Don Ornitz
{{Short description|American photographer}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Don Ornitz
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1920|2|29}}
| birth_place = New York City, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1972|1|14|1920|2|29}}
| death_place = Los Angeles County, California, U.S.
| occupation = Photographer
| parents = Samuel Ornitz (father)
| relatives = Arthur J. Ornitz (brother)
}}
Don Ornitz (February 29, 1920 – January 14, 1972) was an American photographer.
Life and career
Ornitz was born in New York City, to parents Sadie (née Lesser) and screenwriter Samuel Ornitz, one of the Hollywood Ten accused of Communism.{{Citation | author1=Ryskind, Allan H | title=Hollywood traitors : blacklisted screenwriters : agents of Stalin, allies of Hitler | date=2015 | publisher=Washington, DC Regnery History | isbn=978-1-62157-206-0 }} As were many members of the entertainment community including Don's father, Samuel Ornitz was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee,{{Citation |author1=United States Congress House Committee on Un-American Activities |title=Hearings regarding communism in the United States Government. Hearings before the Committee on Un-American Activities, House of Representatives, Eighty-first Congress, second session |date=1950 |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/1475037 |pages=1221–1223 |publisher=U.S. Govt. Printing Office}} but refused to testify and was fined $1,000. Don's brother was a cinematographer Arthur J. Ornitz. In 1928, the family moved to California, where he spent most of his life.Ornitz, D. (1962). Living photography. New York: Maco.
Career
Ornitz photographed many celebrities,Paglia, Camille. (1995). The Lives They Lived: Elizabeth Montgomery;The Good Witch.(Magazine Desk). The New York Times Magazine, The New York Times Magazine, Dec 31, 1995. including Raquel Welch, Frank Sinatra, Walt Disney, and Audrey Hepburn.[https://books.google.com/books?id=RkkEAAAAMBAJ&q=Ornitz&pg=PA3 Don Ornitz (photographs) Oh What Sights-Water Sprites! In Life, 26 Apr 1963, Vol. 54, No. 17, ISSN 0024-3019, Published by Time Inc.] His obituary in Popular Photography magazine called him "the Titan of the Hollywood photographers".'Tribute to Don Ornitz 1920-1972'. In Popular Photography, Volume 71, page 4
He was also a photographer for several magazines, including Playboy,{{Citation | author1=Goldsmith, Arthur A | author2=Goldsmith, Arthur | title=The nude in photography | date=1975 | publisher=Playboy Press | edition=1st | isbn=978-0-87223-445-1 }} Travel and Camera,Travel and Camera, Volume 29, p.10, 42, 61, U.S. Camera Publishing Corporation, 1966 The Saturday Evening Post, Look, Pageant, Globe, Sports IllustratedThe Photographers: The best shooters are as competitive as the athletes they cover, so SI helps them keep score (and, yes, this list includes Joe DiMaggio, but, no, it's not the Yankee Clipper).(50th Anniversary/The Covers)
Sports Illustrated, Nov 10, 2003, Vol.99(18), p.153 and Life.'Elements of a New Trend'. In Life, 27 Jan 1958, Vol. 44, No. 4, p.61-64, ISSN 0024-3019[https://books.google.com/books?id=g1UEAAAAMBAJ&q=Ornitz&pg=PA3 'Everything's on the block'. In Life, 22 May 1970, Vol. 68, No. 19, p.46, 47, ISSN 0024-3019]'Mirage-style Lingerie'. In Life, Volume 63, Issues 1-4, p.44-51, Time Incorporated, 1967
His photograph of boys catching insects on a windowpane was selected by Edward Steichen for the 1955 Museum of Modern Art world-touring exhibition The Family of Man that was seen by 9 million visitors.{{Cite book | author1=Steichen, Edward | author2=Norman, Dorothy |editor=Mason, Jerry | others=Sandburg, Carl, (writer of foreword), Lionni, Leo, (book designer), Stoller, Ezra, (photographer) | location=New York, N.Y. | title=The family of man : the photographic exhibition | date=1955 | publisher=Museum of Modern Art / Maco Magazine Corporation | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/10809600 }}{{Citation | author1=Sandeen, Eric J | title=Picturing an exhibition : the family of man and 1950s America | date=1995 | publisher=University of New Mexico Press | edition=1st | isbn=978-0-8263-1558-8 }}
Ornitz died January 14, 1972, in Los Angeles County, California.
Books by Don Ornitz
{{Commons category}}
- Ornitz, D. (1962) Living Photography, Maco.
- Basch, P., Gowland, P., & Ornitz, D. (1958). Candid Photography. Fawcett Publications: Greenwich, Conn.
References
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Category:20th-century American Jesuits
Category:20th-century American photographers
Category:Photographers from New York City
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