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My Life in Focus

A Photographer's Journey with Elizabeth Taylor and the Hollywood Jet Set

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1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

When Gianni Bozzacchi accepted an assignment as a photographer on the set of The Comedians (1967), he didn't know that his life was about to change forever. His ability to capture the beauty of candid moments drew the attention of the film's star, Elizabeth Taylor, and prompted her to hire him as her personal photographer. Not only did he go on to enjoy a jet-set life as her friend and confidant — preserving unguarded moments between the violet-eyed beauty and Richard Burton as they traveled the world — but Bozzacchi also became an internationally renowned photographer and shot some of the biggest celebrities of the 1960s and 1970s.

In My Life in Focus, Bozzacchi traces his journey from humble beginnings to the sphere of the rich and famous. As a child, he cultivated his skills by working with his father — a photographer for the Italian government. Following in his parent's footsteps was not something Bozzacchi had foreseen for his future; but his passion for taking pictures and his ability to put his subjects at ease enabled him to capture stunning images of some of the greatest stars of the twentieth century, including Audrey Hepburn, Steve McQueen, Raquel Welch, Mia Farrow, Clint Eastwood, and the royal family of Monaco.

Beautifully illustrated with many of the photographer's most iconic images, this lively memoir reveals private moments in the Taylor-Burton love story and provides an invaluable behind-the-scenes look at the business of filmmaking and the perils of celebrity.

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    • Kirkus

      November 15, 2016
      The personal shutterbug for Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton shares his behind-the-scenes impression of an age of glamour long gone.As Bozzacchi (Elizabeth Taylor: The Queen and I, 2002) acknowledges, decades after the photos on which he built his reputation, "even if I got elected President of the United States, I'd still be remembered as the man who was once Elizabeth Taylor's personal photographer." He gives his readers what he knows they want: lot of photos of the star he knew as "Baby Boobs," numerous anecdotes of the tempestuous couple (the author tried in vain to keep pace with Burton's drinking), and some hit-and-run impressions of others who came into his orbit, often because he was in the famous couple's orbit. Bozzacchi shot an official portrait of Princess Grace Kelly and her royal family as well as plenty of photos of her more casually posed (and shared here), largely because she had been so impressed with the way in which he captured the many dimensions of Elizabeth Taylor (who wrote the foreword to this book shortly before her death) and humanized her in the process. The author writes of the difficulties of shooting Picasso, of Al Pacino's shyness, of his encounters with everyone from Rock Hudson to John Wayne to Elvis Presley to Raquel Welch (who may well have had a fling with Burton, though at least one of them was too drunk to remember). He insists that the famous cover of the Beatles crossing Abbey Road was his idea and that the band then took it to another photographer and that he recognized the potential in Rocky when it was still a screenplay. He also addresses the end of an era, as glossy magazines that prized beauty gave way to a thirst for scandal and photos that captured celebrities at less than their best. A light entertainment.

      COPYRIGHT(2016) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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  • English

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