Ball, Russell, 1891-1942

Russell Earp Ball was born 1891 March 24 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Ball began his career as a photographer working for newspapers, and then became a commercial photographer. In the 1920s, Ball relocated to Los Angeles, California, with his wife, Gladys Hall, and focused his photographic work in the film industry, including portraits of actors and their families and photographic stills for film production companies. In 1923, he photographed Gloria Swanson to promote the film “Zaza,” and took photographs early in the 1920s of actor Rudolph Valentino and his first wife, Jean Acker. He began working for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1925, and it was during this period that he took many film stills and portraits of actors. He opened his own gallery in Beverly Hills in the late 1920s, where he continued to create portraits of celebrities and wealthy patrons. He died 1942 June 12.