Richard Georg Willi Puhlmann (25 June 1934 – 17 July 1996), was a German fashion photographer, who worked with the top models, stylists and designers in the fashion industry. He was killed when

TWA Flight 800 Trans World Airlines Flight 800 (TWA800) was a Boeing 747-100 that exploded and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near East Moriches, New York, on July 17, 1996, at about 8:31pm. Eastern Daylight Time, EDT, 12 minutes after takeoff from John F. K ...

came down shortly after takeoff in 1996.

Early life

Puhlmann was born in Berlin in 1934. At the age of seven, he worked as a child actor during the years of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and made his acting debut in the 1942 film ''

Front Theatre ''Front Theatre'' (German: ''Fronttheater'') is a 1942 German drama film directed by Arthur Maria Rabenalt and starring Heli Finkenzeller, René Deltgen and Lothar Firmans. It was made at the Babelsberg Studios in Berlin and the Cinetone Studio ...

''. In the fall of 1943, going under the name Willi Puhlmann, he was cast in the main role for the film adaption of the German fairy tale '' Little Muck'', which was set in 18th century Holy Roman Empire. The end of the war largely marked the end of Puhlmann's early acting career. He was later only offered two smaller acting roles in two

DEFA DEFA (''Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft'') was the state-owned film studio of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) throughout the country's existence. Since 2019, DEFA's film heritage has been made accessible and licensable on the PRO ...

productions in 1949 and 1954.

Photography career

He studied fashion design, art design, and art history at the

Berlin University of the Arts The Universität der Künste Berlin (UdK; also known in English as the Berlin University of the Arts), situated in Berlin, Germany, is the largest art school in Europe. It is a public art and design school, and one of the four research universiti ...

(Hochschule für Bildende Künste Berlin) from 1951 to 1955. From 1955, he worked as a freelance fashion illustrator for several German magazines and

Vogue France The French edition of ''Vogue'' magazine, formerly called ''Vogue Paris'', is a fashion magazine that has been published since 1920. History 1920–54 The French edition of ''Vogue'' was first issued on 15 June 1920, the first editor-in-chief ...

, and taking the name Rico Puhlmann. At the same time, Puhlmann photographed fashion for German and international magazines such as Constanze, Burda,

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...

, Glamour, GQ,

Harper's Bazaar ''Harper's Bazaar'' is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. It was first published in New York City on November 2, 1867, as the weekly ''Harper's Bazar''. ''Harper's Bazaar'' is published by Hearst and considers itself to be the st ...

, etc. He photographed celebrities including

Isabella Rossellini Isabella Fiorella Elettra Giovanna Rossellini (born 18 June 1952) is an Italian-American actress, author, philanthropist, and model. The daughter of the Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman and the Italian film director Roberto Rossellini, she is noted ...

Cindy Crawford Cynthia Ann Crawford (born February 20, 1966) is an American model, actress and television personality. During the 1980s and 1990s, she was among the most popular supermodels and a ubiquitous presence on magazine covers, runways, as well as fash ...

Mel Gibson Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson (born January 3, 1956) is an American actor, film director, and producer. He is best known for his action hero roles, particularly his breakout role as Max Rockatansky in the first three films of the post-apocaly ...

Richard Avedon Richard Avedon (May 15, 1923 – October 1, 2004) was an American fashion and portrait photographer. He worked for ''Harper's Bazaar'', ''Vogue'' and ''Elle'' specializing in capturing movement in still pictures of fashion, theater and danc ...

Suzy Parker Suzy Parker (born Cecilia Ann Renee Parker; October 28, 1932 – May 3, 2003) was an American model and actress active from 1947 until 1970. Her modeling career reached its zenith during the 1950s, when she appeared on the covers of dozens of ma ...

Cheryl Tiegs Cheryl Rae Tiegs (born September 25, 1947) is an American model and fashion designer. Frequently described as the first American supermodel, Tiegs is best known for her multiple appearances on the covers of the ''Sports Illustrated'' Swimsuit ...

Naomi Campbell Naomi Elaine Campbell (born 22 May 1970) is an English model, actress, singer, and businesswoman. She began her career at the age of 15, and established herself amongst the most recognisable and in-demand models of the past four decades. Cam ...

Hildegard Knef Hildegard Frieda Albertine Knef (; 28 December 19251 February 2002) was a German actress, voice actress, singer, and writer. She was billed in some English-language films as Hildegard Neff or Hildegarde Neff. Early years Hildegard Knef was born ...

and

Agnieszka Kotlarska Agnieszka Kotlarska-Świątek (15 August 1972 – 27 August 1996) was a Polish fashion model and beauty queen. Career While studying at Wrocław University of Science and Technology, Agnieszka won the Miss Polski beauty pageant held at the Fores ...

