Hitorical Photographers

Bob Willoughby 

Bob Willoughby was born in Los Angeles, California on June 30^th 1927. He pursued photography after receiving an Argus C-3 camera for his 12^th birthday. 

After high school, he studied cinema at night at the USC Cinema Department and design with Saul Bass at the Kahn Institute of Art. Willoughby studied photography at the film school at the University of Southern California and worked under graphic designer Saul Bass at the Kahn Institute of Art. At the same time he apprenticed with a number of Hollywood photographers; Wallace Seawell, Paul Hesse, and Glenn Embree, gleaning technical and business know-how. His first magazine assignments were for Harper’s Bazaar in the early '50s when famed art director Alexey Brodovitch became aware of his work. 

Between 1948 and 1954, his exhibitions of photographs of jazz musicians and dancers led to a contract with Globe Photos. Later, he worked for Harper's Bazaar magazine where his photographs illustrated arts and culture articles.

His career took a turning point in 1954 he was assigned by six magazines when Warner Bros. asked him to photograph Judy Garland’s final scene on the set of A Star is born. His portrait of the star became his first “Life” cover and from then on his work was phenomenal. His images were in print every single week for the next 20 years. As the first “special” he covered the making of over 100 films, including the 1960s movies The Graduate, My Fair Lady, Rosemary’s Baby and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?.

Willoughby continued to photograph for the rest of his life. He lived in Ireland for 17 years where he used his photographic skills to illustrate ancient Irish poetry text with photographs of the countryside. He also authored books on photography and other subjects. He lived his last years in Vence, France, where he continued a very active professional life. He died of cancer on 18 December 2009.

 

 

Bert Stern

Bert Stern was a commercial photographer (October 3, 1929 – June 26, 2013) during the time Marilyn Monroe was alive. He was born in Brooklyn, New York. His father worked as a children’s portrait photographer which is where Stern got the inspiration from to be a photographer. Stern had dropped out of high school when he was 16 to get a job in the mall room at “Look” magazine. He then became an art director at “Mayfair” magazine where he learnt how to develop film and make contact sheets which led to him to make his own pictures. In 1951, Stern was drafted into the US Army and was sent to Japan and was assigned to the photographic department. In the 1960s, his heavy use of amphetamines, led to the destruction to his marriage to Allegra Kent, a ballerina.

By the late 1970s Stern returned to the U.S. to photograph portraits and fashion. His first professional assignment was in 1955 when for Madison Avenue advertising agency for “Smirnoff Vodka”. His best known work is arguably is his book “The Last Sitting”, it is a collection of 2,500 photographs that he took of Marilyn Monroe for “Vogue” magazine over a three day period which had occurred six weeks after her death. He published the book in 1982 and then re-released in 2000. 

Stern has also photographed Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Madonna, Kylie Minogue, Drew Barrymore and Lindsey Lohan, recreating “The Last Sitting” among others, in addition to his work for advertising and travel publications.

 Bert Stern produced and directed “Jazz on a Summer’s Day” in 1959 which was a documentary of the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival. 

Terry O’Neil

He was born on July 30^th 1938 in London, UK. His main field of work was documenting the fashions, styles, and celebrities of the 1960s. His work has been featured in many exhibitions. He was awarded The Royal Photographic Society's Centenary medal 'in recognition of a sustained, significant contribution to the art of photography' in 2011. 

His career started off with him photographing in the Heathrow Airport in London. He then found further employment on Fleet Street with The Daily Sketch in 1959. His first professional job was photographing Laurence Olivier. O’Neil’s reputation defiantly grew in the 1960s; in addition to photographing the decade’s show-business elite such as Judy Garland, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. He has also photographed member of the Royal Family and some politicians; he portrayed them in a more humanized way than they are usually portrayed.

Terry O’Neil’s iconic photos are of Elton John are among his most well-known. A selection of these photos made an appearance in the 2008 book Eltonography. Also considered his most famous images are the ones he took of Faye Dunaway and American actress, also his girlfriend at the time. This photo shoot took place at dawn on 29^th March 1977, lounging next to the swimming pool at the Beverly Hills Hotel, the day after she had won Academy Award for Best Actress. The series was photographed in both colour and black and white; these can be found in the National Portrait Gallery in London.

In his personal life, he was in a long term relationship with Faye Dunaway. His son Liam Dunaway O’Neil was born in 1980. Terry was married to Faye from 1983 until 1986. 

O'Neill was also credited (as Terrence O'Neill) as an executive producer of the 1981 film Mommie Dearest. His only other film credit was for still photography for the 1987 film, Aria.