From Brigitte Bardot to Elton John: seven striking photos by the late Terry O'Neill

The British photographer, who died at the age of 81 on Saturday, was famous for taking distinct images of the rich and famous

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  American actress Faye Dunaway by Terry O'Neill. She was also O'Neill's ex-wife. Terry O’Neill/ Iconic Images

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  Brigitte Bardot by Terry O'Neill. Terry O’Neill/ Iconic Images

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  Elton John by Terry O'Neill. Terry O’Neill/ Iconic Images

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  David Bowie by Terry O'Neill. Terry O’Neill/ Iconic Images

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  Frank Sinatra, centre, by Terry O'Neill. Terry O’Neill/ Iconic Images

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  The Beatles by Terry O'Neill. Terry O’Neill/ Iconic Images

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  Kate Moss by Terry O’Neill/ Iconic Images

British photographer Terry O'Neill, aged 81, passed away on Saturday after a long illness with prostate cancer.

O'Neill was born on July, 30, 1938, and landed a job in the late 1950s on London's Fleet Street at the Daily Sketch after he snapped a photo of Former Chancellor Rab Butler napping while working in Heathrow Airport.

One of his earlier assignments was to take photos of an up-and-coming band, The Beatles.

“I was asked to go down to Abbey Road Studios and take a few portraits of this new band. I didn’t know how to work with a group – but because I was a musician myself and the youngest on-staff by a decade – I was always the one they’d ask," O'Neill said.

"I took the four young lads outside for better light. That portrait ran in the papers the next day and the paper sold out. That band became the biggest band in the world; The Beatles.”

He has photographed celebrities such as Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela, Frank Sinatra, Amy Winehouse, Audrey Hepburn, Brigitte Bardot, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Elton John, and many others. He also photographed The Queen, twice.

His work has been exhibited in galleries around the world, and his images helped to both capture and define many of the eras of recent history, most notably the Swinging Sixties.