Contact (Sheet) in Red Square

Francesco Scavullo sure did Debbie Harry right when he shot her for the December 1978 cover of Cosmopolitan. 

Stars Rally to Scavullo Lover's Aid

The surviving partner of legendary fashion photographer Francesco Scavullo is getting some help from a few bold-faced names, who think he should be benefiting more from his partner's estate:

The New York Post reports:

 Eighties supermodel-turned-actress Carol Alt is lending her name to a campaign to rescue the ailing gay partner of the late fashion photographer Francesco Scavullo from poverty. The Queens-born Alt, dubbed “The Face” by Life magazine for her ad contracts with Diet Pepsi, General Motors, Cover Girl Cosmetics and Hanes, saw a Post article about a bitter court battle between Scavullo’s family and the lensman’s former assistant, Sean Byrnes. “Sean was everything to Francesco. He chose the girls, he ran the studio, he did the styling,” Alt said. She called it an “injustice” that Byrnes, Scavullo’s creative partner, has been denied profits from his lover’s $1.5 million estate because of a muddled interpretation of the will.

The bulk of Scavullo’s estate is his archives — images of a nude Burt Reynolds, Andy Warhol wearing a Rolex, and Cosmo covers of models such as Brooke Shields. But the executors — Scavullo’s niece Angela Scott and friend Michael Horowitz — are refusing to turn over the trove to Byrnes, 61. The executors have insisted in legal documents that the artist intended for Byrnes to benefit from the archives only through payments from a trust. “It was Sean’s archives, too,” Alt said. “When you work with someone for that long, naturally you share everything.”

After Scavullo died in 2004, Byrnes fell into a deep depression and nearly landed in a state facility before his Brooklyn sister dipped into her retirement fund to help him, the shutterbug’s former agent told The Post. Scavullo’s agent, Elaine Korn, is rallying a list of boldface names to support Byrnes’ court case. She hopes the celebrities, some of whom Scavullo and Byrnes helped gain fame, will speak out in Byrnes’ defense. The list includes Blondie’s Debbie Harry, actress Rene Russo, publishing heiress Anne Hearst and supermodel Naomi Campbell. Scott and her attorney did not return calls for comment.

An Ugly Picture

Well this sure is sad, and a sobering reminder to make sure you have your affairs in order. Even though the late celebrity photographer Francesco Scavullo made arrangements before he died for his partner of 34 years, Sean Byrnes, things are still turning ugly. 

The New York Post reports:

The ailing gay lover of the late fashion photographer Francesco Scavullo is battling the renowned artist’s family for possession of his valuable photo archives. 

The Staten Island-born Scavullo famously snapped a nude Burt Reynolds for Cosmopolitan and took shots of Grace Kelly, Elizabeth Taylor and Brooke Shields. 

Many of those iconic images are in storage, locked away from Sean Byrnes, 61, the lensman’s assistant who lived with him for 34 years until his death in 2004. 

“In sum, Byrnes was half of the Scavullo creative process and photography business,” his attorney, Gary Mennitt, says in papers filed in Manhattan Surrogate’s Court. He had “an intimate, unique, working knowledge of the archive.” 

Executors for Scavullo’s $1.5 million estate are telling Byrnes to keep his paws off the pieces, arguing they are not the “tangible property” Scavullo left him in his will. 

Byrnes lives in a Brooklyn medical facility, where he’s treated for a depression that followed Scavullo’s death. Byrnes' sister Anne Kramer now acts as a guardian.

In papers filed last week, Kramer insists the tangible property includes the archives. She says Byrnes is entitled to half of them, including a portrait of Andy Warhol that Rolex once paid $25,000 to use. 

Scavullo willed the other half to a foundation set up in his name to benefit poor children and AIDS patients. 

The executors — Scavullo’s niece Angela Scott and friend Michael Horowitz — argue in court papers that the artist intended for Byrnes to benefit from the archives only through payments from a trust. 

But Byrnes’ attorneys say that he’s owed the pieces and that the executors have failed to make distributions to the trust for nine years. 

Likewise, Kramer says in court filings that they have failed to generate income from the archives. Byrnes, she says, gets just $2,000 a month from the estate and is in “dire financial need.” 

Her lawyer, Gary Mennitt, told The Post she “felt compelled to act for her brother . . . to secure him what life partner Francesco indicated he wanted for Sean.”