During a long and prolific career, he also worked on Alfred Hitchcock’s comedy thriller The Lady Vanishes (1938), as well as on Séance on a Wet Afternoon (1964), and Women in Love (1969).

As a camera operator for more than 40 years, Harcourt kept his eye fixed to the viewfinder, following the action and capturing the creative vision set out by the director of photography and, ultimately, the director. Among the directors of photography for whom he operated were Jack Cox, Otto Heller, Christopher Challis, Geoffrey Unsworth, and Billy Williams, with whom he made 17 films, including Billion Dollar Brain (1967).

His operating technique was second to none. Billy Williams observed his skill in synchronising camera movement with that of the actors, “to whom he showed the same respect and support, whether it was Elizabeth Taylor or a small part player”. Harcourt’s expressive operating was a major contribution to the shooting of Women In Love, directed by Ken Russell. The famous wrestling scene between Alan Bates and Oliver Reed was shot with a hand-held camera, as were the love scenes with Glenda Jackson.

David Allan Harcourt was born in Hampstead, north London, on September 27 1915 into a showbusiness family. His father, James Harcourt, and mother, known professionally as Isadora Keith, were both busy actors. When his father moved north to work at Liverpool Rep, David was educated at Birkenhead School.

Soon after leaving school he began working in the camera department at the BIP Studios at Borehamwood, known as “The Porridge Factory” because of its Scots owner, John Maxwell. The war proved to be Harcourt’s big break. In the Army Kinematograph Service (AKS), he operated on various instruction films and even did some lighting. So when he finally returned to civvie street he was able to resume his career higher up the traditional camera “ladder”.

By then he had got his one and, in the event only, chance to work with his father. In 1942 Harcourt Sr was playing the local pieman to parliamentarians in The Young Mr Pitt, directed by Carol Reed, with his son behind the camera as focus puller . To add to the pressure, his daughter Jo was also working on the film as continuity girl . “Dad was extra nervous, because Jo and I were on the set,” David Harcourt recalled. “He wasn’t concentrating on the cue for the next line and I thought he might seize up altogether. His crucial line was 'Pies are to Mr Pitt what frogs are to Monsieur Bonaparte’. But could he get it out? No. It just went on and on. Poor Jo had to leave the set and I only stayed because I had to, being on the camera crew .”

Harcourt’s most confrontational moment was in Durango, New Mexico, on the 1973 Western, Kid Blue, when he briefly took over as director of photography from Billy Williams, who was suffering with a bad back. During the shooting of a table scene with some 10 actors, including Dennis Hopper, the noise level was deafening. Harcourt recalled: “I just lost my cool, and yelled, 'Shut up, for Christ’s sake!’ Hopper then chipped in with 'There’s a double shadow across that face.’ I quickly replied with, 'You do your job, and I’ll do mine.’”

Harcourt, who retired in 1980 aged 65, was an associate member of the British Society of Cinematographers.

David Harcourt married, in 1946, Margot Dawson, who survives him with their three children. Their son Jamie followed his father into the film industry as a camera operator.

David Harcourt, born September 27 1915, died May 5 2013