Douglas Kirkland
{{Short description|Canadian photographer (1934–2022)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Douglas Kirkland
| image =
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| birth_name = Douglas Morley Kirkland
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1934|08|16}}
| birth_place = Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| death_date = {{death date and given age|2022|10|02|88}}
| death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S.
| other_names =
| known_for =
| occupation = Photographer
| nationality =
| awards =
}}
Douglas Morley Kirkland (August 16, 1934 – October 2, 2022){{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/09/arts/douglas-kirkland-dead.html|title=Douglas Kirkland, Who Took Portraits of Movie Stars, Dies at 88|last=Sandomir|first=Richard|newspaper=The New York Times|date=October 9, 2022|accessdate=October 9, 2022}}[https://www.lastampa.it/spettacoli/2022/10/03/news/e_morto_a_88_anni_douglas_kirkland_ilfotografo_delle_dive-10246435/ È morto a 88 anni Douglas Kirkland, il fotografo delle dive] {{in lang|it}} was a Canadian-born American photographer. He was noted for his photographs of celebrities, especially the ones he took of Marilyn Monroe several months before her death.
Early life
Kirkland was born in Toronto on August 16, 1934.{{cite news|title=Douglas Kirkland, Canadian artist who famously photographed Marilyn Monroe, dead at 88|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/douglas-kirkland-canadian-artist-who-famously-photographed-marilyn-monroe-dead-at-88-1.6605796|first=Jackson|last=Weaver|date=October 4, 2022|accessdate=October 6, 2022|publisher=CBC News}} He was raised in nearby Fort Erie, where his father managed a small store that sold suits. He later recounted how he developed his penchant for photography while perusing the Life magazines his father brought back from his store. Kirkland attended Seneca Vocational High School in Buffalo, New York, before immigrating to the United States permanently.
Career
Kirkland first worked for a printing studio in Richmond, Virginia. He then served as Sherwin Greenberg's assistant for a year starting in 1957. He was subsequently employed by Look magazine. It was in that capacity that he was allocated a photo session with Marilyn Monroe in 1961. The photos, taken only a few months prior to her death, became some of the most noteworthy ones of her, thereby kick-starting his career.{{cite news|title=Toronto-born photographer Douglas Kirkland, known for Marilyn Monroe pics, dies at 88|url=https://www.ctvnews.ca/entertainment/toronto-born-photographer-douglas-kirkland-known-for-marilyn-monroe-pics-dies-at-88-1.6095575|first=David|last=Friend|date=October 4, 2022|accessdate=October 6, 2022|publisher=CTV News|agency=The Canadian Press}}
Over the years, various notable persons later posed for Kirkland, from the great photography innovator Man Ray and photographer/painter Jacques Henri Lartigue to Dr. Stephen Hawking.{{cite news|title=Marilyn, Or The Job: Photography|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1828637549|page=33|first=Shelley|last=Gare|date=October 15, 2016|access-date=October 6, 2022|newspaper=Australian Financial Review|id={{ProQuest|1828637549}}}}{{cite news|title=Self portrait: Douglas Kirkland|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/202863491|volume=18|issue=6|page=178|first=Anthony|last=Lasala|date=June 1998|access-date=October 6, 2022|newspaper=Photo District News|id={{ProQuest|202863491}}}} Entertainment celebrities he photographed included Romy Schneider,{{cite book|title=Look|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gpMTsh8TIl8C&q=%22Douglas+Kirkland%22+%22Romy+Schneider%22|volume=26|issue=5|publisher=Cowles Communications|year=1962|page=14|isbn=}} Audrey Hepburn, Mick Jagger,{{cite news|title=Douglas Kirkland, Hollywood Photographer, Dies at 88|url=https://variety.com/2022/film/news/douglas-kirkland-dead-celebrity-photographer-1235393467/|first=Pat|last=Saperstein|date=October 4, 2022|accessdate=October 6, 2022|magazine=Variety}} Sting, Björk,{{cite web|title=Bjork, Italy|url=https://emuseum.mfah.org/objects/100712/bjork-italy|access-date=October 6, 2022|publisher=Museum of Fine Arts, Houston}} Arnold Schwarzenegger, Morgan Freeman, Orson Welles, Andy Warhol, Oliver Stone, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Angelina Jolie, Leonardo DiCaprio,{{cite news|title=The best angles on the stars|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/747539600|page=6|first=Suzanna|last=Clarke|date=August 28, 2010|access-date=October 6, 2022|newspaper=The Courier-Mail|location=Brisbane|id={{ProQuest|747539600}}}} Coco Chanel, Marlene Dietrich,{{cite web|title=Douglas Kirkland, Photographer|url=https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp11395/douglas-kirkland|access-date=October 6, 2022|publisher=National Portrait Gallery|location=London}} Brigitte Bardot, Judy Garland, Elizabeth Taylor, Sophia Loren, Catherine Deneuve,{{cite news|title=A Different Digital Display Digital Imaging has Injected a New Creativity into Modern Photography, Says Veteran Lensman Douglas Kirkland|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/278397461|page=E1|first=Tom|last=Burton|date=February 15, 1994|access-date=October 6, 2022|newspaper=Orlando Sentinel|id={{ProQuest|278397461}}}} Michael Jackson, Paris Hilton,{{cite news|title=That Click review – photographer tribute develops into a dud|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/sep/30/that-click-review-douglas-kirkland|first=Leslie|last=Felperin|date=September 30, 2020|access-date=October 6, 2022|newspaper=The Guardian|location=London}} and Diana Ross.{{cite news|title=Diana Ross: Going Back|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-7893-0797-2|access-date=October 6, 2022|magazine=Publishers Weekly}} Kirkland's portrait of Charlie Chaplin is at the National Portrait Gallery in London.
