The owner, Robert Quiroz, had invited me and authorized me to photograph the Burtons without their knowledge because he was interested in publicizing his hotel. The movie was being shot at the Posada Jacarandas Hotel. Then came the worst day of my life! I was in Cuernavaca, Mexico to photograph the filming of Hammersmith Is Out, in which Peter Ustinov was directing Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. I was found guilty of breaking this order four times and faced seven years in prison and a $120,000 fine later settling for a $10,000 fine and surrendering my rights to photograph Jackie and her children. Onassis resulted in a restraining order to keep me 50 yards (later changed to 25 feet) from Jackie. It’s where I learned the basics at the Air Force Photography and Camera Repair School.ĭuring your hey-day in the ‘70s and ‘80s what do you feel were your biggest challenges? It would prove to be one of the best decisions I ever made. Rather than wait to be drafted into the Army, I enlisted in the Air Force. ![]() In addition to raising five rambunctious children, Michelina adored cinema and took me to see many movies. ![]() My mother instilled in me a love of the limelight: Though my brothers and sister were given traditional Italian names, she named me after the Academy Award–winning actor Ronald Colman (she had a thing for dark-haired men with English accents). My childhood was filled with watching actors and actresses on the silver screen, doing odd jobs around the neighborhood, and navigating a family life that was loud, antagonistic, and surprisingly permissive-an ideal breeding ground for the paparazzo I would become.ĭid your family influence your career as a photographer? Though only twelve miles north of Manhattan, the days during the Depression-era Bronx were spent with my brothers and sister inventing games, exploring the countryside, and making mischief. Life in our home on Oakley Street was full of surprises for the Galella children. I was born the third of five children to my parents both of Italian heritage. Tell us about your early years as a boy in the Williamsbridge section of the Bronx. I often wondered if there were enough hours in the day for Ron Galella. I’ll never forget his enthusiasm as he delivered the latest scoops of the celebrity world: Hollywood, New York, and points beyond landed on my desk. It felt like memory lane for this magazine editor, who was just starting in the business at a celebrity magazine when she first encountered this expert lensman. I was recently honored to visit Ron to celebrate the launch of his latest book, the 50th anniversary of perhaps his best-known photograph Windblown Jackie, and his 90th birthday. His latest book venture is 100 Iconic Photographs: A Retrospective by Ron Galella and features luminaries the likes of Elvis, Princess Diana, David Bowie, and Paul McCartney, in the spontaneous, off-guard style that only Ron could achieve. ![]() The film premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and received the Grand Jury Award for Directing in the U.S. Soon after it was published, Ron transitioned to film with Smash His Camera, a documentary of his life and career by Oscar-winning director Leon Gast. Ron’s insatiable passion has also given us his many highly-acclaimed photo-art books, including Disco Years, honored in 2006 by The New York Times. The Museum of Modern Art New York, the Tate Modern in London, and the Helmut Newton Foundation Museum of Photography in Berlin, among others, all maintain collections of his iconic works. It’s this passion for the fine art of photography, coupled with his personal approach to his craft, which now sees Ron’s body of work exhibited at museums and galleries throughout the world.
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