Harry A. Stradling

1925 - 2017

January 7, 1925 - October 17, 2017 Harry Stradling, Jr., A.S.C., 92, died from natural causes on October 17, 2017. Stradling was an Oscar and Emmy nominated American cinematographer who began his celebrated career shooting television westerns including Gunsmoke and Have Gun, Will Travel. He was the son of renowned cinematographer, Harry Stradling, Sr. with whom he collaborated on such films as A Streetcar Named Desire, Gypsy and My Fair Lady. Born in 1925 in Yonkers, NY, Stradling, spent his boyhood in England and France, and returned to the United States with his family in 1939. From his early television career as a camera assistant and camera operator to his rise to acclaimed cinematographer, Stradling worked with visionary directors including Burt Kennedy, John Sturges, Sydney Pollack and Blake Edwards, for whom he shot four films. In addition to his father, he was mentored by famed cinematographer and friend Frank Phillips. Considered a skilled cinematographer of the western genre, Stradling most notably shot Little Big Man, starring Dustin Hoffman, Rooster Cogburn, starring John Wayne and Katharine Hepburn and Support Your Local Sheriff starring James Garner. He also photographed The Way We Were, starring Barbra Streisand. Oscar nominations for cinematography include 1776 (1972), and The Way We Were (1973). Stradling lived in Calabasas, CA where he spent his retired years reading, walking by the lake and communing with cronies over coffee. He often visited peers and friends at the Motion Picture and Television Fund, where he later resided for seven years. He was a friend of Bill W.'s -- the best friend he ever made. Stradling was married three times, to Beverly Stradling, nee Snyder, Stephanie Stradling, nee Miller and Janet Stradling, nee Goldwater, all of whom preceded him in death. He is survived by five children, Robert, Denice, Andrea, Michael and John, and one grandchild, Tierney. A service will be held at Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills, on Friday, November 3, 2017 at noon. Donations in his honor are directed to the Los Angeles Mission or the Motion Picture and Television Fund.