STORIES

Greta Garbo came to Ellen Graham’s Beverly Hills house for dinner in the mid 1970’s and saw the extraordinary image of her old friend Valentina Schlee hanging on a bedroom wall surrounded by portraits of Andy Warhol, Fred Astaire, David Bowie, Gloria Swanson, and so on.

Who are these people?” Garbo demanded, “Are they your friends?" Who took the pictures?” After confessing to having done the work herself, Graham was sure that the lens-allergic megastar was about to walk. Instead, she gave her judgement: “Well,” she said, “they are first class!” She stayed for dinner and returned many times. Graham never asked to photograph her. “That would have ended our friendship.” - John Loring, 2004

Fred Astaire, Beverly Hills, CA, 1966

For my “Hundred Most Attractive Men in the World” project, I began in 1966 with Fred Astaire. I arrived at his beautiful home in Beverly Hills. I was charmed. Fred was in his sixties, graceful in everything he did, and he was my idol. I told him how much I loved his singing, and he said, “I can’t sing.” I have every recording he ever made.

Halston, Marisa Berenson, New York, NY, 1975

When I asked Halston and Marisa Berenson to pose for me in 1975, they said they would do it in the fashion designer’s studio in New York. They were great friends and both very good looking. I thought the dress looked like an awning, but Marisa could make even an awning look great.

Carrie Fisher, Los Angeles, CA, 1974

In 1974, on assignment for Time in Los Angeles, CA, I photographed Carrie Fisher at her mother’s – Debbie Reynolds – house in Beverly Hills. Reynolds told me, “Be kind to her, because she doesn’t have much experience.” She was 17 years old and making her film debut in Star War. Carrie was hilarious, just like her mother.

Anthony Hopkins, Beverly, Hills, CA, 1972

In 1977, I was set up to photograph Anthony Hopkins by his press agent who liked my work. The photographs were sent to magazines all over the world. Hopkins was just starting out, and he was not very big at the time. He was very pleasant to work with and I think he is an exceptional actor.

Sharon Tate, Cielo Drive, Beverly Hills, CA, 1969

The actress Sharon Tate came to my house in Beverly Hills for a photo session in 1969. Sharon was sweet and lovable and had an innate sense of what to do and how to act for the camera. She was pregnant at the time, and we had such great rapport the she asked me to photograph the baby when she had it. But three months later, she was murdered by Charles Manson.

Andy Warhol, The Factory, New York, NY, 1974

The most silent subject I ever photographed was the artist Andy Warhol. Except for the stuffed Great Dane that he stood beside. Andy never spoke, just chewed gum. I had gone to The Factory, his studio in New York in 1974, to photograph him with his dachshund, Archie. Then I saw this stuffed Harlequin Great Dane. According to Second Hand Rose, the shop where Andy bought the dog, it had originally belonged to Cecil B. DeMille. The picture ran in People, and afterwards DeMille’s granddaughter wrote to say, “My grandfather would never have stuffed his dog.”