Slim Aarons, 89; Photographer Captured the 20th Century’s Most Glamorous Individuals

Slim Aarons, a photojournalist who traveled the world to capture the essence of the rich and famous and made a career out of what he called “photographing attractive people doing attractive things in attractive places,” has died. He was 89.

George Allen “Slim” Aarons died Tuesday of complications of a heart attack and a stroke at a veterans’ home in Montrose, N.Y., his daughter, Mary Dewart Aarons, said. Until about a month ago, he had lived for more than 50 years in the same house in Katonah, N.Y., she said.

During a career that spanned more than five decades, Aarons photographed many of the most famous faces of the late 20th century, including Humphrey Bogart, Louis Armstrong, Lauren Bacall, Marilyn Monroe, Princess Diana and the Kennedys.

One of his more famous photographs was of four of Hollywood’s best-known movie stars on New Year’s Eve in 1957.

The picture shows the formally attired actors Clark Gable, Van Heflin, Gary Cooper and Jimmy Stewart laughing as they stood around a bar at Romanoff’s restaurant in Hollywood. The shot became known as “the Kings of Hollywood.”

Another of his more notable photographs showed actress Joan Collins in bed with her pink poodle.

Aarons’ work was published in magazines, including Life, Town & Country, Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar.

His photographs were collected in three books, among them “A Wonderful Time: An Intimate Portrait of the Good Life,” which was published in 1974 and became a collector’s item.

Born in New York City, Aarons was raised in New York and New Hampshire.

He began his career as a photographer for the Army after enlisting at 18.

During World War II, he was a combat photographer in North Africa for the Army’s Yank magazine. His twin brother, Peter, was killed in the war.

When he left the Army, Aarons became a freelance photographer and went to Hollywood, where he turned his lens to the stars and socialites who dominated his later career.

After being a combat photographer, “I felt I owed myself some easy, luxurious living to make up for the years I had spent sleeping on the ground in the mud, being shot at and bombed,” he wrote in his second book, “Slim Aarons: Once Upon a Time.”

His work was acquired by Getty Images Inc. in 1997.

In addition to his daughter, Aarons is survived by his wife, Lorita Dewart, from whom he was separated.

A celebration of his life will be held in October, when he would have turned 90, his daughter said.