Background
Karl Struss was born on November 30, 1886, in New York, United States.
In his career, Karl Struss was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography four times. The first time, and the only time he won, was for F. W. Murnau's Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans in 1929, sharing that award with Charles Rosher.
Karl Struss was born on November 30, 1886, in New York, United States.
Karl Struss spent four years studying photography at Columbia University, New York City (1908-1912).
Karl Struss began photography in 1896. At age seventeen he went to work at his father's bonnet-wire factory, where he remained until 1914. In that year he received his first commission: he was hired by the Bermuda government to produce tourist pictures.
Karl Struss served in the armed forces during World War I, after which he set up his own studio in New York, from which he produced illustrations for such publications as Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Vanity Fair, and several newspapers and made some autochrome covers for the American Journal of Photography. After three years he closed his studio and moved to Hollywood, where he worked as a cameraman for Cecil B. DeMille (1919-1922). He then freelanced as a cinematographer, working for Paramount Studios, United Artists, MGM, and several indepen¬dent producers as well, until his retirement in 1970.
Co-founder of Pictorial Photographers of America, Karl Struss was also a member of Stieglitz's Photo-Secession, 1912-1917. He also held membership in the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) and the American Society of Cinematographers and was a founding member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.