Remembering Life Photographer Allan Grant
One of the great photographers from Life magazine’s golden age, Allan Grant, died on February 1 at his home in Brentwood, California. He was 88 years old. Other Life photographers, such as Alfred Eisenstaedt and Margaret Bourke-White, were better known than Grant. But few covered as wide a variety of stories. Among his most enduring images are his portraits of Hollywood beauties. He famously shot Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly together backstage at the 1955 Academy Awards and made the last photos of Marilyn Monroe at her Brentwood home in 1962.
One
of the great photographers from Life magazine’s golden age, Allan Grant, died
on February 1 at his home in Brentwood, California. He was 88 years old.
Other Life photographers, such as Alfred
Eisenstaedt and Margaret Bourke-White, were better known than Grant. But few
covered as wide a variety of stories. Among his most enduring images are his
portraits of
Eisenstaedt and Margaret Bourke-White, were better known than Grant. But few
covered as wide a variety of stories. Among his most enduring images are his
portraits of
Hollywood
beauties. He famously shot Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly together backstage at
the 1955 Academy Awards and made the last photos of Marilyn Monroe at her
Brentwood home in 1962. One of best known images was a Life cover shot of
actress Shirley MacClaine mugging for the camera with her daughter Sachi.
beauties. He famously shot Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly together backstage at
the 1955 Academy Awards and made the last photos of Marilyn Monroe at her
Brentwood home in 1962. One of best known images was a Life cover shot of
actress Shirley MacClaine mugging for the camera with her daughter Sachi.
M.C. Marden, the former director of photography
of People magazine, remembers Grant for his news photography as well. “He
covered the military during World War II, atomic bomb tests in Nevada, and in
1965 he shot one of the first articles dealing with autistic children,” writes
Marden.
Afer the assassination of JFK was reported, Grant was sent to Dallas, where he photographed Lee Harvey Oswald's wife, Marina (bottom). “Working with Life
correspondent
Tommy Thompson, they tracked down the family of Lee Harvey Oswald
and got the exclusive for the magazine,” writes Marden.
correspondent
Tommy Thompson, they tracked down the family of Lee Harvey Oswaldand got the exclusive for the magazine,” writes Marden.
Richard Stolley, Life’s Los Angeles
bureau chief at the time, remembers the coverage. “His kindness toward that
notorious family enabled him to win their confidence. After all, it wasn’t
their fault that they had a presidential assassin as son and husband, and Allan
instinctively understood that.”
bureau chief at the time, remembers the coverage. “His kindness toward that
notorious family enabled him to win their confidence. After all, it wasn’t
their fault that they had a presidential assassin as son and husband, and Allan
instinctively understood that.”
--David Schonauer
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