Inasmuch Foundation Gallery: Backstage Hollywood – The Photographs of Bob Willoughby

The exhibit will be on view September 5 - October 20, 2023
Monday - Friday from 9:00 am - 4:30 pm
Free Admission
Appointments outside of normal gallery hours are possible by calling 405.682.7576.

Inasmuch Foundation Gallery
OCCC Visual and Performing Arts Center
7777 South May Avenue
Oklahoma City, OK 73159

Backstage Hollywood: The Photographs of Bob Willoughby – Venture backstage into the golden age of Hollywood in this exhibition that explores the photography of Bob Willoughby. Widely recognized as a pioneer of photography in the 20th century, Willoughby was the first outside photographer invited by studios to take photos on film sets.

The magazine Popular Photography has called Willoughby “. . . the man who virtually invented the photojournalistic motion picture still.” Responding to the many logistical challenges of working on film sets, he was a technological innovator, creating the silent blimp for 35mm still cameras so that he could photograph silently on set, capturing intimate moments of the stars. The exhibition features photographs from the sets of seventeen iconic Hollywood films, including Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady, Alfred Hitchcock on the set of Marnie, Mia Farrow in Rosemary’s Baby, and Marilyn Monroe in Let’s Make Love. Willoughby developed friendships with some of his subjects, including Audrey Hepburn. When speaking of meeting Hepburn, he recalls “She took my hand like…well a princess, and dazzled me with that smile that God designed to melt mortal men’s hearts.”

A Program of ExhibitsUSA, a national division of Mid-America Arts Alliance with Oklahoma Arts Council and The National Endowment for the Arts.