Advertisement

See the Glamorous Photos of Stars Like Mick Jagger and Audrey Hepburn Shot By Countess Camilla McGrath

In 1963, Camilla McGrath (née Camilla Pecci-Blunt), a shy Italian countess, improbably married Earl McGrath, an American movie producer. They became known for the casual, but glamorous gatherings they hosted for decades in their luxurious homes in the U.S. and Italy—Camilla with a Nikon camera in hand. The results are cultural treasures: She captured the likes of Mick Jagger, Audrey Hepburn with playwright Anita Loos, and Carrie Fisher with Harrison Ford. Now, a selection of the more than 60,000 photos the late aristocrat collected in scrapbooks are being shared with the public in a new book, Face to Face, which includes essays by her famous friends. "It's an important artifact," says writer Fran Lebowitz, a frequent guest. "These people are cultural monuments of the 20th century. Where else but in this world of Camilla and Earl’s would Stephen Spender, the poet, meet Mick Jagger? It was good for the culture, but that world doesn’t exist anymore."