'Star Wars' cinematographer Gilbert Taylor dies

Gilbert Taylor was a master of black and white and a master of different universes.

Taylor, the influential "Star Wars" cinematographer who worked on a number of stellar films, died Aug. 23 at the age of 99, according to the British Society of Cinematographers.

Dee Taylor, his wife, told the BBC News that her husband died at their home on the Isle of Wight off the south coast of England.

Taylor, a founding member of the cinematographers' society, entered the British film industry as a cameraman's assistant in the 1920s when he was still a teenager.

He had dozens of credits to his name and worked with a wide range of directors, including George Lucas, Alfred Hitchcock and Roman Polanski. He was the director of photography on several distinctive black-and-white classics including Stanley Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" and Richard Lester's Beatlemania chronicle "A Hard Day's Night." He also worked on television series including the very popular "The Avengers."

During World War II, he was active with the Royal Air Force filming nighttime bombing raids over Germany.

He was born in Bushey Heath, a small town 20 miles north of London.