Ron Galella was an American photographer known for his unflinching and unapologetic images of celebrities. Galella was widely considered “the Godfather of American paparazzi,” and has been notoriously reviled by his subjects like Elizabeth Taylor, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and Marlon Brando—who notably broke Galella’s jaw and knocked out five teeth in 1973 after being perused relentlessly by the photographer. “My job is thick with risks, threats, occasional violence and sometimes the necessary folly that sometimes courts humiliation and ridicule,” he defiantly declared. “But I don’t care. I see myself as the dean of American paparazzi.” Born on January 10, 1931 in the Bronx, NY, he went on to serve as a photographer in the United States Air Force during the Korean War, afterward attending the Art Center College of Design for photojournalism. Galella’s work has appeared in hundreds of magazine and newspapers, including Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, The New York Times, The New Yorker, and Life. His personal prints have been exhibited at the Tate Modern in London and The Museum of Modern Art in New York, among others. Galella lived in Montville, NJ.