July 12,  2001

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:  Leslie Unger - (310) 247-3000

                         lunger@oscars.org

Beverly Hills, CA - Eighty photographs of celebrities taken during the 1950s and '60s by Leo Fuchs will be exhibited at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences beginning August 3. Like all exhibitions at the Academy, "Shooting Stars: Photographs by Leo Fuchs" is free and open to the public.

Fuchs spent over twenty years as a motion picture producer, beginning with "Gambit" in 1966, starring Shirley MacLaine and Michael Caine. However, Fuchs' introduction to, and education about, movie making came during the previous twelve years, when he worked as one of the world's leading "special photographers" on movie sets in Europe and America.

As a special photographer, Fuchs shot photo essays from numerous film sets. They were published in the U.S. and Europe in magazines including Life, Pageant, Paris Match, Bunte and Look. Among the European sets he worked on were those of Fred Zinnemann's "The Nun's Story," starring Audrey Hepburn, Billy Wilder's "Irma La Douce," starring Shirley MacLaine and Jack Lemmon, and Otto Preminger's "Exodus," starring Paul Newman and Eva Marie Saint. He moved to Hollywood in 1961, where he covered all of the Rock Hudson - Doris Day films for Universal and where he directed and shot special advertising art as well.

Fuchs was born in Vienna in 1929. He emigrated to the United States in 1940 and started his photography career as a teenager, working the nightclubs on Broadway as a glamour photographer for newspapers and magazines. He served as a Signal Corps cameraman in Germany from 1951 to 1953, then stayed on in Europe after his discharge. His first job on a film set was for "Magic Fire," directed by William Dieterle.

"Shooting Stars" will continue in the Academy's Grand Lobby Gallery through October 14. Gallery viewing hours are Tuesdays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and weekends, noon to 6 p.m. The Academy is located at 8949 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. For more information about the exhibition, call 310-247-3600.

Please Note: Leo Fuchs is currently in Los Angeles and available for interviews about his work and the exhibition. Contact Leslie Unger at the Academy to make arrangements.