Douglas Kirkland, the legendary Canadian-born American photographer who captured images of renowned celebrities including Marlene Dietrich, Marilyn Monroe, Charlie Chaplin, Brigitte Bardot, Mick Jagger, Catherine Deneuve, Kim Basinger, Angelina Jolie and so many others, has died. He was born on August 16, 1934 and died October 2, 2022 at age 88.
What was Douglas Kirkland’s cause of death? Kirkland passed away on Oct. 2 of natural causes.
Kirkland was famous for his celebrity portraits which became nearly as iconic as the celebrities themselves. His photographs also documented some of the most important film shoots in Hollywood history.
Kirkland’s most famous images are sultry shots of Monroe taken in 1961 in which the actress appears in bed embracing white silk sheets.
Others are;
- John Travolta in the dance sequence from Saturday Night Fever,
- A portrait of Judy Garland crying and the March 1976 Playboy pictorial of Margot Kidder.
Kirkland also worked in the motion picture industry as a special photographer on more than 150 films including;
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- Sophie’s Choice,
- Out of Africa,
- The Pirate Movie,
- Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,
- A Space Odyssey,
- The Sound of Music,
- Romancing the Stone,
- Titanic, and
- Moulin Rouge!
In 1995, he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American motion pictures Society of Operating Cameramen.