RON GALELLA

American, 1931 – 2022

Ron Galella, American (1931 – 2022), is widely regarded as the most famous and successful candid celebrity photographer in the world. Dubbed “Paparazzo Extraordinaire” by Newsweek and hailed as the, “Godfather of U.S. paparazzi” by Time and Vanity Fair magazines.

Ron’s passion for photography and his connection to his subjects created an intimacy resulting in a body of work that is unmatched, establishing a unique niche in entertainment photojournalism.

Ron’s nearly six-decade career spans generations, ushering out the old Hollywood studio guard system including Charlie Chaplin, Ava Gardner, Gary Grant, Greta Garbo, John Wayne, Audrey Hepburn, Frank Sinatra, Liz Taylor, Bridget Bardot, Sophia Loren, Grace Kelly,  Alfred Hitchcock, Federico Fellini, Bette David, Jimmy Cagney, and transitions to the rough and tumble mavericks of the 60s and 70’s-Marlon Brando, Steve McQueen, Richard Burton, Clint Eastwood, Jack Nicholson, Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, and beyond! 

Ron served as a United States Air Force photographer during the Korean conflict before attending the ArtCenter College of Design in Los Angeles, where he earned a degree in Photojournalism.

Born in 1931 and raised in the Bronx – twelve miles from Manhattan –  Ron criss-crossed between the East and West coasts of America, with numerous stops around the world in-between. He took millions of photographs of every conceivable type of celebrity – film, television, music, supermodels, fashion, athletes, politicians, business moguls, artists, authors, and innovators.

During his unprecedented career he amassed the world’s largest archive from a single source dedicated to popular culture.  He’s photographed them all: from Elvis Presley, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, Muhammad Ali,  Joe Lewis, David Bowie, Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, Simon & Garfunkel,  Jackie Onassis, Princess Diana, to Run DMC, the Beastie Boys, Lady Gaga, and Taylor Swift.

His two most popular selling images – Windblown Jackie and the Lennon and Jagger photo gracing the cover of Ron’s latest book, 100 Iconic Photographs, A Retrospective by Ron Galella, have one thing in common: neither of the subjects knew they were being photographed.   They are, according to his manifesto, the perfect Galella photographs, iconic people caught unrehearsed, spontaneous in his inimitable style.