Life Photographer Allan Grant Dies

February 06, 2008

By Daryl Lang

Allan Grant, a Life magazine staff photographer who covered news and personalities from the 1940s through 1960s – from Howard Hughes to Shirley MacLaine to Richard Nixon – has died. He was 88.

Grant died Feb. 1 at his home in Brentwood, Calif., from Parkinsons disease, according to his wife, Karin Grant.

Like other Life photographers during the magazine’s heyday, Grant frequently got a close-up look at the biggest stories of the day. He covered subjects as varied as nature, medicine, politics, entertainment and art. His pictures appeared on 28 Life covers.

Among his most famous photos was a 1959 Life cover of actress Shirley MacLaine and her daugher Sachi. He also shot a well-known photo of Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly backstage at the 1955 Academy Awards.

Many of his images reflected his sense of humor, including a shot of horror film stars Vincent Price, Basil Rathbone, Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre eating lunch together while sitting in coffins. Grant had such a quick wit that he was chosen to emcee the Life’s 25th anniversary party, Karin Grant says.

But Grant also covered serious subjects, including a Life story on autism and later a 1968 TV documentary called “What Color Is The Wind?” about a blind child and his sighted twin brother.

Grant photographed Marilyn Monroe shortly before her death in August 1962. He and Life reporter Tommy Thompson were the first to locate, interview and photograph the family of Lee Harvey Oswald after the assassination of John F. Kennedy in Dallas.

Among his other historic shots were images of A-Bomb tests in the early 1950s, the first flight of Hughes’s huge “Spruce Goose” airplane, and 1945 photos of V-E Day celebrations in Times Square and the U.S.S. Enterprise carrier entering a misty New York Harbor.

Grant was born in New York on Oct. 23, 1919. He took up photography and began working in darkrooms. He began freelancing for Life in 1945 and joined the staff in 1946, after impressing his editors with an election-night portrait of U.S. Rep. Joe Martin, Speaker of the House.

After leaving Life in the late sixties, Grant became a producer of educational documentaries.

He is survived by his wife Karin, and their daughter Kristina and sons Richard and Ronald, and three grandchildren. A memorial service is being planned.

by Robert Goddyn at Thu Feb 07 08:20:07 UTC 2008 (ed. Mar 12 2008) Working to hard / The Hague, Netherlands | Bookmark this | Digg this |