(Out of Print)

Ron’s second book, published in 1976, highlights the thousands of celebrities he captured during his first decade of shooting, the first of what would become many books documenting the progression of Galella’s prolific career.  

Gathered for the first time are many of Galella’s photographs during his “golden years” the 60’s & 70’s.  Many of these photos would later become iconic images, reproduced countless times around the world. 

Peppered throughout this volume are beautiful candid portraits which would become his signature work,  creating some of pop culture’s most recognized images.  

The megastars of Hollywood’s Golden era are represented:  Fred Astaire, Bette Davis Joan Crawford, Frank Sinatra Jimmy Stewart, Sidney Poitier, John Wayne, Doris Day, Greta Garbo, Marlena Dietrich, Elvis Presley,  Marlon Brando, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Federico Fellini,  Charlie Chaplin,  Grace Kelly with Alfred Hitchcock,    Sophia Loren,  and the “new” generation,  Robert Redford, Steve McQueen, Jack Nicholson Warren Beatty, Woody Allen,  Barbara Streisand,  John Lennon, David Bowie, Mick Jagger,  and hundreds more.  

The book includes an introduction by Bruce Jay Friedman, the popular playwright, author,  novelist, and Oscar-nominated screenwriter, (Splash) playwright, and actor. 

 “Artful and admiring, starstruck and satirical, Ron Galella‘s book reveals the stars in the natural and spontaneous moods that only “paparazzo” photojournalism can capture,” Friedman writes.  

Accompanied by informative and often witty captions.  Always exciting, and sometimes poignant, photos include a nine-year-old Tatum O’Neal comforting her weeping father Ryan after the Academy Awards.

Many of the images contained in this book would later become fine-art images found in collections and museums around the world.  

“Galella’s pictures seem always to add to their subjects, rarely to diminish.” Bruce Jay Friedman writes.

Published: 1976

Publisher: ‎ McGraw-Hill   192 pages

The book was reprinted in 1983 by Greenwich House and distributed by Crown Publishers by arrangement with McGraw-Hill under the title: Off-guard, Beautiful People Unveiled Before the Camera Lens by Ron Galella.