. In 1970, Puhlmann settled in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, where he continued his career as a fashion photographer and from then on contributed for publications such as Harper's Bazaar, Glamour, GQ and

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

. In 1972, Puhlmann received an award from the New York Society of Publication Designers for his photographic achievements. From 1973 to 1976, Puhlmann contributed to the

Sender Freies Berlin Sender Freies Berlin (; abbreviated SFB ; ) was the ARD public radio and television service for West Berlin from 1 June 1954 until 1990 and for Berlin as a whole from German reunification until 30 April 2003. On 1 May 2003 it merged with Ostde ...

as an author, director, cameraman and presenter as part of the program 'Fashion Journal - Sounds and Silhouettes'. In 1976, he presented his own collection of blouses under the sign Rico Puhlmann Design. Puhlmann continued his work as a fashion photographer throughout the 1980s and 1990s, and designed the visual campaigns for fashion and cosmetics companies such as Ungaro,

Fendi Fendi () is an Italian high-end luxury fashion house producing fur, ready-to-wear, leather goods, shoes, fragrances, eyewear, timepieces and accessories. Founded in Rome in 1925, Fendi is known for its fur, fur accessories, and leather goods. ...

Donna Karan Donna Karan (, born Donna Ivy Faske), also known as "DK", is an American fashion designer and the creator of the Donna Karan New York and DKNY clothing labels. Early life Karan was born Donna Ivy Faske to mother Helen "Queenie" Faske (née Rabin ...

Calvin Klein Calvin Richard Klein (born November 19, 1942) is an American fashion designer who launched the company that would later become Calvin Klein Inc., in 1968. In addition to clothing, he also has given his name to a range of perfumes, watches, and ...

, Estée Lauder,

L'Oréal L'Oréal S.A. () is a French personal care company headquartered in Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine with a registered office in Paris. It is the world's largest cosmetics company and has developed activities in the field concentrating on hair color, sk ...

Clinique Clinique Laboratories, LLC () is an American manufacturer of skincare, cosmetics, toiletries and fragrances, usually sold in high-end department stores. It is a subsidiary of the Estée Lauder Companies. As of 2019, Clinique has over 22,000 cus ...

and

Revlon Revlon, Inc. is an American multinational company dealing in cosmetics, skin care, fragrance, and personal care. The headquarters of Revlon was established in New York City on March 1, 1932, where it still remains. Revlon was founded by brothe ...

. His works were exhibited as part of the permanent exhibition 'People, Fashion and Machines' at the

Nordhorn Nordhorn (Northern Low Saxon: ''Nothoorn'' (or ''Notthoarn'', ''Netthoarn'' and ''Noordhoorn'')) is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the district seat of Grafschaft Bentheim in Lower Saxony's southwesternmost corner near the border with the ...

City Museum in Germany.

Death

Puhlmann died on July 17, 1996, when N93119, the

Boeing 747-100 The Boeing 747 is a large, long-range wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2022. After introducing the 707 in October 1958, Pan Am wanted a jet times its size, to ...

used for

, bound for

Charles de Gaulle International Airport Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (french: Aéroport de Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle, ), also known as Roissy Airport or simply Paris CDG, is the principal airport serving the French capital, Paris ( and its metropolitan area), and the largest intern ...

near

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, exploded 12 minutes after take-off, off the coast of

Long Island, New York Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18th ...

, killing all of the 230 passengers and crew. He was en-route to an assignment in Paris and one of his clients, Polish model

, backed out of flying on TWA Flight 800 at the last minute, narrowly escaping death. He was survived by his two brothers, Klaus and Heinz, both based in Berlin.

Filmography

*1942: ''

'' *1943: ''

Love Stories Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of meanings is that the lov ...

'' *1944: ''Dear Muck'' *1944: ''

The Green Salon ''The Green Salon'' (german: Der grüne Salon) is a 1944 German drama film directed by Boleslaw Barlog and starring Paul Klinger, Margarete Haagen and Dorothea Wieck. Partial cast * as Wilma *Walter Bluhm as Oswin, handyman *Hans Brausewetter as ...

'' *1945: ''The Pyre'' *1949: ''

The Marriage of Figaro ''The Marriage of Figaro'' ( it, Le nozze di Figaro, links=no, ), K. 492, is a ''commedia per musica'' (opera buffa) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premie ...

'' *1954: '' Pole Poppenspäler'' Source:

References

External links

Rico Puhlmann archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Puhlmann, Rico 1934 births 1996 deaths Accidental deaths in New York (state) Fashion photographers Photographers from Berlin German male child actors 20th-century German male actors Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1996 Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in the United States TWA Flight 800 German expatriates in the United States Berlin University of the Arts alumni Male actors from Berlin