Announcement from the ACS
IN MEMORIAM – JOHN GASKELL LEAKE ACS, 24/06/1929 – 21/08/09
Born in Sydney on 24th June 1929, John Gaskell Leake left North Sydney Boys High School at the age of fourteen and a half for his first job in the film industry as a delivery boy for Carson Film Supplies. Inspired by contact with a crew filming the AWA Tower, John immediately saw himself as a newsreel cameraman and his boss at Carson’s, Mick Connors, arranged a meeting and interview for him with Harry Grattan Guiness at Movietone News where he was given the job of office boy and thus started his career on 17th November 1944.
While at Movietone John, on one of his early shoots as a young cameraman, incurred the wrath of Harry Guiness when he “wasted money” by shooting drought stricken kangaroos leaping fences at 64 frames per second. However this was somewhat tempered later when John’s amazing footage was shown and acclaimed around the world and Harry was very proud of young John’s initiative. He was even given a ‘credit’, a rare thing on newsreel footage of the day. It was also during his time at Movietone that John met Marion Smith, the daughter of Acting Chief Superintendent George Smith of the NSW police. He and Marion were married on the 28th February 1953. In 1954 John was second in charge of the Movietone crew for the Royal Tour and was introduced to the Queen at Government House in Sydney.
In January 1955 John left Movietone to go and work for the Department of Information under the highly respected Chief Cameraman Bill Trerise and then, in 1956, moved to Supreme Sound Studios when owner Merv Murphy offered him the position vacated by Ross Wood who had left to start his own production company. While he was at Supreme John became a Founding Member of the newly formed Australian Cinematographers Society in 1958 and has had a continual involvement with the Society ever since. John stayed with Supreme until 1960 when he resigned to become Australia’s first true Freelance Cinematographer.
As a freelancer John was the cinematographer on a large number of cigarette commercials shot in London for the advertising agency Foote Cone and Belding which were produced by Harvey Spencer and in 1968, in partnership with Harvey, he formed Motion Picture Associates. This partnership lasted until 1970 when John bought out Harvey and took sole control of MPA.
John was both Federal President and NSW President of the ACS from 1982 to 1987 and also started writing, printing and distributing, with the help of Marion, the ACS newsletter ‘Focus’ from the MPA office in Cammeray. Focus continues to this day as the NSW branch official newsletter. John and Marion took a sideways step from the film industry in the late 1980’s when they closed MPA and bought ‘The Palms’ motel in West Gosford. However, John always maintained contact with his beloved society and until his death was the ACS’ official Historian and Chairman of the Hall of Fame committee. He was also, in his retirement and until ill health forced him to resign, President of the Tusitala Club for retired newsreel and press photographers.
John was a Life Member of the ACS and was one of the original inductees into the ACS Hall of Fame when it was inaugurated in 1997 and at the ACS 50th Anniversary Dinner in May 2008 he and Marion were presented with a special award in recognition of outstanding service to the Society. Unfortunately John’s health was deteriorating and this was to be the last time we saw him at an official ACS function.
John Leake ACS was a true gentleman, extraordinary cinematographer and mentor and father figure to so many of his colleagues and successors in the industry and the ACS.
John is survived by his wife Marion, four daughters, eight grandchildren and two great grandchildren.
Ted Rayment ACS (with help from Ron Windon ACS and John McLean ACS)