Frank Worth

Frank Worth (1923–2000) was an American photographer who befriended and photographed many Hollywood actors and actresses between 1939 and 1964. His black and white candid pictures are unusual for the era, when most stars limited themselves to carefully posed glamour portraits. He kept many of his photographs private so that they were not seen until after his death. He was rumored to have been intimate with several of his subjects including Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield; he confirmed his affair with Monroe shortly before his death. Among his early subjects was Rita Hayworth, then an unknown starlet.

He gradually gave up photography and fell into poverty, but he refused to sell the photographs of the people who had been his friends. They were the subject of several heavily publicized exhibitions, including one in London in 2002 which Christie's auction house described as "the most extraordinary collection of its kind for the past 50 years" and a Sotheby's exhibition in 2003. The London exhibition was curated by twins Austin and Howard Mutti-Mewse, whose longtime obsession with Hollywood helped them to sort out the long-lost collection.