Joseph Ruttenberg

Four-time Oscar-winning cinematographer Joseph Ruttenberg was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. In 1893, at the age of four, his family moved to the United States, eventually settling in Boston. After schooling, he got his first job in 1907 working as a newsboy and personal runner for William Randolph Hearst's 'Boston American'. He was trained in reporting and as a still photographer and dark room technician. By 1914, he produced his own weekly newsreels for a local Loew's theatre, and, within another year, was employed as a cameraman with the Fox Film Corporation in New York. There, he perfected his craft over the next eleven years, rising from assistant cameraman to full cinematographer with a weekly salary of $175. He then moved over to Paramount's Kaufman Astoria Studios, where he worked under the supervision of the experienced George J. Folsey on several short features. In 1933, Ruttenberg decided to ply his trade in Hollywood, now that the transition to sound pictures had been suc