Kirkland was contracted for work around the world and worked in the motion picture industry as a special photographer on more than 150 films. These included 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Sound of Music, Sophie's Choice, Out of Africa, The Pirate Movie, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Romancing the Stone,{{cite news|title=Photographer offers peek at his work|url=https://www.deseret.com/1998/4/26/19376649/photographer-offers-peek-at-his-work|first=Dave|last=Gagon|date=April 25, 1998|access-date=October 6, 2022|newspaper=Deseret News|location=Salt Lake City}} Titanic, and Moulin Rouge!. Some of his famous film shots include John Travolta in the dance sequence from Saturday Night Fever,{{cite news|title=Hollywood photographer Douglas Kirkland finally gets show at home in Canada|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/douglas-kirkland-photo-show-1.3591100|first=Nigel|last=Hunt|date=May 22, 2016|accessdate=October 6, 2022|publisher=CBC News}}{{cite web|title=John Travolta|url=https://npg.si.edu/object/npg_NPG.82.TC145|access-date=October 6, 2022|work=National Portrait Gallery|publisher=Smithsonian Institution}} a portrait of Judy Garland crying,{{cite news|title=Douglas Kirkland|url=https://americanhistory.si.edu/american-scene/douglas-kirkland|date=September 29, 2017|access-date=October 6, 2022|work=National Museum of American History|publisher=Smithsonian Institution}} and the March 1976 Playboy pictorial of Margot Kidder. In 1995 Kirkland received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American motion pictures Society of Operating Cameramen.{{cite news|title=Art explores our deepest questions about life|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1017944882|page=E4|date=June 1, 2012|access-date=October 6, 2022|newspaper=Times & Transcript|location=Moncton|id={{ProQuest|1017944882}}}}
Kirkland's picture book, Titanic (1998), was the first of its kind to reach No.1 on the New York Times Best Seller list and did so on both the hardcover and paperback lists. He followed this with the book project titled A Life in Pictures, which was released in 2013.{{cite book|title=A Life in Pictures: The Douglas Kirkland Monograph|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ex44mwEACAAJ|publisher=Glitterati|year=2013|last=Kirkland|first=Douglas|isbn=9780988174580}}
Personal life
Kirkland was married to Françoise until his death.{{cite news|title=The legendary photographer who captures Hollywood's elite|url=https://www.cnn.com/style/article/douglas-kirkland-photographer-interview/index.html|first=Sonia|last=Nava|date=December 21, 2017|access-date=October 6, 2022|publisher=CNN}} He had three children: Karen, Lisa, and Mark, who is a director of The Simpsons. They resided in Hollywood Hills during his later years.
Bibliography
In 1993, Kirkland presented the illustrated book titled: "ICONS: Creativity with Camera and Computer", published by Collins Publishers, which consisted of sixty-six original photographs of famous people that were modified digitally to result in a new creation, each accompanied by a commentary paragraph. Many of the pictures were of well-known actresses and actors from Hollywood. It also included music entertainers like Michael Jackson, Grace Jones, and Billy Idol, and fashion models; it also shows a couple of compositions of the physicist Stephen Hawking. The cover of the book was based on a 1969 portrait of Andy Warhol.Kirkland, Douglas. ICONS – Creativity with Camera and Computer. 1993 Collins Publishers; San Francisco. {{ISBN|0-00-255227-2}}. Hardcover, 10-1/4"x10-1/4" laminate color, 96 pages.
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.douglaskirklandphotography.com/ Douglas Kirkland Photography]
- [http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue0210/dk_index.html An Evening with Marilyn Monroe – Photographs by Doug Kirkland]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20050920232215/http://www.photoinsider.com/pages/kirkland/kirkland.html Stephanie Gregory article on Douglas Kirkland]
- [https://archive.today/20130131030127/http://pdngallery.com/legends/legends6/ Kodak and PDN online legends – Douglas Kirkland]
- {{discogs artist|Douglas Kirkland}}
- {{IMDb name|0456637}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirkland, Douglas}}
Category:Canadian photographers
Category:Canadian emigrants to the United States
Category:American portrait photographers