Stalker of the superstars became a celebrity himself

The judge banned him from stalking Jackie Kennedy Onassis any longer. And Marlon Brando just let his fists speak: At a restaurant in New York’s Chinatown, he broke the jaw of the society photographer who was chasing him like a hornet. Ron Galella, the godfather of American paparazzo photography, died of heart failure at his home in New Jersey on Saturday at age 91.

Galella rose to fame in the 1960s when he appeared for magazines such as people and us started taking pictures of celebrities. He would wait at restaurants and artist entrances for Mick Jagger, Liza Minelli or some other superstar to come out and then make off-guard, without asking for permission, took a photo of them with his Nikon camera with flash. Some stars looked innocently into the lens, like hares in the headlights of a car.

Many other artists reacted defensively when Galella once again took them down. They held a newspaper in front of their heads, spat at him or sent their security men after him. Galella thought it best: that resistance only resulted in more exciting photos.

Also read this interview with Ron Galella: “Smash his camera!”

The photographer had skin like an elephant and turned his craft into a game. Recovering from his jaw fracture, he waited for Marlon Brando, wearing an American football helmet on his head. With his camera in hand, he allowed himself to be portrayed together with the stoic-looking actor. Bingo! – another photo that the tabloids were fighting over.

The appreciation for his work grew over the years. His photographs, mostly in black and white, were admired for their composition, insight and energy, an intimate kind of war photography at a time when every citizen of the world still walked around with a camera in their pocket for selfies with VIPs. Books with his snapshots appeared, leading galleries started exhibiting them, and museums collected his work. The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the most important museum of modern and contemporary art in the world, has no fewer than five of his photographs in its permanent collection.

Wouter van Leeuwen, from the gallery of the same name in Amsterdam specializing in photography, has had five exhibitions with Galella since 2004. Before that, he visited the photographer at least seven times in New Jersey. Van Leeuwen: „I always stayed at his house. A very friendly and sweet man. He let me rummage freely in his archive. There I was allowed to browse through the hundreds of boxes of prints to see if there was anything I liked. In the evening we would have dinner together.”

Galella, who was then 84 years old, came to Amsterdam for the first exhibition. That turned out to be a huge happening, Van Leeuwen recalls. “Joop van Tellingen and other Dutch paparazzi came to pay him tribute. Galella was proud and loved all that crowds.”

When he himself celebrity this was at the expense of his photography, says Van Leeuwen. Many stars began to enjoy being captured by Galella. “Instead of being cross, they patiently started posing for him.”