Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Kayleigh Donaldson | Celebrity | June 5, 2026
In the 1960 film La Dolce Vita, directed by Federico Fellini, a bored tabloid journalist goes on a week-long journey of self-discovery in Rome. One of his colleagues is an incessant photographer named Paparazzo. The name, Fellini revealed, was inspired by the Italian slang for "mosquito", and the character was defined as "a buzzing insect, hovering, darting, stinging." Such photographers were not invented by La Dolce Vita, but the film helped to create the image that surrounds the job: incessant fame-chasers with no moral boundaries and a seeming pride for their invasive tendencies. The '60s and '70s saw a great boom in celebrity culture, and the cameras followed. Some paparazzi would do anything do get the picture, much to the chagrin of the people being photographed. One of the most notorious paparazzi of this era set his sights high, and one of the most famous women of her era was his favoured target.
Ron Galella loved being a pain in the arse. Born in New York and trained as a photographer while serving in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War, he found that taking pictures of celebrities could bring in a decent payday. A freelancer like most paparazzi, he knew he had to go the extra step to get the best photos. He had to get closer to the subject and capture them at their most interesting. If that meant causing a scene, he was happy to do so. If it meant a little light stalking... well, why not? He hid out in the bushes near Doris Day's house until he could get shots of her in a bikini. He even staked out a funeral for pictures of a grieving Al Pacino.
This made him a thorn in many a celebrity's side. He would get in people's faces and wouldn't stop, even if they asked him to. This meant he got punched a lot. Marlon Brando knocked out several of his teeth. Richard Burton's security guards lost him another one. Sean Penn spat at him. Galella would usually sue the people who did this, typically on first amendment grounds, and he earned a few decent settlements. It also didn't stop him from goading those who attacked him. After Brando punched him, Galella turned up wearing an American football helmet to take more photos.
Galella's most favoured subject, whether she liked it or not, was Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Following the assassination of her husband, Jackie tried to avoid public life as much as possible. After the death of Robert F. Kennedy, she feared for the safety of herself and her children, and she married her friend, the legendary shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis. Becoming Jackie O provided her with some serious financial safety but it only made her more famous and more obsessed over by the press. She was followed everywhere, and Ron Galella was particularly fascinated by her.
He would follow her around New York and Greece as she tried to live a reasonably normal life, taking candid photos of her without her permission. Understandably, Jackie did not approve. She was a traumatized widow with two young children and justifiable fears that people were trying to kill off Kennedys. Look at how Bobby Kennedy was killed, close to point blank range. I wonder how scared she must have felt to have strangers run up to her with these blocky cameras covering their faces and the lights blinding her view. Very few of us are trained to withstand those sorts of assaults. Galella was trying to get her at her worst, and she had increasingly little patience for it. At one point, during one especially heated chase, she instructed her security guard to smash his camera.
His most famous photograph of her was one he described as "my Mona Lisa." Often referred to as "Windblown Jackie", the photo captures the woman at her most peaceful and unaware. Galella had done a portfolio for a model who hadn't paid him for his work, so, as he put it on his website, "I figured I might as well shoot in Central Park across from Jackie's apartment in hopes of getting lucky." He saw her leaving her apartment and jumped into a cab, directing the driver to "follow that woman!" When Jackie crossed the road, Galella had the driver hit the horn to grab her attention. She looked towards the car, her hair blowing dramatically in the wind, and then, as she saw Galella, the smile disappeared from her face. He kept following her, and eventually, Jackie turned towards him and said, "Are you pleased with yourself?" "Yes, thank you," he said.
In 1972, they went to court. Onassis wanted Galella to stay away from her and her kids. He was issued a restraining order that demanded he stay 50 yards away from her at all times. He broke that order frequently, often carrying a tape measure to show the distance between them. He eventually agreed to step back from her and her kids on threat of jailtime. But he never expressed any regrets about his terrorizing of Jackie. He repeatedly insisted that she enjoyed the pursuit and attention he gave her, that he was responsible for cementing her status as an icon, and that she was "my girlfriend, in a way."
Galella had fans, including Tom Ford and Andy Warhol, but he was also a pioneer in the worst ways. Paparazzi stalking only got worse after his heyday. Look at what happened to women like Carolyn Bessette, Britney Spears, Amy Winehouse, Sienna Miller, and Princess Diana. Emma Watson spoke about photographers waiting until she turned 18 so that they could upskirt her without it being a sex crime. Many countries and states have introduced legal measures to quash their power, but now we live in an era of endless surveillance, be it through our phones or the new scourge that is meta-glasses. Anyone can be targeted like Ron Galella targeted Jackie, and it can be quickly monetised too.
Galella died in 2022, shameless to the end (and also a Trump supporter, because of course he was.) He embodied a certain nihilistic view of humanity that I would argue is pretty standard in terms of celebrity: that anyone who is famous, through choice or otherwise, should expect to be treated like an animal in a circus because it's the onlooker's right to think of them as such. Jackie Kennedy Onassis was chased across two continents by a man who insisted she loved being the victim. How many times have we heard a similar refrain about celebrities, influencers, or some poor woman being harassed by a guy she doesn't know is filming her?
