For more than 10 years, David Koppel prowled the service entrances of the world’s most exclusive hotels and nightclubs, slipping through windows, smuggling his camera past kitchens and even joining car chases to photograph celebrities at their most unguarded.
Marlon Brando, Mick Jagger, Frank Sinatra, David Bowie and Bob Dylan all appeared in his viewfinder. Not every star welcomed the attention. Jagger, Bowie and Dylan each lashed out at him, while Arnold Schwarzenegger kicked him in the shin and Koppel once tussled with Prince’s bodyguard.
The veteran paparazzo, however, holds no grudges. If anything, he believes those confrontations produced even more memorable photographs.
Yet when asked which image means the most to him, Koppel does not choose what may be his best-known picture: Joanna Lumley as Absolutely Fabulous character Patsy Stone, perched on the rooftop of New York’s Carnegie Hall Tower, drinking Stoli and smoking a cigarette as Central Park shimmered far below. The photograph is iconic.
Capturing it required considerable nerve. Koppel posed as a member of the film crew and hid behind an air-conditioning unit until the others arrived. Once he persuaded security to let him remain, he had just 30 seconds to take the shot. “Take a swig, take a puff, thank you.” That was the job.
Although the photograph was taken in 1994, it still sells around the world. One print hangs in the lobby of New York’s stylish Athenaeum Hotel.
David Koppel’s most successful image shows Joanna Lumley as Patsy Stone on the rooftop of New York’s Carnegie Hall Tower—yet he captured it in only a few seconds
Koppel also photographed fashion shows, including one of Kate Moss’s early runway appearances for designer Bella Freud in 1993
Supermodels Elle Macpherson and Linda Evangelista leave London’s Ivy restaurant hand in hand in 1994
But Koppel’s favorite photographs are the ones that happened almost by chance—moments created by a mixture of luck, instinct and an extraordinary amount of chutzpah.
DAVID BOWIE, LONDON, 1987
Among the photographs Koppel regards as his finest is a sequence showing David Bowie pointing at him through a car window before leaning back and laughing.
“Bowie had happily posed for me, even giving instructions from the car. He pointed at me through the open window, then fell back, grinning his head off,” Koppel recalled.
The photographer could not hear whatever Bowie was saying, but the singer was clearly amused—and Koppel preserved the moment for posterity.
His next meeting with the Thin White Duke was considerably less cordial.
Koppel followed Bowie’s limousine to a London club where photographers were barred from entering. Undeterred, he slipped down a fire escape that led to the kitchen.
“I walked down the stairs in a long trench coat and moved through the kitchen at speed. I watched the chef watching me, turning his head at the same pace while calmly continuing to chop the vegetables.
“A spiral staircase led up into the party, which was small and intimate. I took a drink from a waiter at the top of the stairs and pretended to be a guest.”
When Bowie’s minder briefly turned away, Koppel made his move. He opened his trench coat and produced his camera in one smooth motion.
Koppel photographed Tina Turner at the Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo in 1993
“Bowie had happily posed for me,” Koppel said. “He pointed at me through the open window before falling back, grinning his head off.”
The photographer’s next encounter with Bowie was far less friendly—and the images did not survive
Elizabeth Hurley and Hugh Grant at Le Palais de Festivals in Cannes in 1994
Koppel says his favorite photographs are those that emerged almost accidentally, through luck and sheer nerve
“As I did, Bowie looked up, pointed at me and screamed, ‘NO!’”
“I froze, but instinctively started taking photographs on the motor drive—click, click, click, click, trrrr-rrrrrrrrrr.
“The next thing I knew, Bowie was on the table, hovering over me and shouting, ‘You are SO rude.’ Then he hit me around the head with his right fist.”
Koppel’s film was immediately removed from the camera, and he was thrown out of the party.
MARLON BRANDO, LONDON, 1992
Koppel had spent hours at Heathrow’s Concorde arrivals lounge waiting for Daryl Hannah, but the Splash actress never appeared. He and another photographer eventually went for dinner at a Chinese restaurant instead.
“I have a sixth sense for celebrities,” Koppel said. “When a small group of three walked in, my antenna began to quiver.
“I said, ‘Don’t look behind you, but Marlon Brando has just walked in.’”
Brando had not been seen in public for years, but Koppel was certain. “It was as if in a dream,” he said, as a waitress seated Brando, his wife and child at the neighboring table.
The two photographers and their girlfriends paid quickly, raced to their car for their cameras and took up position outside, waiting for Brando to finish his meal.
“We watched anxiously as cars pulled up, trying to work out which one belonged to Marlon. The silver Mercedes. The gold Rolls-Royce.
“Then an ordinary white, four-door Ford hatchback minicab arrived. The driver got out and waited. That can’t be it, surely? Yes, it can—and it was.”
Brando sat back in the car with his eyes closed, echoing a scene from On the Waterfront
Kate Moss walks in Stella McCartney’s graduation show in 1995
Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell attend the British Fashion Awards in 1993
When Brando noticed the photographers, he oddly seized his hat with both hands and pulled it down over his head. With his eyes firmly shut, he then walked toward the waiting car.
