Peter Basch (September 23, 1921 – March 15, 2004) was an American

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

and

glamour photographer Glamour photography is a genre of photography in which the subjects are portrayed in erotic poses ranging from fully clothed to nude. The term may be a euphemism for erotic photography. For glamour models, body shape and size are directly relate ...

. He was born in Berlin, lived and died in New York City. The main body of his work was produced in the fifties and sixties.

Early life

Peter Basch was born in Berlin, Germany, 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 U. F. A. Following the Nazi takeover of power in G ...

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. 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 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' First Motion Picture Unit, 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, 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'', ''

Look To look is to use sight to perceive an object. Look or The Look may refer to: Businesses and products * Look (modeling agency), an Israeli modeling agency * ''Look'' (American magazine), a defunct general-interest magazine * ''Look'' (UK ma ...

'' and '' Playboy''.

Publications

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

Partial bibliography

*''Candid Photography'' (1958 with Peter Gowland 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

* Anouk Aimée * Anita Ekberg * Ursula Andress * Barbara Bain * Carroll Baker * Brigitte Bardot * Jean-Paul Belmondo * Candice Bergen * Senta Berger *

Marlon Brando Marlon Brando Jr. (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004) was an American actor. Considered one of the most influential actors of the 20th century, he received numerous accolades throughout his career, which spanned six decades, including two Academ ...

* Horst Buchholz *

Maria Callas Maria Callas . (born Sophie Cecilia Kalos; December 2, 1923 – September 16, 1977) was an American-born Greek soprano who was one of the most renowned and influential opera singers of the 20th century. Many critics praised her ''bel cant ...

Capucine Capucine (, born Germaine Hélène Irène Lefebvre , 6 January 1928 – 17 March 1990) was a French fashion model and actress known for her comedic roles in ''The Pink Panther'' (1963) and ''What's New Pussycat?'' (1965). She appeared in 36 film ...

* Claudia Cardinale * Joan Collins * Jean Cocteau * Salvador Dalí * Catherine Deneuve * Marlene Dietrich * Karin Dor * Françoise Dorléac * Anita Ekberg *

Jane Fonda Jane Seymour Fonda (born December 21, 1937) is an American actress, activist, and former fashion model. Recognized as a film icon, Fonda is the recipient of various accolades including two Academy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, sev ...

* James Garner * William Holden * Rock Hudson * Christine Kaufmann * Grace Kelly * Hildegard Knef * Daliah Lavi * Janet Leigh * Gina Lollobrigida *

Sophia Loren Sofia Costanza Brigida Villani Scicolone (; born 20 September 1934), known professionally as Sophia Loren ( , ), is an Italian actress. She was named by the American Film Institute as one of the greatest female stars of Classical Hollywood ci ...

* Antonella Lualdi * Silvana Mangano * Jayne Mansfield * Lee Marvin *

Marcello Mastroianni Marcello Vincenzo Domenico Mastroianni (28 September 1924 – 19 December 1996) was an Italian film actor, regarded as one of his country's most iconic male performers of the 20th century. He played leading roles for many of Italy's top di ...

* Micki Marlo *

Wayne Maunder Wayne Ernest Maunder (December 19, 1937 – November 11, 2018) was a Canadian-born American actor who starred in three American television series between 1967 and 1974. Three television series From September 6 to December 27, 1967, Maunder star ...

* Marilyn Monroe *

Jeanne Moreau Jeanne Moreau (; 23 January 1928 – 31 July 2017) was a French actress, singer, screenwriter, director, and socialite. She made her theatrical debut in 1947, and established herself as one of the leading actresses of the Comédie-Française. Mo ...

* Michèle Morgan * Julie Newmar * Ruth Niehaus * Kim Novak * Uschi Obermaier * Bettie Page *

Gregory Peck Eldred Gregory Peck (April 5, 1916 – June 12, 2003) was an American actor and one of the most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1970s. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Peck the 12th-greatest male star of Classic Hollywood ...

* Anthony Perkins *

Diana Ross Diana Ross (born March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. She rose to fame as the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown's most successful act during the 1960s and one of the world's best-selling girl groups o ...

* Eva Marie Saint * Isabel Sarli * Maria Schell * Romy Schneider * Jean Seberg *

Elke Sommer Elke Sommer (; born Elke Baronin von Schletz, 5 November 1940) is a German actress. She appeared in numerous films in her heyday throughout the 1960s and 1970s, including roles in ''The Pink Panther (1963 film), The Pink Panther'' sequel ''A S ...

Alexandra Stewart Alexandra Stewart (born June 10, 1939) is a Canadian actress. Biography Born in Montreal, Quebec, Stewart left for Paris, France, in 1958, to study art. Within a year, she made her film debut in '' Les Motards'', and has since then enjoyed a ste ...

Susan Strasberg Susan Elizabeth Strasberg (May 22, 1938 – January 21, 1999) was an American stage, film, and television actress. Imagined to be the next Hepburn-type ingenue, she was nominated for a Tony Award at age 18, playing the title role in ''The Diary ...

Sharon Tate Sharon Marie Tate Polanski (January 24, 1943 – August 9, 1969) was an American actress and model. During the 1960s, she played small television roles before appearing in films and was regularly featured in fashion magazines as a model and cover ...

Elizabeth Taylor Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was a British-American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 1950s. ...

Nadja Tiller Nadja Tiller (born 16 March 1929 in Vienna, Austria) is an Austrian actress. She was one of the most popular German-speaking actresses of international films of the 1950s and 1960s. Biography Nadja Tiller, daughter of actor Anton Tiller of Vie ...

* Natalie Wood * Alida Valli * Marie Versini * Monica Vitti * Susan Harrison

Personal life

In 1950 Peter met , a model/actress from Quebec. 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