“ I shot Jack on the movie Easy Rider— and after. He wanted to be the wolf man; big beard. Women would see him and say,‘ I’ d fuck that guy in two seconds.’ He is very sexy, intelligent... and has had amazing longevity.”
her in 1967 with Brian Jones at The Monterey International Pop Festival. I knew her from the Velvet Underground. She had an earlier life as a model and was in a couple of Fellini movies. She was difficult to photograph close up because of her amphetamine lips and all that. But Andy Warhol loved that photograph so much he blew it up life size in the studio. You didn’ t shoot Marilyn Monroe but you knew her, right? Look, my first blonde that I got to know was Marilyn Monroe. Joe DiMaggio’ s son was at camp with me when Joe was married to Marilyn and they would come up on family weekends. Even as a kid I would look at this blonde, not knowing anything about sex, and I would think,“ That’ s the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.” I would dream about her. So, when she was making the movie Let’ s Make Love for 20th Century Fox, I was actually working on the sound stage next door, doing lighting and special effects for the film Can Can. That was my summer job out of college. So Marilyn was next door and I went in and we talked. She had a magnetism I have never seen. Never seen anything like it. It’ s like Elvis. If you had met Elvis and talked with him, you would know, his magnetism was so strong. If Elvis was in the room you couldn’ t take your eyes off him. Same with Marilyn. She was so magnetic. In the early days, Jean Harlow was supposed to be the same. I asked Marilyn for a signed photograph and she signed it,“ LOVE to yoU, GUY.” I took it home and went off to college in September— and my mother, during menopause, threw it away thinking, Oh, Guy doesn’ t want all this childhood stuff. Your portraits of Malcolm McDowell are legendary. Malcolm is one of my best pals. I met Malcolm when he was doing Time after Time; I kind of knew we were going to be friends. He’ s a great looking guy with a lot of energy, and so much of that energy comes through when you are with him or take a photo of him. He had the energy of the British Invasion. Malcolm worked with Stanley Kubrick, who was my idol, I wanted to work on one of Kubrick’ s films and I was invited to but not by Kubrick. When Kubrick found out he said,“ Absolutely no one shoots stills on my films!” Dennis Hopper was a neighbor for years next to your Venice studio, right? I was friends with Dennis forever. He was a good photographer and an interesting guy. I knew him when he went out with Michelle Phillips. I shot him a few times; we were always stoned. And you shot Jack Nicholson right when he was becoming a star. Yes. I shot him on the movie Easy Rider. He needed some pictures when he was a young actor and he heard about me and
I was shooting all the up-and-coming young actors at the time. So I said,“ Come on over.” I took a couple of quick headshots and then after Easy Rider I shot him when he was producing the movie Goin’ South. He wanted to be the wolf man, that was his thing; big beard. He’ s had amazing longevity. And women see him and say, I’ d fuck that guy in two seconds. He is very sexy— and he’ s intelligent. See, one of the things I like about Jack is that he doesn’ t go on talk shows. That’ s the biggest mistake for a lot of actors, it makes them too accessible to the average person and the mystique is gone. Harry Dean Stanton photographs so well. What was it about him? He has had a very interesting career but it is amazing he has never been a household name. The guy is a great actor with great presence. I met him through Jack. Did you take the first ever pictures of Jeff Bridges? We go way back. I knew him before he married his wife. From the first moment I saw him on film I knew he had it, he was a sweetheart. He’ s totally handsome, has this great voice and is smart and educated. Why wouldn’ t he be a star? You never really succumbed to anything near the crazed rock‘ n’ roll lifestyle that you were photographing. How did you navigate the gauntlet? I loved the musicians, actors, and directors that I shot. I liked their music and movies and I made some friends, but I didn’ t get caught up in it. I grew up in a world of celebrity. A celebrity I was shooting was no different to me than or the guy next door. And I think that’ s why all these stars were comfortable with me. What did your dad think of your career as a rock‘ n’ roll photographer? My dad was very shy, like an English professor. He was brilliant and knew every word in the dictionary, all the different spellings, all the different meanings. He wasn’ t threatened by rock‘ n’ roll in the mid and late 50s because he was making big hits during the 50s and the 60s. You know,“ Somewhere My Love,” which combines his lyrics with the melody of“ Lara’ s Theme” from the film Doctor Zhivago. He was doing OK. But he didn’ t like anyone except Bob Dylan. One day I told him I was going to photograph Simon & Garfunkel for an LP cover and I wanted him to meet them. I brought them by and my father and Paul Simon hit it off because he learned Simon was a Dickensian scholar. So was my dad, he had a Dickens collection. Then Paul Simon says,“ Hey, you want to hear our new song?” He pulled out his guitar in the living room, in Beverly Hills, and my dad was sitting there, who is not a rock‘ n’ roller, and he listened to“ Sounds of Silence” for the first time.
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