“It was straight out of The Godfather, where Brando’s character is shot,” Koppel said. “He looked at us as if to say, ‘F**k!’
“The driver and his wife guided him to the white Ford minicab. With some effort, they squeezed his enormous frame into the back seat. Brando dwarfed his tiny son beside him, almost crushing him as he was pushed inside.
“Once they had him in, I opened the passenger door, climbed in, said, ‘Hi Marlon, welcome to London,’ fired six frames in two seconds and got out.
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“Brando did not respond. He sat motionless, expressionless, eyes wide shut and hands clasped. Without him knowing it, my camera had captured a perfect image of Brando in the back of the car, echoing his famous scene with Rod Steiger in On the Waterfront.”
Koppel particularly enjoyed the headlines that accompanied the pictures: “Pile on Brando,” “The Godfatter” and the Daily Mail’s “The Wide One.”
MICHAEL HUTCHENCE, MONACO, 1994
Koppel believes his photograph of INXS frontman Michael Hutchence is the quintessential rock ’n’ roll image. It contains every essential ingredient.
There is the rock star at the peak of his fame, holding a drink and a lit cigarette while raising his middle finger at the photographer.
Then there is the added rock ’n’ roll detail: his beautiful model girlfriend, Helena Christensen.
Koppel doubts he could have recreated such a perfect moment in a studio. Its impact comes from its spontaneity.
PRINCE, LONDON, 1992
Outside Tower Records, Koppel waited for a photograph of Prince as the diminutive star was surrounded by fans, minders, fellow photographers and police. The atmosphere was tense, and he knew he would have to act quickly.
“As I raised the camera to take the picture, one of his hired hands reached out for no reason other than that he had decided to do so. He pushed hard against my chest and pinned me to the boot of the Daimler.
“I managed to disentangle the hand holding my camera and stretch it out as far as possible. I fired a few frames, with no idea what had happened in those seconds.
Uma Thurman, photographed by Koppel in Cannes in 1994
While waiting for Prince, Koppel was manhandled by the singer’s bodyguard and pinned against a car
Koppel considers this the quintessential rock ’n’ roll photograph
When Koppel asked to photograph Jagger with his brother, the Rolling Stone replied: “Nah, f**k off”
“The car sped away and the thuggish minder threw me to the ground. I did not yet realize that I had captured a perfectly composed image of Prince in a polka-dot suit, smiling and shaking hands just before getting into his car.”
MICK JAGGER, LONDON, 1992
While covering a Keith Richards solo concert, Koppel asked Mick Jagger whether he could photograph him with his brother, Chris.
“Nah, f**k off,” the Rolling Stones frontman replied.
Later, though, Jagger could not resist taking a swipe at the photographer.
“In defiance, he stuck out his tongue. As I continued shooting, he raised his right hand over his left shoulder and swung at me.
“I fell backward but kept taking photographs, capturing the moment he struck out.”
The following day’s headline was: “Thumping Jack Flash.”
PIERCE BROSNAN, MONTE CARLO, 1995
After a week photographing Pierce Brosnan on location for the Bond film GoldenEye—following an unlikely tip from Ringo Starr—the photographer and actor were on friendly, first-name terms.
“Pierce was very relaxed about everything,” Koppel said. “He posed for pictures and was patient while I followed him around.”
On one occasion, Brosnan playfully grabbed Koppel, put him in a headlock and ran down the street shouting, “I’ve got him, I’ve got him.”
Three years later, however, another encounter would bring Koppel’s paparazzi career to an end.
After hearing that the Bond team was filming in Phuket, Koppel flew there. Following several false leads, he found the discreet entrance to the celebrity-favorite Amanpuri Hotel.
“On our final day, before heading home, I left the cameras at the hotel and went for a walk along the beach,” he said.
“Beyond a cluster of rocks, away from the beach, we saw what appeared to be a small wicker-and-bamboo shack bar. We wandered in. We were the only customers, apart from the barman.”
Then something remarkable happened: Pierce Brosnan walked past the pool and down to the bar where Koppel was sitting with his girlfriend.
After a week photographing Brosnan during the filming of GoldenEye, Koppel and the actor were on friendly, first-name terms
George Michael and Boy George at London’s Limelight Club in 1986
Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman at the Palm Beach Casino in Cannes in 1992
They chatted amiably, and Koppel bought Brosnan a whisky. Then the conversation took an abrupt turn.
“I introduced my girlfriend, and the three of us were talking happily. Then, foolishly, I said, ‘We have actually met before, you know—in Monte Carlo during the filming of GoldenEye. You may remember putting me in a headlock and running down the street with me.’”
“As soon as I said it, Brosnan exploded.
“‘What the f**k are you doing here? You’re just a f**king paparazzi scum.’”
Brosnan then walked back to the pool to join his girlfriend, who had arrived with their baby son.
“Although Brosnan erupted,” Koppel added, “I noticed he kept hold of the drink I had bought him.”
The encounter convinced Koppel to abandon paparazzi work for good. He has no regrets about those years, but there are only so many punches a person can absorb—and only so many fire escapes he can climb—before accepting that he is no longer as young as he once was.
The stories, however, remain unforgettable.
Spotlight: The Pictures That Made The Stories by David Koppel is published this month.