James Wong Howe
E152920
James Wong Howe was a pioneering Chinese-American cinematographer renowned for his innovative camera techniques and influential visual style in classic Hollywood cinema.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| James Wong Howe canonical | 24 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1201111 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: James Wong Howe Context triple: [Viva Villa!, cinematographyBy, James Wong Howe]
-
A.
Rance Howard
Rance Howard was an American character actor known for his extensive work in film and television and as the patriarch of the Howard acting and directing family.
-
B.
Lew Ayres
Lew Ayres was an American actor best known for his starring role in the anti-war film "All Quiet on the Western Front" and for his long-running portrayal of Dr. Kildare.
-
C.
Louis Calhern
Louis Calhern was an American stage and film actor known for his sophisticated character roles in classic Hollywood cinema, including notable performances in films like "The Asphalt Jungle" and "Julius Caesar."
-
D.
Roy Harlow
Roy Harlow was the husband of silent film actress Marie Mosquini, known primarily in relation to her career in early American cinema.
-
E.
Eddie Bracken
Eddie Bracken was an American comedic actor known for his roles in 1940s and 1950s film comedies and Broadway productions.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: James Wong Howe Target entity description: James Wong Howe was a pioneering Chinese-American cinematographer renowned for his innovative camera techniques and influential visual style in classic Hollywood cinema.
-
A.
Rance Howard
Rance Howard was an American character actor known for his extensive work in film and television and as the patriarch of the Howard acting and directing family.
-
B.
Lew Ayres
Lew Ayres was an American actor best known for his starring role in the anti-war film "All Quiet on the Western Front" and for his long-running portrayal of Dr. Kildare.
-
C.
Louis Calhern
Louis Calhern was an American stage and film actor known for his sophisticated character roles in classic Hollywood cinema, including notable performances in films like "The Asphalt Jungle" and "Julius Caesar."
-
D.
Roy Harlow
Roy Harlow was the husband of silent film actress Marie Mosquini, known primarily in relation to her career in early American cinema.
-
E.
Eddie Bracken
Eddie Bracken was an American comedic actor known for his roles in 1940s and 1950s film comedies and Broadway productions.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (49)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Chinese-American
ⓘ
cinematographer ⓘ person ⓘ |
| academyAwardWonFor |
Hud
ⓘ
The Rose Tattoo ⓘ |
| activeIn | Hollywood ⓘ |
| awardReceived | Academy Award for Best Cinematography ⓘ |
| birthName | Wong Tung Jim ⓘ |
| burialPlace |
Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery, Los Angeles
ⓘ
surface form:
Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery, Los Angeles, California, United States
|
| citizenship |
United States of America
ⓘ
surface form:
United States
|
| countryOfBirth | China ⓘ |
| countryOfDeath |
United States of America
ⓘ
surface form:
United States
|
| dateOfBirth | 1899-08-28 ⓘ |
| dateOfDeath | 1976-07-12 ⓘ |
| ethnicity | Chinese ⓘ |
| influenced | later generations of cinematographers ⓘ |
| knownFor |
expressive use of deep focus
ⓘ
influential visual style in classic Hollywood cinema ⓘ innovative camera techniques ⓘ low-key lighting ⓘ moving camera and tracking shots ⓘ pioneering use of wide-angle lenses ⓘ |
| marriageEnd | 1976 ⓘ |
| marriageStart | 1937 ⓘ |
| name | James Wong Howe self-link ⓘ |
| nominatedFor | Academy Award for Best Cinematography ⓘ |
| notableWork |
Body and Soul
ⓘ
Hud ⓘ Sweet Smell of Success ⓘ The Rose Tattoo ⓘ The Thin Man ⓘ Yankee Doodle Dandy ⓘ |
| numberOfAcademyAwardNominations | 10 ⓘ |
| numberOfAcademyAwardsWon | 2 ⓘ |
| occupation |
cinematographer
ⓘ
director of photography ⓘ |
| pioneerIn |
use of available light on location
ⓘ
use of deep-focus cinematography ⓘ use of handheld cameras in studio films ⓘ |
| placeOfBirth | Taishan, Guangdong, China ⓘ |
| placeOfDeath |
Hollywood, California, United States
ⓘ
surface form:
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States
|
| spouse | Sanora Babb ⓘ |
| workedInGenre |
drama film
ⓘ
film noir ⓘ sports film ⓘ |
| workedWith |
Michael Powell
ⓘ
surface form:
Alexander Mackendrick
John Frankenheimer ⓘ Sidney Lumet ⓘ William Wyler ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: James Wong Howe Description of subject: James Wong Howe was a pioneering Chinese-American cinematographer renowned for his innovative camera techniques and influential visual style in classic Hollywood cinema.
Referenced by (24)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
subject surface form:
Body and Soul (1947 film)
subject surface form:
The North Star (1943 film)