Peter Basch (September 23, 1921 – March 15, 2004) was an American magazine and glamour photographer. He was born in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

, lived and died in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. The main body of his work was produced in the fifties and sixties.

Early life

Peter Basch was born in Berlin,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, the only child of

Felix Basch Felix Basch (1885–1944) was an American-Austrian actor, screenwriter and film director. He first acted in Vienna, and he was a producer and director for the German film production company UFA GmbH, U. F. A. Following the Nazi takeover of powe ...

and Grete Basch-Freund, both prominent theater and film personalities of the German-speaking world. In 1933 the family came to New York due to fears of rising anti-Jewish sentiment and laws in Germany. The family had US citizenship because Felix's father, Arthur Basch, was a wine trader who lived in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. After moving back to Germany, Arthur Basch kept his American citizenship, and passed it to his children and, thence, to his grandchildren.

United States

When the Basch family arrived in New York in 1933, they opened a restaurant on

Central Park South 59th Street is a crosstown street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, running from York Avenue and Sutton Place on the East Side of Manhattan to the West Side Highway on the West Side. The three-block portion between Columbus Circle an ...

in the Navarro Hotel. The restaurant, Gretel's Viennese, became a hangout for the Austrian expatriate community. Peter Basch had his first job there as a waiter. While in New York, Basch attended the De Witt Clinton High School. The family moved to Los Angeles to assist in Basch's father's career, during which time Basch went to school in England. Upon returning to the United States, Basch joined the Army. He was mobilized in the

US Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

First Motion Picture Unit The 18th AAF Base Unit (Motion Picture Unit), originally known as the First Motion Picture Unit, Army Air Forces, was the primary film production unit of the U.S. Army Air Forces (AAF) during World War II, and was the first military unit mad ...

, where he worked as a script boy.

Career

After the war, he started attending UCLA, but his mother asked him to join her back in New York. His parents had decided that Basch should be a

photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographers As in other ...

, and they obtained a photography studio for their son. For over twenty years, Peter Basch's had a successful career as a magazine photographer. He was known for his images of celebrities, artists, dancers, actors, starlets, and glamour-girls in America and Europe. His photos appeared in many major magazines such as ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for Cell growth, growth, reaction to Stimu ...

'', '' Look'' and ''

Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's Lifestyle magazine, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from H ...

''.

Publications

Basch authored and co-authored a number of books containing his photographs.

Partial bibliography

*''Candid Photography'' (1958 with

Peter Gowland Peter Andrew Gowland (April 3, 1916 – March 17, 2010) was a famous American glamour photographer and actor. He was known for designing and building his own studio equipment and was active professionally for six decades with his business par ...

and Don Ornitz) *''Peter Basch's Glamour Photography (A Fawcett How-To Book)'' (1958) *''Peter Basch photographs beauties of the world'' (1958) *''Camera in Rome'' (1963 with Nathan and Simon Basch) *''Peter Basch Photographs 100 Famous Beauties'' (1965) *''The nude as form and figure'' (1966) *''Put a Girl in Your Pocket: The Artful Camera of Peter Basch'' (1969) *''Peter Basch's Guide to Figure Photography'' (1975 with Jack Rey)

People photographed by Peter Basch

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* Marlon Brando *

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* Maria Callas * Capucine *

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* Jane Fonda *

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Christine Kaufmann Christine Maria Kaufmann (; 11 January 1945 – 28 March 2017) was a German-Austrian actress, author, and businesswoman. The daughter of a German father and a French mother, she won the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress f ...

Grace Kelly Grace Patricia Kelly (November 12, 1929 – September 14, 1982) was an American actress who, after starring in several significant films in the early to mid-1950s, became Princess of Monaco by marrying Prince Rainier III in April 1956. Kelly ...

Hildegard Knef Hildegard Frieda Albertine Knef (; 28 December 19251 February 2002) was a German actress, voice actress, singer, and writer. She was billed in some English-language films as Hildegard Neff or Hildegarde Neff. Early years Hildegard Knef was born ...

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Janet Leigh Jeanette Helen Morrison (July 6, 1927 – October 3, 2004), known professionally as Janet Leigh, was an American actress, singer, dancer, and author. Her career spanned over five decades. Raised in Stockton, California, by working-class parents, ...

Gina Lollobrigida Luigia "Gina" Lollobrigida (born 4 July 1927) is an Italian actress, photojournalist, and politician. She was one of the highest-profile European actresses of the 1950s and early 1960s, a period in which she was an international sex symbol. As o ...

* Sophia Loren *

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* Marcello Mastroianni *

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* Wayne Maunder *

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* Jeanne Moreau *

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* Ruth Niehaus *

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* Gregory Peck *

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* Diana Ross *

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* Elke Sommer * Alexandra Stewart * Susan Strasberg * Sharon Tate * Elizabeth Taylor * Nadja Tiller *

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* Susan Harrison

Personal life

In 1950 Peter met , a model/actress from

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. They were married in 1951. The couple had a daughter, Michele, in 1952, and a son, Peter Michael, 1956.

External links

Peter Basch Obituary - New York Times
{{DEFAULTSORT:Basch, Peter 20th-century American photographers Photographers from Berlin American people of German-Jewish descent 1921 births 2004 deaths First Motion Picture Unit personnel German emigrants to the United States