Watching Jack Slade (1953) — an unjustly obscure, and quite nasty, Allied Artists picture starring Mark Stevens, Dorothy Malone and Barton MacLane — I noticed cinematographer William Sickner in the credits (“photographed by” it reads).
His name pops up a lot — the IMDB lists over 350 film and TV credits. And his filmography provides a cross section of genre film making in the 30s, 40s and 50s. Serials such as The Phantom Creeps (1939), Flash Gordon Conquers The Universe (1940) and The Green Hornet (1940). Series pictures like The Mummy’s Ghost (1944) and The Falcon In San Francisco (1945), along with entries in the Charlie Chan, The Shadow, Joe Palooka and Bowery Boys cycles. And, of course, B Westerns with Buck Jones, Tex Ritter, Johnny Mack Brown, Dennis Moore, Rod Cameron and George Montgomery, to name just a few.
Moving to television, Sickner shot episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Restless Gun, Mike Hammer, M Squad, Medic (he won an Emmy for this one), Bachelor Father, The Deputy, Leave It To Beaver and more.
A craftsman who could adjust to whatever he was working on — from the Mummy to the Cleavers (though his darker, moodier work looks more impressive today) — Sickner passed away in 1968, long before anyone cared enough about this sort of stuff to think to interview him. What a shame.
Those TV credits suggest that Sickner was under contract to Revue, the TV production company owned by MCA, during the late 50s — a rotation of DPs that included, at various points, such talents as John F. Warren, Lionel Lindon, and Ray Rennahan.
The line between top craftsman and journeyman was really thin in those days — look how fast Warren went from an Oscar nomination for THE COUNTRY GIRL to shooting 3-day episodes of STATE TROOPER and BACHELOR FATHER.
That thin line between craftsman and journeyman — and between A pictures, B Movies and TV — is one of the things that makes 50s Hollywood so fascinating to me.
William Sickner aka William Nobles: was my grandfather. He died in Costa Mesa California in 1968 not 1967
Thank you so much for the correction.
He was a avid fisherman and loved the out doors. He would take 2 months off each year and take his wife Doris and daughter Alyce in the back country (Upper Bishop) to camp and fish. He loved to take pictures with clouds. He was a man of many talents he served in the military doing special photography and received recognition for his works. He and his wife had a Poultry and game bird ranch called the Nobles pure bred rand. They breed Rhode island reds. They also bought and sold property. He has two living granddaughters and 4 great grandchildren and 3 great great grandchildren.
William Nobles has been on my radar for some time for his terrific work at the Iverson Movie Ranch, especially during his years with Republic. I list him as one of the “Great Iverson Cinematographers,” and I have written a brief bio on him for my blog (iversonmovieranch.blogspot.com).
I’m curious about possible confusion between William Nobles and William A. Sickner. IMDb does say that William Sickner is an aka for William Nobles, but it has two separate filmographies for William Nobles and William A. Sickner. Is William A. Sickner a different person from William Nobles/William Sickner? IMDb has separate bio info for them too — Sickner born in 1890 in Rochester, N.Y.; Nobles born in 1892 in Waubay, South Dakota, etc.
My efforts to get bio details on the B-Western cinematographers have been pretty frustrating, as it’s hard to find much material on them. I would love to hear from William Nobles’ family members and get more info about him — including clearing up any confusion about that “other” William Sickner.
Such as it is, my William Nobles bio can be found here:
http://iversonmovieranch.blogspot.com/search/label/William%20Nobles
I would love to hear from Lisa or Tracy, or anyone else who has information on William Nobles … or for that matter, on any of the great B-Western cinematographers.
You can reach me through the blog by leaving a comment, or email me at ponganselos@gmail.com.
Thanks!
-Dennis
I saw a movie several years ago. I wish I could remember what it was, because in the goings-on someone used the name “William Sickner” either in reference to someone “offstage” or in some other way. When I heard the name spoken,
it startled me, as I had recalled seeing it several times in serial and B-movie credits. So, I checked the credits of that film, and there it was! I thought that was very funny indeed – sort of like the outtakes that Jackie Chan’s movies
did so often, only this was a one-off moment. I’d be curious to know if anyone has seen this.