Hollywood pioneer says he has no regrets

But Ron Galella, who at 77 still has an active press pass, says he he has little interest in being part of a celebrity photo industry that now values controversy over glamour.

Galella has a new book titled "No Pictures" that shows famous faces like Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger and actors Sean Penn and Elizabeth Taylor shielding themselves from his lens. He says celebrities who act like they do not want to be photographed are hypocrites who secretly adore the attention.

Galella says the paparazzi business has changed since his heyday.

"When I started it was one to one. Me and Jackie. Me and Liz Taylor," he said. "The photographers today ... they go for bad pictures, cellulite. I think it's a negative thing," he said.

"No Pictures," published this month by powerHouse Books, is Galella's sixth book and it shows how unpopular his technique often made him with some of his subjects. Penn is shown spitting on him and Jagger sticks up his middle finger.

To Galella it was all an act, especially in Onassis' case.

"I think she loved being pursued," he said. "It's true that she was not the first lady anymore but she was still famous. And people want to know about her. She didn't face reality."

Paparazzi approach
Galella first photographed Onassis in 1967, four years after the assassination of her first husband, President John F. Kennedy, when she was living next to New York's Central Park.

Over the years, he took thousands of images of Onassis and her children, Caroline and John. After a 1972 trial, Galella was ordered to keep 100 yards away from her home and 50 yards, later reduced to 25 yards, from her and her children. He said the trial made him more famous and helped him earn more money.

He caught Greta Garbo sunbathing by snapping a photo through her neighbor's hedge. After a day spent tailing Marlon Brando in 1973, the actor knocked out five of Galella's teeth so he took to wearing a helmet when photographing the actor.