MY FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES
CELEBRITY SNAPPER LOOKS BACK ON TOP CAREER AND REVEALS HOW FAR HE WENT TO GET PERFECT PICTURE
He is one of the world’s most successful celebrity photographers – famed for the iconic images he took of everyone from Fred Astaire and John Lennon to Muhammad Ali.
Now, almost 30 years after turning his back on Hollywood and hanging up his camera, Scot Cyril Maitland has opened up his picture archive to the Sunday Mail as he recalls many of the highlights of his extraordinary career.
The 88-year- old fell in love with photography thanks to a small Kodak camera his parents gave him and, within a few years, he was in the US capturing the trust – and friendship – of many famous faces.
He even recalls how he had to get “high” with Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys before he would allow him to take his picture.
He was one of the first snappers invited into stars’ homes capturing, among others, Astaire playing pool. He also photographed Barbra Streisand, Natalie Wood and president Richard Nixon.
Cyril, who was born in Larbert, near Falkirk, but grew up in Hillington, Glasgow, turned his back on celebrity after witnessing a catalogue of harrowing events including a gunman breaking into his LA home and holding him and his wife hostage overnight. He moved to Oregon, where he became a landscape painter and still lives.