Russell Gay

{{Short description|British photographer}}

{{infobox person

| honorific_prefix =

| name = Russell Gay

| honorific_suffix =

| image =

| birth_date = c. 1916

| birth_place =

| known_for = Founder of Fiesta and Knave magazines

| notable_works =

| style = Glamour photography

| movement =

| spouse = Patricia Maureen Rose

}}

Russell Gay (born {{circa|1916}}) was a British glamour photographer.{{Cite book |last=Halligan |first=Benjamin |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1295612077 |title=Hotbeds of licentiousness : the British glamour film and the permissive society |date=2022 |isbn=978-1-80073-487-6 |location=New York |pages=158 |oclc=1295612077}} He was known in the 1950s for his discovery of the model Sabrina.{{Cite web |title=Russell Gay |url=https://vintagefetish.website/russell-gay |access-date=2022-06-18 |website=Vintage Fetish |language=en-GB}} In 1957, Gay was described by Art and Photography magazine as "the UK’s top glamour photographer".

In the 1960s, under the name Mistral Films, Gay produced a series of low-budget films distributed on 8 mm film, including World Without Shame, and the sex/horror short film Blood Lust.{{Cite web |date=2014-09-15 |title=The Last Step Down and ultra-rare vampire sex film Blood Lust |url=https://www.horrorsociety.com/2014/09/15/last-step-ultra-rare-vampire-sex-film-blood-lust/ |access-date=2022-06-18 |website=Horror Society |language=en-US}} In 1966, Gay launched the soft-core pornographic magazine Fiesta, followed by its more upmarket sister magazine Knave in 1968.{{Cite web|date=2019-02-19 |title=Photographer Russell Gay |url=https://pamela-green.com/russell-gay/ |access-date=2022-06-18 |website=Pamela Green |language=en-GB}}

He was the first husband of Patricia Maureen Rose, who was 32 years younger than him.{{Cite book |last=Close |first=John Weir |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OXPWAAAAQBAJ&dq=%22Russell+Gay%22+photographer+born&pg=PT114 |title=A Giant Cow-Tipping by Savages: The Boom, Bust, and Boom Culture of M&A |date=2013-10-15 |publisher=St. Martin's Publishing Group |isbn=978-1-137-39775-1 |language=en|page=114}} She was later to marry the billionaire John Kluge.{{Cite web |last=Brennan |first=Morgan |title=The Rise And Fall Of Patricia Kluge |url=https://www.forbes.com/2011/03/10/patricia-kluge-lifestyle-billionaire-bankruptcy-estate.html |access-date=2022-06-18 |website=Forbes |language=en}}

Gay moved to live in Monaco in the 1980s, selling his magazine business to the magazines' printing company.{{Cite book |last1=Campbell |first1=Hayley |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cO60DQAAQBAJ&dq=%22Russell+Gay%22+monaco&pg=PA41 |title=The Art of Neil Gaiman |last2=Gaiman |first2=Neil |date=2017-06-19 |publisher=Octopus |isbn=978-1-78157-517-8 |language=en|page=41}}