Guy Michael Webster (September 14, 1939 – February 5, 2019)) was one of the early innovators of rock ‘n’ roll photography. His fifty-year career spanned the worlds not only of music but film and politics. While shooting album covers and magazine layouts for numerous groups – The Rolling Stones, The Mamas and the Papas, The Beach Boys, The Byrds, The Doors, Simon & Garfunkel among many others – he also photographed film legends like Rita Hayworth, Dean Martin, and Natalie Wood. As the primary celebrity photographer for dozens of magazines worldwide, Webster captured entertainers including Igor Stravinsky, Barbra Streisand, Jack Nicholson and American presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton. Webster's work was collected in the award-winning book, Big Shots: The Photography of Guy Webster, published by Insight Editions. His passion for photography was matched by his love of Italian motorcycles; his personal collection of bikes considered among the world's finest. He spent the later part of his life in Ojai, California, where he volunteered and taught photography at the Oak Grove School (Ojai, California). He died there on February 5, 2019, as a result of complications arising from diabetes and liver cancer.
Early life
Guy Webster was born on September 14, 1939, in Los Angeles into a show business family. His parents were Gloria Benguiat Webster and Paul Francis Webster, an Academy Award–winning songwriter who won Oscars for his lyrics to "Secret Love", "Love is a Many-Splendored Thing", and "The Shadow of Your Smile". His younger brother, Mona Roger Webster, is a conceptual artist, real estate investor, and long time resident of Venice, California.
Webster grew up in the heart of celebrity-studded Beverly Hills, on North Crescent Drive. His neighbors included the Marx Brothers and Fred Astaire. Dean Martin's children were part of Webster's own "Rat Pack". Songwriters like Sammy Cahn were regulars for dinner; many nights spent at the family piano while Cahn, Duke Ellington, or Andre Previn joined Webster senior to work on songs as Guy took notes. His mother liked to paint and sketch but her primary concern was making sure her husband and two children were well-attended to.
Education
He attended Beverly Hills High School, with the expectation that upon graduation he would follow his father's admonition to enroll at Yale University and pursue a stable career in finance. He rejected that path; having come under the influence of rock 'n’ roll and blues music, he was keen to chart his own path. He earned a bachelor's degree from Whittier College. In 1961, he reported for six months of military duty at Fort Ord in Monterey, California, and served in the Army reserves. Owing to his deeply felt philosophical beliefs he declared himself a conscientious objector. His superiors responded by directing him away from more martial concerns, assigning him the task of teaching new recruits how to use a camera. "They asked if I knew anything about photography. I lied and said I did... I was absolutely clueless." Upon leaving the army Webster enrolled at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. He studied fine-art photography, inspired by the work of Irving Penn. In the early '70s, while living in Europe, Webster resumed his study of art history at the University of Florence, Italy.