Terry O'Neill

Chronicling 1960s culture in London by capturing the celebrities and public figures who came to define the era, British photographer Terry O’Neill (1938-2019) had a unique talent for capturing the human side of his subjects in natural, unstaged images that pulsed with the spirit of the Swinging Sixties. Working with many of music’s greatest stars, such as The Rolling Stones and David Bowie, his lens also captured politicians and members of the Royal Family, including Queen Elizabeth II herself.

Born in London in 1938 to Irish parents, O’Neill’s photography career began at London’s Heathrow Airport. Working for a technical photographic unit, he developed a fascination with capturing people in the transitory environment of the airport, waiting for their planes and unaware they were being photographed. One of the figures he caught with his camera was the Home Secretary Rab Butler, leading O’Neill to land a job on Fleet Street with the Daily Sketch as a commercial photographer.

O’Neill was also well known for photographing actors and going behind the scenes on movie sets. His series of images of his soon-to-be wife, the American actress Faye Dunaway, reclined poolside beside her Oscar statuette at the Beverly Hills Hotel following her win at the Academy Awards in 1977 are on permanent display at the National Portrait Gallery in London.