“I, like millions of others, often lived vicariously through his pictures. Scandal, romance, personality, and adventure always leapt from the surface of his portraits,” famed fashion designer Tom Ford writes in the book’s introduction.

“They are raw, real, and tell us more about each subject than he or she might have liked,” Ford says while also acknowledging being influenced by Galella’s photographs throughout the designer’s career.

Published: 2001

Ron Galella has been called every name in the book, the tome’s description reads.

In 1955, fresh out of the United States Air Force, he became a paparazzo–and redefined the genre. From his notoriously obsessive treatment of Jackie Onassis and the subsequent legal battles associated with it, to his alarmingly beautiful photographs of celebrities in the 60s and 70s, Galella has always been in a category of his own.

Possessed of a unique talent to catch stars at moments when they seemed most alive, most human, most stylish, Galella was able to do something no other celebrity watcher was able to do: become a star himself. Featuring images of Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Cher, Elizabeth Taylor, Marlon Brando, Ali McGraw, Farrah Fawcett, Robert Redford, Raquel Welch, Mick Jagger and many, many more of the rich, famous and hounded.

“Every person featured in this book had a relationship with Ron Galella,” actress Diane Keaton writes in the book’s forward.

“Some denied it. Some flight it, like Sean Penn or Sam Shepard, others, like Burt Reynolds and Liza took their cues from the master. While others embraced it, “ she notes.

“I am glad to be among the Dean’s cavalier of celebrities, not just for the recognition value, which I can’t deny once pursued with a relish I am ashamed of, but also because of the education he’s given me. Ron Gallela‘s photographs are devoid place, but enriched by the character of fame. Fame, that hollow calling to many, encountered counted by few. Ron Gallela has given us the true landscape of celebrity in the faces of the eminently watchable, not so mysterious, victims of narcissus’s kiss,” Mrs. Keaton writes.

Printed in Germany, this large coffee table book (9.75 x 0.75 x 13.5 inches) weighs in at over four pounds and printed on heavy gloss stock.

Edited by Steve Bluttal.

Publisher: Greybull Press 248 pages