Biography:
Cliff
Culley, was one of the backroom boys at
Rank in Pinewood Studios on all of those shows from the Harryhausens and Carry
On's to the Norman Wisdom cheapies and whatever else was being done at
Pinewood. He started at Pinewood special
effects department at 1946, under Bill Warrington as head of department. At that time it was Les Bowie
chief of matte painting, and latter on,
when he left, Albert Whitlock worked from 1949 to 1953 at Pinewood matte
department.
He worked
under Peter Ellenshaw and Albert Whitlock for Disney films like "Sword and
the rose"(1953)
Culley
became a matte painting specialist and worked on loads of films over the
years, and became head of Pinewood's
matte painting department in the mid-late 1960s. He also has provided many
optical gags on films too, for example, the reflection of thug in the eye of
the beautiful girl from the opening of Goldfinger.
Cliff
Culley is best known for supervising the matte art on films such as the
Brocolli's You Only Live Twice and On Her Majesty's Secret Service and Chitty
Chitty Bang Bang, the latter film being one of his sole supervisory screen
credits next to One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing and Spaceman in King Arthur's
Court for Disney, and Hellraiser 2. During the 60´s Culley took Charles Stoneham
as matte painter assistant at Pinewood matte department
Since
leaving Rank in the mid 70s Cliff Culley
opened his own firm, Westbury Design and Optical which provided overspill latent image comps
and optical tricks on films such as "Hellraiser II", or "Sword
of the valiant" (1984). He got Leigh Took as matte assistant at 1978 for
films as "Warlords of Atlantis" or "Clash of the Titans".
Cliff
Culley retired at 1997 after working on
the film Orphans (1997).
Cliff
Culley and Roy Filed setting up a matte shot for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)
at the Pinewood Matte Department.
Those
photos (courtesy of Ed Maggiani), where taken at Pinewood Studios in February
of 1996.
Cliff
Culley very kindly showed some of the many glass paintings he had done, to
Production designer Syd Cain and writer journalist Gary Giblin (To whom I
sincerely tanks to send my those pictures)
1. From
Left to right: Syd Cain, Gary Giblin and Cliff Culley in front of a painting
from Nightbreed.
2. Gary
Giblin with a matte painted for "You only live twice (1967)"
3. A
painting from the movie "On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)"
Filmography:
- Orphans (1997) (matte artist)
- Saint-Ex
(1996) (matte effects)
- A
Midsummer Night's Dream (1996) (special photographic effects)
- A Kid in
King Arthur's Court (1995) (matte artist)
-
Restoration (1995)(matte paintings by Westbury design and opticals)
- The hour
of the pig (1993) (opticals by Westbury design and opticals)
- An
Ungentlemanly Act (1992) (TV) (optical effects)
-
Nightbreed (1990) (mattes and opticals by Westbury design and opticals)
-
Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988) (optical effects supervisor)
- Peter theGreat (1986) ( tv miniseries) (Special photographic effects)
- Return to
Oz (1985) (Additional opticals by Westbury design and opticals)
- Blind
date( 1984) (special photographic effects)
- Sword of
the Valiant: The Legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (1984) (visual
effects)
- The last
Days of Pompeii ( 1984) (TV miniseries) (Special photografic effects
- Sahara
(1983) (matte paintings by Westbury design and opticals)
- Witness
for the Prosecution (1982) (TV) (optical effects)
- The
Hunchback of Notre Dame (1982) (TV) (optical effects)
- Clash of
the Titans (1981) (special miniatures)
- The
Spaceman and King Arthur (1979) (special photographic effects)
- Bear
Island (1979) (Special photographic effects)
- City on
Fire (1979) (matte artist)
- Arabian
Adventure (1979) (matte effects)
- Warlords
of Atlantis (1978) (matte effects)
-
Candleshoe (1977) (Special matte efecst)
- The Pink
Panther strikes again (1976)(special matte and optical effects)
- One of
Our Dinosaurs Is Missing (1975) (special processes)
- "The
Changes" (visual effects) (2 episodes, 1975)
-
Lightning! (1975) TV Episode (visual effects)
- The Noise
(1975) TV Episode (visual effects)
- The Man
with the Golden Gun (1974) (matte artist) (uncredited)
-
"Disneyland" (special effects) (3 episodes, 1974)
- Diamonds
on Wheels (1974) TV Episode (special effects)
-
"Play for Today" (special effects) (1 episode, 1974)
-Penda's
Fen (1974) TV Episode (special effects)
- Diamonds
on Wheels (1974) (special effects)
-
"Moonbase 3" (1973) TV Series (visual effects designer) (unknown
episodes)
- Doctor
Who" (visual effects) (6 episodes, 1973) (visual effects designer) (6
episodes, 1974-1975)
-
Robot (1975) TV episode (visual effects
designer) (as Clifford Culley)
- Invasion
of the Dinosaurs (1974) TV episode (visual effects designer) (as Clifford
Culley)
- Planet of
the Daleks (1973) TV episode (visual effects designer) (as Clifford Culley)
- Zeppelin
(1971) (matte photographer)
- The
Deserter (1971) (optical effects)
- The
Firechasers (1971) (special effects)
- Kidnapped
(1971) (special effects)
- Carry on
Henry (1971) (optical effects)
- The
Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins (1971) (special effects)
- Hands of
the Ripper (1971) (special effects)
- Jane Eyre
(1970) (special effects)
- Toomorrow
(1970) (optical effects)
- On Her
Majesty's Secret Service (1969) (matte artist) (uncredited)
- Chitty
Chitty Bang Bang (1968) (matte effects)
- You Only
Live Twice (1967) (matte artist) (uncredited)
- Follow
that camel (1967) (optical effects)
- Khartoum
(1966) (special photographic effects)
-
Thunderball (1965) (optical effects supervisor) (uncredited)
- The Early
Bird (1965) (special matte effects)
-
Goldfinger (1964) (optical effects supervisor) (uncredited)
- Carry on
Cleo (1964) (optical effects) (uncredited)
- From
Russia with Love (1963) (matte artist) (uncredited)
- The Bay
of St. Michel (1963) (special effects)
- Dr. No
(1962) (matte artist) (uncredited)
- The
bulldog breed (1960) (special effects) (uncredited)
- Sink the
Bismarck! (1960) (special effects assistant) (uncredited)
- North
West Frontier (1959) (matte artist) (uncredited)
- A night
to remember (1958) (special effects assistant) (uncredited)
- The One
That Got Away (1957) (special processes) (uncredited)
- Across
the Bridge (1957) (special processes) (uncredited)
- Tale of two
cities (1958) (matte artist) (uncredited)
- The
prince and the showgirl (1957) (matte artist) (uncredited)
- The one
that got a way (1957) (matte artist)
(uncredited)
-The Battle
of the River Plate (1956) (matte artist) (uncredited)
- Hell
below zero (1954) (matte artist) (uncredited)
- Sword and
the Rose (1953) (matte artist) (uncredited)
The full
gallery is not available yet, but you can visit the old site: