Born in Brooklyn, Folsey was hired by Jesse Louis Lasky to work as an office boy in his newly formed Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company in New York City. Folsey earned his first screen credit for His Bridal Night in 1919. Leading lady Alice Brady was so satisfied with the way he photographed her she offered him a contract to shoot all her films. He worked for both Associated First National and Paramount Astoria Studios, then moved to Hollywood and worked for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where he spent the bulk of his career.^[1]

Folsey's many credits include The Letter, The Cocoanuts, Animal Crackers, The Great Ziegfeld, A Guy Named Joe, The White Cliffs of Dover, Meet Me in St. Louis, The Clock, The Harvey Girls, Adam's Rib, A Life of Her Own, Million Dollar Mermaid, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, The Cobweb, Cash McCall, and The Balcony. For television, he served as director of photography for various episodes of the series The Fugitive and a special starring figure skater Peggy Fleming, for which he won an Emmy Award for Best Cinematography for Nonfiction Programming.

Folsey was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography 13 times but never won. Eight months before his death, he was honored with the first Lifetime Achievement Award presented by the American Society of Cinematographers, for which he served as president in 1956–1957.

Folsey's son George Jr. is a director/producer/editor.

Folsey died in Santa Monica, California.

• George J. Folsey at IMDb
• George Folsey at Find a Grave