Ron Galella (born January 10, 1931) is an American photographer, known as a pioneer paparazzo. Dubbed "Paparazzo Extraordinaire" by Newsweek and "the Godfather of the U.S. paparazzi culture" by Time magazine and Vanity Fair, he is regarded by Harper's Bazaar as "the most controversial paparazzo of all time".
He
immortalized many celebrities out of the public eye and gained
notoriety for his feuds with some of them, most notably Jacqueline
Kennedy Onassis and Marlon Brando. Despite the numerous
controversies, Galella has been cited by Andy Warhol as his
favourite photographer.
During
his career, Galella has taken more than three million photographs
depicting public figures.
Biography
A
Bronx native of Italian heritage, Galella is son of an immigrant from
Muro Lucano, Basilicata, and his mother, born in New Jersey, was
daughter of immigrants from Benevento, Campania.[After graduating
high school, he won a 2-year scholarship at the Pratt Institute in
Brooklyn but refused due to his lacks in mathematics.
Galella
served as a United States Air Force photographer during the Korean
War and later attended the Art Center College of Design in Los
Angeles, California, graduating with a degree in photojournalism in
1958. In his free time Galella took pictures of the stars arriving at
film premieres, selling them to magazines like National Enquirer and
Photoplay. He soon became known for his photographic approach,
portraying famous people out of the spotlight.
Galella's
photographs can be seen in hundreds of publications including Time,
Harper's Bazaar, Vogue, Vanity Fair, People, Rolling Stone, The New
Yorker, The New York Times and Life. In his in-home darkroom, Galella
makes his own prints which have been exhibited at museums and
galleries throughout the world, including the Museum of Modern Art in
both New York and San Francisco, the Tate Modern in London, and the
Helmut Newton Foundation Museum of Photography in Berlin.
In
2009, his father's hometown Muro Lucano made him an honorary citizen.
Galella is the subject of a 2010 documentary film by Leon Gast
entitled Smash His Camera. The film's title is a quote from
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis directed to her security agent after
Galella pursued her and her children through Central Park, New York.
After
leaving the Paparazzi career, Galella is still active as a
photographer at prominent culture events.
He
currently lives in Montville, New Jersey with his wife Betty Burke
Galella.
Controversies
Galella
is widely known for his obsessive treatment of Jacqueline Kennedy
Onassis and the subsequent legal battles associated with it. The New
York Post called this "the most co-dependent celeb-pap[arazzi]
relationship ever". The famous 1972 free-speech trial Galella v.
Onassis resulted in a restraining order to keep Galella 50 feet
(later changed to 25 feet) away from Mrs. Onassis.
On
June 12, 1973, actor Marlon Brando punched Galella in the face
outside a restaurant in Chinatown in New York City, breaking the
photographer's jaw and knocking out five of his teeth on the left
side of his mouth. Galella had followed Brando, who was accompanied
by Dick Cavett, to the restaurant after a taping of The Dick Cavett
Show earlier that day. Galella hired Stuart Schlesinger to sue Brando
and ultimately settled for $40,000. Schlesinger reported in Smash His
Camera that Galella received two-thirds, but only cared about getting
the message out, "I don't want anyone to think they can go
around punching me if I am taking their picture. Get that story out,
not the money." Subsequently Galella continued to chase Brando
wearing a football helmet.
Galella
was once beaten by Richard Burton's security guards, losing one
tooth, and sued the actor unsuccessfully. Elizabeth Taylor, who
tended to be tolerant towards photographers, was often heard to
mutter, "I'm going to kill Ron Galella!", though the
actress would later use his photographs in her biography. Other
famous targets were Elvis Presley, whose bodyguards slashed his
tyres, Brigitte Bardot, being hosed down by her security staff, and
Sean Penn, who spat at him and reportedly punched him while being
photographed with his then-wife Madonna.
In
spite of his objectionable activity, art galleries across the world
acclaimed his work for its artistic and sociohistorical value. He was
praised by Andy Warhol who said: "My idea of a good picture is
one that's in focus and of a famous person doing something unfamous.
It's being in the right place at the wrong time. That's why my
favorite photographer is Ron Galella". Art writer Glenn O'Brien
defined him a "brilliant realist able to represent the world
faithfully".
