Terry O’Neill, whose images captured ‘60s London, dies at 81

LONDON — British photographer Terry O’Neill, whose images captured London’s Swinging ‘60s and who created iconic portraits of Elton John, Brigitte Bardot and Winston Churchill, has died at age 81. As one of the most iconic photographers of the last 60 years, his legendary pictures will forever remain imprinted in our memories as well as in our hearts and minds.” Born in London in 1938, O’Neill was working as a photographer for an airline at Heathrow Airport when he snapped a picture of a well-dressed man sleeping on a bench. O’Neill later said that when photographing the Beatles he placed John Lennon in the foreground because he thought that “it was obvious John was the one with the personality.” Soon O’Neill was photographing the hottest stars of the mid and late ‘60s: Bardot, Raquel Welch, Michael Caine, Steve McQueen, Diana Ross and Audrey Hepburn. Another iconic O’Neill photo, this one from 1977, depicted actress Faye Dunaway lounging poolside the morning after winning a best actress Oscar for her performance in “Network,” the statuette sitting on a table and newspapers strewn on the ground.