My free lance years brought me into contact with presidents, prime ministers, rock stars, senators, congressmen, movie stars, authors and as mentioned earlier, the Queen of England. After a while, you stop being in awe of them and just look at them as ‘other humans’…
people more famous than me…
A Story:
The first time I photographed moviedom superstar Elizabeth Taylor she was then the wife of John Warner who would soon become a U. S. senator from Virginia. I was shown into her little work room that had a tarnished ‘Oscar’ on the desk. Now Ms. Taylor was a huge star and you know you can’t waste her time so I looked around the room and found what I thought would make a nice setting. When she came in and I was introduced to her (yes, her eyes really were violet!) I showed her my idea and she says ”Oh, David, I’m sorry but I have a bad back and that chair would kill me!” And there I was with no plan B! But she was lovely and I enjoyed working with her then and another four times. PS: I didn’t wash the hand I shook hers with for two weeks!
Actor Gary Burghoff sits in at the "Rue Bourbon"
Apollo 13 reunion L-> R: Fred Haise, Jim Lovell, John Glenn, Gene Krantz and Ken Mattingly
Author Clive Cussler
Author Larry Niven
Actor, comedian Bill Cosby
Countess Ulla Wachtmeister, wife of the Swedish ambassador
Dan Aykroyd, Laraine Newman and Bill Murray rehearse on the 'Saturday Night Live' set
First Lady Betty Ford
Astronaut Thomas Jones who did four missions on the space shuttle
Hall of Fame baseball manager Sparky Anderson
Joseph H. Hirshhorn who donated the art gallery that bears his name on the Mall in Washington, D. C.
Leonard Bernstein and Michael Tilson Thomas confer during rehearsal
Lynda Bird Johnson Robb
NASA Apollo Chief Flight Director Gene Kranz
Radio personalities Frank Harden and Jackson Weaver
Saudi Ambassador Faisal al-Hegalan and General Alexander Haig
Senator Charles Percy and his wife Loraine
Senator John Warner
Senator Muriel Humphrey
Singer, actor Carl Anderson
NASA Director General Charles Bolden
Stage and screen star Helen Hayes
Sting roller skating in Jackson Square New Orleans
Treasury Secretary William Simon and his wife Carol
Television anchor Chris Curle
Actor Bill Murray at "Studio 8-H at 30 Rock"
Television news anchor J. C. Hayward at the Kennedy Center
Washington gossip columnist Diana McLellan
The cast of "Invitation to the Dance" - Eva Evdokimova, Ann Reinking, Julie Andrews, Rudolph Nureyev, Peggy Lyman, Sandman Sims