American cinematographer
Brother of cinematographer Willard Van Enger.
Prior to working in films, he served with the 71st Regiment of the National Guard in New York.
His first jobs included being a runner for the New York stock exchange, then working in offices at the Liverpool London Insurance Co. and the Standard Felt Co. With a colleague from the National Guard, he purchased a candy store across 14th Street, where D.W. Griffith had his studio. When that business went bust, Van Enger was helped by another friend to get a position in a photographic laboratory, where film was washed, printed and perforated.
During the 1920s he worked at Triangle, Universal and Warner Brothers. He joined Fox from 1929-30, then spent most of the decade leading up to World War II in England, with Gaumont-British. Between 1940-50 he was under contract to Universal, where he worked on several entries of the Sherlock Holmes series and several Bud Abbott and Lou Costello comedies..
