Think of a late 20th-century icon and Chuck Rapoport has probably photographed them. But his most popular is that of Joe Pilates, writes Mark Blunden

ICONS such as Marilyn Monroe, Samuel Beckett, Fidel Castro and JFK provided some of the most evocative photographs of the twentieth century.
In the 1960s, major magazines, including Life, Time and National Geographic all secured the services of a man they knew could produce such unique images.
Chuck Rapoport has been behind the lens shooting more legends than most people could dream up.
Elizabeth Taylor, Eva Gabor, Tina Onassis and the Crown Prince and Princess of Japan were all among the Bronx-born Mr Rapoport’s early subjects. Cuban leader Fidel Castro even agreed to a one-to-one session in a New York hotel room, while Mr Rapoport’s Paris Match cover photo of Jackie Kennedy at JFK’s funeral brought him worldwide fame
The most unique – and certainly the most lucrative – assignment came in 1961 working for Sports Illustrated. He was sent to New York’s 8th Avenue to meet a little-known German exercise “whacko”, as Mr Rapoport initially called him – Joseph Pilates.
Mr Rapoport said: “I went with prejudice in mind that he was a nut. Bare in mind this was 1961 and people were not really into fitness. I got there and saw all these machines, he was a real pioneer. Pilates was 80 and in better shape than I was.”
It was only in 1999 when his wife Mary started a Pilates class for a back injury that she insisted her husband dig out his old pictures.
The black and white photographs of Joseph Pilates are the only magazine quality photographs of the exercise guru in existence.
Back in 1961, after only six days on Sports Illustrated’s payroll, Mr Rapoport was drafted for two years in the army.
Fortuitously, he was plucked from ordinary duties and given the extraordinary job of US Army photographer.
He said: “I had the magazine eye and my little Nikon. I photographed our first special forces, the Green Berets, and the general who ran our department counted on me as his personal photographer whenever some high ranking officer was returning or someone was getting a medal.
“I took pictures of President Kennedy and he got to know me. I stood out from the usual press corps because I was in my uniform and he was amused by my name, which was on my badge. I didn’t talk to the President because I was a private. He talked to me and I said ‘yes sir’.”
The Vietnam war was in its early stages but Mr Rapoport never saw action in Asia. But he did experience combat first hand, twice photographing the conflict in the Dominican Republic in 1965 for Paris Match and Newsweek, two years after leaving the army.
But even a war zone could not prepare Mr Rapoport for his most harrowing assignment. In October 1966, in Aberfan, north Wales, a slag heap collapsed, killing 144 people – all but 16 of them were children.
Mr Rapoport lived in Aberfan for seven weeks “surrounded by people in deep grief”.
He has written a book about his experiences, using his own photographs. Many of the images are also on display at the National Library of Wales.
Mr Rapoport now lives in Pacific Palisades, in Los Angeles, California, with his wife of 43 years, Mary, and they have two sons.
He hung up his flash gun in the early 1990s and was a successful screen writer for the award-winning crime series Law and Order.
Technology has certainly not left the pensioner behind.
To add to his collection of vintage Nikons and Leica, Mr Rapoport has four digital cameras and his eye for a snap is as keen as ever.
But it’s Joseph Pilates that continues to be a steady source of income. “Barely a day now goes by without a query about the Pilates pictures,” he says.

• An exhibition of Mr Rapoport’s Joseph Pilates photographs opens at Pilates Central, 10-12 Gaskin Street, near Angel, on Sunday June 5.