Pioneering Paparazzo Has Stars in His Eyes

Long before we got up close and personal—maybe too personal—with the likes of Britney, Paris, and Lindsay, Ron Galella was on celebrity's front lines. In a New York profile of the original American paparazzo, Emily Nussbaum meets the man who was sued by Jackie Onassis and beaten up by Marlon Brando. "They pretend they don’t want it, but they really like it," an unapologetic Galella says of his prey.

But that doesn't mean Galella is comfortable with TMZ, celebrity mags, and the "culture of exposure" his work helped usher in. "What Galella misses is that lost, thick, shiny veil of Hollywood glamour," Nussbaum writes. These days, the 77-year-old focuses on his books—his latest, out this fall, features celebs trying to avoid his lens. The title? No Pictures.
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