# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/john-j-mescall
# Generated: 2026-08-13T14:30:56.133Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/john-j-mescall"
name: "John J. Mescall"
slug: "john-j-mescall"
description: "John J. Mescall, A.S.C. was an American cinematographer. He photographed such silent films as Ernst Lubitsch's The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (1927), but he is best known for his work in the 1930s at Universal Pictures, where he often worked on the films of James Whale. Mescall was famous for his elaborate, some might say grandiose, effective camera movements, in which the camera would often track completely across or around a set, or even one performer. He did not always use these kinds of camera movements, but his most famous films all have them."
tagline: "American cinematographer (1899-1962)"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Irene_Dunne-John_Mescall_in_Show_Boat.jpg?width=1200"
gender: "male"
country:
  name: "United States"
  isoCode: "US"
category:
  name: "Directors"
  slug: "directors"
profileType:
  name: "Movie Director"
  slug: "director"
  entityType: "https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q33999"
birthDate: "1899-01-10"
deathDate: "1962-02-10"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           38.52
  momentum:             2.4
  historical:           7.003672
  currentAttention:     0
  sourceConfidence:     50
  profileCompleteness:  75
  trendDirection:       "STABLE"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
platforms:
  - platform:  "IMDB"
    url:       "https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005796/"
    handle:    "nm0005796"
sources:
  - url: "https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_J._Mescall"
    title: "John J. Mescall"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%AC%D9%88%D9%86_%D8%AC%D9%8A%D9%87._%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%B3%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%84"
    title: "جون جيه. ميسكال"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_J._Mescall"
    title: "John J. Mescall"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_J._Mescall"
    title: "John J. Mescall"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%AC%D8%A7%D9%86_%D8%AC%DB%8C._%D9%85%D8%B3%DA%A9%D8%A7%D9%84"
    title: "جان جی. مسکال"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_J._Mescall"
    title: "John J. Mescall"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_J._Mescall"
    title: "John J. Mescall"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1700581"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"
  - url: "https://www.themoviedb.org/person/2940"
    title: "John J. Mescall"
    type:  "DATABASE"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Imported from discovery source: wikidata-dump