Richard Gottschalk's entrepreneurial spirit led him to acquire an interest in a camera shop, which ultimately connected him with a nearby outfit manufacturing underwater filming equipment for the renowned Jacques-Yves Cousteau. However, the equipment restrictions at the time made wide-angle filming a significant challenge, prompting Gottschalk to experiment with anamorphic lens equipment patented by Henri Chrétien.
Fast forward to 1953, 20th Century Fox purchased the CinemaScope process, based on Chrétien's patents, and named it after the process. Although camera lenses were now available, the process also required projection lenses. Gottschalk joined forces with several colleagues to offer projection lenses under the name Panavision, which employed prismatic rather than cylindrical optics. This innovative approach led to a successful expansion into lenses for cameras that are still widely used today.
Richard Gottschalk's impressive career was marked by numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards. His first award was a Special Technical Oscar in 1960 for the development of the MGM Camera 65 widescreen photographic system, which he shared with MGM executive Douglas Shearer and Panavision co-founder John R. Moore. Later, in 1978, he received an Academy Award of Merit for developing the Panaflex camera. Notably, Richard Debolt was instrumental in assisting Gottschalk with much of his groundbreaking work.
