Bill Beebe

Bill Beebe died October 24th at his home in Los Angeles. He was 94.

Bill was a member of the Press Photographers Association of Greater Los Angeles for more than 60 years. Bill served as president in 1963 and served on the Board of Directors for an additional ten years. 

Bill was one of the dinosaurs that ruled the news business. His peers included Ben Olender, Larry Sharkey and Art Rogers, all of the Los Angeles Times. Bill was the last man standing. All are gone now.

Bill’s most famous photo was shot in 1962, when he worked for the Los Angeles Times. It showed President John F. Kennedy as he stood in the surf surrounded by admirers at Santa Monica beach. The photo was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Bill used a Rolleiflex and strobe with a 510-volt battery, and remember, he was standing in the surf to shoot the photo.

In 2002, Bill was honored by the PPAGLA with a Lifetime Achievement Award. At the time Bill said, “My job was my hobby. Didn’t make much money, but I made a lot of friends and had a lot of fun.”

Bill was born in Los Angeles and moved to Santa Monica as a young kid. He enlisted in the US Navy while still in high school. In 1946, he was one of the first students to major in photography at what then was Santa Monica City College.

Following his graduation, he started his career at Emerson Gaze’s Pacific Press Photos, a group of photographers who provided images to local news organizations.

Later, Bill spent ten years working at the Los Angeles Mirror, which merged with the Los Angeles Times. He stayed at the Times as a staff photographer until 1963.

Bill moved to the Santa Monica Evening Outlook in the 1960s. He spent the next three decades covering assignments in the bay cities.

Bill retained the rights to the images he produced while working for the Evening Outlook, and, upon the newspaper’s closure in 1998, generously donated his collection of over 100,000 negatives to the Santa Monica History Museum.  When PPAGLA membership director, Rick Meyer, searched the Museum’s photo archive, he found in minutes Bill’s photos of gangster Mickey Cohen, baseball great Babe Ruth, and President John F Kennedy, not all in the same frame.

Bill was an environmentalist before the term was invented, devoting countless time to documenting and protecting the Ballona Wetlands.

Bill was also an avid hunter and fisherman. So, here is a fish tale. Bill, covering for Western Outdoor News, was sent on a fishing assignment to Baja Mexico. A photographer from Sports Illustrated was along as well for the trip. The Sports Illustrated photog was so drunk during the trip, that Sports Illustrated used Bill’s art instead of that of their staffer. Bill said that was the crowning achievement in his career.

PPAGLA member Richard Mackson described Bill as “My mentor who taught me the Journalism business.” He went on to say that “When I was just 18-years-old, Bill was editor of the weekend tabloid, Outlook West. Bill did a story about me and the USC vs. UCLA football game. He gave me the cover and six pages inside on how an 18-year-old covered the big game. Bill insisted that I use the coverage in my portfolio when I applied to Sports Illustrated. His advice and mentoring helped me land a contract position with Sports Illustrated.”

PPAGLA member Robert E. Clark also fondly remembers Bill: “Bill Beebe was The Outlook's outdoor sports' men (hunting, fishing, sailing, all things outdoors) columnist. I worked with Bill for thirteen years as the photo editor. Bill had free reign as a traditional 'combo' man. (He wrote and photographed the story). He was also known for the variety and quality of his personal photographic gear which outpaced The Outlook's equipment by a mile.”

“Bill was affable, engaging, and prone to offering up random observations on the day-to-day look of The Outlook. He was a spot news junkie. One October day, a small plane crashed into a house on the street he resided on. When I arrived at the scene, several minutes after the crash, fire trucks were still rolling in to control the flames; Bill handed me five rolls of exposed Tri-x film and said, "Here! It's covered!”  I cleared the scene.  He was first on the scene, and that was excellent for our readers and me. He was a good guy.”  

Mackson sums up Bill’s career in this way: “He was probably one of the best news photographers around. He had a nose for news and the skills to produce pictures in all conditions.” 

In the 1970s, Bill Beebe hosted the Association’s “fish fry” held at Paradise Cove in Malibu. Bill caught the fish, the  Association provided the beer.  Many PPAGLA members hoped that the CHP or Sheriff’s Department would not set up a DUI checkpoint on PCH.

Roger Vargo, PPAGLA Past President, shared darkroom facilities with Bill at the Evening Outlook in the late 1970s. He recalled how Bill had a wealth of stories as well as anecdotes about the people he interviewed and those in whose social circles he traveled. He remembers Bill as being involved in many “manly” activities such as hunting, sport shooting, and deep-sea fishing. Bill’s shaved head was always well tanned from being out in the sun.

“Bill was an asset to his profession and community, and I’m a better person for having known and worked with him,” said Vargo.

Bill is survived by his wife of 71 years, Sonya, and daughter Suzann Peterson, son Bill (Wm.) Beebe and also grandson Brett Beebe, granddaughter Krista Beebe and niece Denise Silfies.