'Photographing stars in Cannes are days I will never forget'

An award-winning photographer who spent 20 years taking pictures of celebrities and royalty including Gene Kelly and Diana, Princess of Wales, at the Cannes Film Festival said they were days he "will never forget".

Richard Blanshard first arrived in Cannes as a 22-year-old in 1976, and went on to snap stars such as Muhammad Ali and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Blanshard, who was born in Essex and now lives in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, said Ali was a "wonderful character" who never objected to having his picture taken, but his entourage were like the "mafia".

"Photography is about storytelling and capturing the moment and also making people comfortable to achieve what you need without them even knowing," he added.

Blanshard said stars and celebrities attended the festival to promote their films or to help raise money for a future project.

He was assigned to Ali when the former world heavyweight champion visited the festival to gain support to make Freedom Road, which was inspired by Howard Fast's 1944 best-selling novel.

Ali needed to network to get the backing of financiers and distributors and "wherever [he] went, I went with him", said Blanshard .

"Once, on the spur of the moment, he decided he would like a drink, so we somehow got a table on the Carlton Hotel terrace.

"Within two minutes it was mayhem, but [Ali] remained totally unflustered," he recalled.

Blanshard said he started to use a camera when he was six years old and began to shoot 8mm films when he was about 11, developing them at his father's pharmacy.

His first job was in the motion picture department of Kodak where he was trained and worked with movie footage.

Then he went back to still photography as an assistant and worked in the darkrooms printing photographs.

Blanshard's first assignment at Cannes was to photograph two of his "screen heroes", Fred Astaire and Kelly, who were there to promote their film, That's Entertainment, Part 2.

As he tried to print the negative from the shoot, however, he said he realised there was "no power, as the gardener had cut through the power cable".

"I just wanted the earth to swallow me up."

Blanshard recalled a "friendly rivalry" between Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone whenever they were in Cannes for publicity.

"Arnold and Sly adored Cannes and Cannes adored them, but they seemed to play a constant game of trying to upstage one another," he said.

"At the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, all the famous directors they worked with - and some who they wanted to work with - were there: James Cameron, Adrian Lyne, Alan Parker, George P. Cosmatos and Alan Marshall.

"We persuaded Arnold and Sly to dance together in front of them.

"Shortly afterwards, Sly decided he wanted to go to the Carlton Hotel, so we jumped in a limo and drove off.

"At the hotel, Sly got out and within seconds was surrounded by hundreds of screaming people.

"Panicked, he jumped onto the roof of the limo and was eventually smuggled out via the hotel kitchen."

Blanshard said it was interesting to photograph the same stars over the years and watch their style develop.

He took pictures of Johnny Depp on many occasions, starting with the launch of his film Ed Wood.

He witnessed "his evolving look over the years, and was always in awe at how he would appear effortlessly cool".

Depp was "charming and very laid back," he added.

King Charles III and Princess Diana visited Cannes in 1987.

"When I look back at the images now, it seems clear to me that Charles and Diana's relationship wasn't in the best place," he said.

The photographer, who has collated his work in a new book Cannes Uncut: The Golden Years, hoped his black and white images from the period continued to draw people into that world and its unique ambiance.

It was a "special time for me, when Cannes and the stars and celebrities became one", he said.

"One I will never forget."

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