Geoffrey Mulligan
One of the early, pioneering cameramen, Geoffrey Mulligan’s wildlife filmmaking ambitions began at the tender age of eight when he was given his first camera, a Sanderson ¼ plate purchased for two and four pence. He immediately focussed on a neighbouring Red Setter and therein discovered he passionately wanted to photograph animals.
He began his professional career working in documentary film, and in 1954 joined the BBC Television Film Unit as an assistant cameraman. It was here he met cameraman Charles Lagus, who was returning from working on the pioneering Zoo Quest series. They quickly formed a strong friendship and Charles recruited Geoff to work on Kariba, a documentary about the devastating ecological effects of the Kariba dam that was constructed on the Zambezi river.
Through Charles, Geoff met David Attenborough who invited him to the South Pacific to film People of Paradise, an anthropological study of the Fiji inhabitants, showing a culture that had never before been seen by Europeans. Geoff subsequently worked with David again, first travelling to Kenya to film Elsa, the lioness reared by Born Free author, Joy Adamson, and then on to film the unique wildlife of Madagascar for Zoo Quest: To Madagascar. Finally, they journeyed down the Zambezi river together for a three part series of the same name, documenting the wildlife, inhabitants, and the conservation issues encountered from source to mouth.
Besides Natural History films, Geoff worked on a variety of documentaries and dramas and carved out a niche as an aerial camera operator on feature films such as Superman and Gorillas In The Mist.
