You have to be quick to capture celebrities in the wild. Montville’s Ron Galella knows a thing or two about that. He was a paparazzo long before you’d ever heard that word—and became more recognizable than many of the stars he shot during his spectacular 50-year career.

Allen & Keaton
September 12, 1972 • NYC Woody Allen and Diane Keaton at a ‘A Tracy and Hepburn Film Memoir’

Steve McQueen
April 15, 1973 • Montego Bay, Jamaica Steve McQueen on location filming Papillon

Lennon & Jagger
March 13, 1974 • Century City, CA Mick Jagger and John Lennon at Film Institute Lifetime Achievement Awards honoring James Cagney

Redford
May 15, 1974 • NYC Robert Redford at Mary Lasker’s cocktail party for Wayne Owens

Elvis
June 25, 1974 • Philadelphia Elvis Presley leaving Philadelphia International Airport

Cher
November 20, 1974 • NYC Cher during Romantic and Glamorous Hollywood Design Exhibition at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Pacino & De Niro
February 14, 1982 • NYC Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro attend Night of 100 Stars Gala at the New York Hilton Hotel

Madonna & Penn
August 13, 1986 • NYC Sean Penn and Madonna break for lunch from the rehearsals for the Lincoln Center workshop production of Goose and Tomtom at the Mitzi Newhouse Theatre, Lincoln Center

Ron Galella’s work is in the collections of the Modern Museum of Art in New York and San Francisco, the Tate Modern in London and the Helmut Newton Foundation Museum of Photography in Berlin. Newsweek once called him a “paparazzo extraordinaire.” Debbie Harry, one of Galella’s favorite subjects, wrote to him that “any photographer that is fascinated with people, and then is able to catch them live, not in a studio set up, has a real gift.” He is sharing that gift in Shooting Stars, a collection of untold stories and rarely seen candid photos of entertainment and society icons. Sued by Jackie Onassis (another all-time favorite) and socked in the jaw by Marlon Brando, Galella has many a tale to tell—from his early life in the Bronx to his remarkable red carpet adventures.