Charles Urban
cinematographer, director, producer
- Birth name:
- Carl Urban
- Born:
- 1867-04-14, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
- Died:
- 1942-08-29, Brighton, East Sussex, England, UK
- Professions:
- cinematographer, director, producer
Biography
Cincinnati, 14 April 1867: a restless midwesterner named Charles Urban enters the world, already itching to escape it for the flicker of silvered images. He grows into a camera wizard who sails the Atlantic, sets up shop in Britain, and floods cinemas with fire: fleets at full steam in *Britain Prepared* (1915), Shakespeare’s sprites dancing through *The Tempest* (1905), Arctic fury unleashed in *Combatting the Elements* (1921). Between edits he courts and marries Ada Aline Jones, then later Julia Avery, proving life off-screen could be as intricate as any montage. The final reel rolls on 29 August 1942 in Brighton, East Sussex, where the projector clicks off and the house lights rise on an ocean-view town he had adopted as home.
