Fridae

Celebrity and leading fashion photographer, Herb Ritts, died on Thursday from complications of pneumonia at the University of California, Los Angeles, Medical Centre, publicist Stephen Huvane said. He was 50.

The openly gay photographer photographed celebrities including Madonna, Cindy Crawford dressed as a man and a pregnant Annette Bening for top fashion and culture magazines � Interview, Harper's Bazaar, Vogue and Elle.

He is also known for his striking, artistic portraits of celebrities such as Madonna; Christopher Reeve, wired up and immobile in a high-tech wheelchair and Elizabeth Taylor sporting a crew cut and a scar resulting from her brain surgery as well as her eighth trip down the aisle with construction worker Larry Fortensky in 1991. Ritts also photographed non-entertainers like Ronald Reagan, Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama and physicist Stephen Hawking.

Other than photography, Ritts also directed music videos, did work for top fashion designers including Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Chanel, Revlon and Giorgio Armani and published at least eight books of photographs.

Born in Los Angeles in 1952, he moved to the East Coast to attend New York's Bard College, studying economics and art history and then returned to California and took a job as a sales representative for his family's furniture business.

While photography started as a hobby for Ritts, he broke into the world of celebrity photography in the '70s when he got to know Richard Gere, who has then an unknown, through someone who was dating the actor at the time.

They had an impromptu photo session in a service station as a result of having a flat tire while on a drive in a desert.

A year later Gere became a star, and Ritts' found his photos featuring the handsome star in a white vest, his arms over his head and a cigarette dangling from his mouth, being used as publicity shots.

Ritts is survived by his mother, Shirley Ritts; a brother, Rory; a sister, Christy; and his partner, Erik Hyman.