So it was with something approaching irrational excitement that I found myself talking to 92-year-old cinematographer Oswald "Ossie" Morris last weekend, an expert practitioner of the art who shot the best part of 60 films over 30-odd years for directors as diverse as John Huston, Sidney Lumet and Franco Zeffirelli.

We talked for an hour; I could have happily listened to him for days. At 92, he was bright as a button, eager to speak and delighted to be able to sound forth on a career that boasted an astonishing collection
of classics.

Ossie was Oscar-nominated three times and won once, for Norman Jewison's Fiddler on the Roof. He was multitudinously talented, turning his hand to everything from The Hill and The Man Who Would Be King to The Man with the Golden Gun and Oliver!

We were talking about a quartet of movies he made with Richard Burton, all geared towards research for a planned book on the melancholy Welsh lion's film career. Ossie, having no axe to grind, simply recalled working with a considerable if tempestuous talent and offered his own thoughts on how one of the most promising actors of the
20th century became so utterly corrupted by wealth and fame.

As our time wound to a close, Ossie said "Give me a call any time. I do like talking about the old days." It reminded me that so many of our great cinematic artists never get to tell their story in full and in detail.

It also brought to mind one of the great regrets of my professional life. In 1995, I interviewed Fred Zinnemann, the great Austrian filmmaker behind classics such as From Here to Eternity and A Man for All Seasons. He was 88, I was 29. I was, I don't mind confessing, somewhat in awe of this giant.

I needn't have been. He oozed old-time courtesy and the interview went like a dream. Afterwards, he invited me to his home in London and I promised to go. On the day I chose I was informed he was busy "as Steven and Marty were calling". The friends he referred to were Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese. Much as I wanted to, I knew I couldn't crash that particular party.

Like their films, these gentlemen of the movies are to be treasured. We should sit at their feet and bathe in their brilliance.