Hold the front page
The photographer who for five decades has been in the right place at the right time
HOLD THE FRONT PAGE
Photographer Harry Benson was renowned for being in the right place at the right time, as a new exhibition of his work highlights
words: laura richardson
MOST TOP PHOTOGRAPHERS are fortunate enough to capture one major world event in their career, some even manage to witness several, but few can boast Harry Benson’s extraordinary knack for being in the right place at exactly the right time. From humble beginnings as a wedding photographer who developed pictures in his garden shed, Glasgow-born Benson went on to photograph some of the biggest fi gures in politics, entertainment, sport and royalty across the globe. Having cut his teeth in the competitive world of Fleet Street newspapers, he went to America in the 1960s – on board the same fl ight as the Beatles – where he has been resident ever since. Present at the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall, feet away from Bobby Kennedy when he was shot, and in the room with Richard Nixon when he resigned, an unnerving ability to be at the heart of the action has favoured Benson throughout his illustrious 50-year career. His legendary discretion gained him access to stars in even their most private moments – the Clintons kissing, Elizabeth Taylor in her hospital bed, Caroline Kennedy on her wedding day – which lends his pictures a distinctive intimacy. From the Beatles to George Bush, the Apollo astronauts to Ariel Sharon, his remarkable portfolio is currently on display in the UK for the fi rst time. Aptly titled Being There: Harry Benson’s Fifty Years of Photojournalism, the exhibition (sponsored by Scottish law fi rm, Burnham LLP) is showing at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery until 7 January 2007. £6/£4 concessions; Scottish National Portrait Gallery, 1 Queen Street, Edinburgh; +44 (0)870 118 1859; www.nationalgalleries.org/benson
THE BEATLES AND CASSIUS CLAY, MIAMI, FLORIDA, 1964
Benson accompanied the Beatles on their trip to Miami for their second appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. “I took the Beatles to meet Cassius Clay, as he was then known, at the 5th Street Gym before his title fi ght with the heavyweight champ, Sonny Liston,” Benson recalls. “Clay completely overwhelmed them, shouting: ‘I’m the greatest. You’re pretty, but I’m prettier.’ He made them lie down, stand up, run around the ring. They had never taken a backseat before. John [Lennon] told me I had made a fool of them and he wouldn’t speak to me for a month.” Clay, of course, won the title from Liston and from then on was known as Mohammed Ali.
FRANK SINATRA AND MIA FARROW, TRUMAN CAPOTE’S BLACK AND WHITE BALL, PLAZA HOTEL, NEW YORK, 1966
Writer Truman Capote was at the peak of his career, having just published In Cold Blood, when he devoted the summer of 1966 to organising what came to be dubbed ‘the party of the century’. His masked Black and White Ball was based on Cecil Beaton’s designs for the Ascot scene from My Fair Lady. Many of those who weren’t on the carefully chosen guest list contrived to be ‘out of town’ on the date of the party, leading Capote to boast that he had made 500 friends and 15,000 enemies in the process.
CAROLINE KENNEDY, HYANNIS, MASSACHUSETTS, 1986
“Jacqueline Kennedy called to ask me to photograph Caroline’s wedding because several years earlier I had photographed her and her brother, John, for the cover of Life magazine. I didn’t believe it was Mrs Kennedy calling and thought it was someone from the offi ce playing a trick. I had seen her in Mortimer’s Restaurant the day before so I asked her where she had had lunch that day. When she said the second table on the right, I knew it was really her.”
APOLLO 11 ASTRONAUT PARADE, NEW YORK, 1969
The manned moon landing by Apollo 11 on 20 July, 1969 was an almost mythical achievement watched by an estimated audience of 600 million on live television the world over. Appreciative New Yorkers turned up to greet the returning astronauts with a ticker-tape parade through Lower Manhattan.
PRESIDENT JF KENNEDY AND CHARLES DE GAULLE, PARIS, 1961
In the first year of his presidency, John F Kennedy made a three-day state visit to Paris, meeting his French counterpart, Charles de Gaulle. There was a media frenzy, prompting JFK to announce: “I am the man who accompanied Jackie Kennedy to Paris.” John Kennedy Jr requested a copy of the photograph of his late father for his offi ce wall, thanking Benson with a note that read, “This was when politics was fun.”
THE DUKE AND DUCHESS OF WINDSOR, NEW YORK, 1966
“The PR person for Cunard Lines rang very early one morning. The Duke and Duchess of Windsor had just arrived and they had agreed to be photographed. I grabbed my camera and got to the dock as fast as I could. Dapper in his navy checked bespoke suit, at times the Duke seemed pensive as the Duchess led the conversation and answered most of the questions.”
DOLLY PARTON, NASHVILLE, 1976
“Dolly Parton makes everyone feel right at home with her big smile and welcome. She was getting ready for me to photograph her when I said, ‘Just keep doing what you’re doing’. It was a completely natural picture, no lights were set up, yet it was the one I liked best from that day.”
THE BEATLES ARRIVING IN NEW YORK, 1964
Among the photographers awaiting the Beatles off their fi rst fl ight to America was Bill Eppridge of Life magazine. “The plane pulls up to the ramp and the door opened,” he recalls. “Out come the four Beatles. Then this character comes out right behind them and he started posing them. Eddie [Adams, of the Associated Press] and I looked at each other and said, ‘Who is that?’ We had no idea: it was Harry Benson’s fi rst trip to the United States. It’s been going on like that for years. Every time you’d know what the best spot is, and who shows up in that spot? Harry Benson.”
FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA, AL PACINO AND DIANE KEATON, NEW YORK, 1971
“The sidewalks had been blocked off outside Radio City Music Hall for the fi lming. It was late at night and very cold as Coppola directed the scene in The Godfather in which Pacino learns his father has been shot.”
PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN AND NANCY REAGAN, THE WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON DC, 1985
“As Ronald and Nancy Reagan entered the White House Map Room for a photo shoot, dressed for a black tie state dinner, they were greeted by the sounds of Frank Sinatra’s Nancy with the Laughing Face. The press offi cers looked alarmed but the Reagans loved it and obligingly danced across the set. The published cover boosted sales of Vanity Fair, securing the magazine’s future.”
