1919) and Blood on the Sun (1945). He was married to Helen Shahwan.
