Biography
William H. Clothier (1903–1996) was an American cinematographer. Born in Decatur, Illinois, he began working in the film industry painting sets at Warner Bros. and photographing films in the late silent era, including aerial work on Wings (1927). He later worked in Spain in the 1930s and served as a photographic officer in the US Army Air Forces during the Second World War, flying seventeen missions aboard the Memphis Belle and commanding a combat camera unit.
Clothier became John Wayne’s favoured director of photography after shooting The Sea Chase (1955); the two collaborated on more than twenty films. He photographed The Alamo (1960), which Wayne directed, as well as several John Ford Westerns including The Horse Soldiers (1959), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) and Cheyenne Autumn (1964). Other notable credits include McLintock! (1963), The War Wagon (1967), Chisum (1970), Rio Lobo (1970) and Big Jake (1971).
He received Academy Award nominations for Best Cinematography for The Alamo and Cheyenne Autumn. Clothier was awarded the Heritage Award by the Cowboy Hall of Fame in 1973 and the American Society of Cinematographers President’s Award in 1995. He retired after filming The Train Robbers (1973).
