Howard Bingham, 77, a photographer who shot millions of images of Muhammad Ali and became a well-known figure in his own right through his long and abiding friendship with the boxing champion, died Thursday at a Los Angeles hospital.
For more than 50 years, until Ali's death in June, each man described the other as his closest friend. But unlike others in Ali's entourage, Bingham was never on the boxer's payroll, never a yes man.
Instead, he had an independent career as a photographer, working on contract for Life magazine in the 1960s. He contributed to Sports Illustrated, Ebony, Look, Newsweek, People and Playboy and worked on the sets of Hollywood movies, shooting still photographs for such productions as "The Candidate" (1972) and "All the President's Men" (1976).
Yet the subject he photographed more than any other was Ali. Through public triumphs and private travails, Bingham was at Ali's side, recording the boxer's rise to prominence in the early 1960s, his victories in the ring, his conversion to Islam and his refusal to serve in the Army during the Vietnam War.
Later, as Ali became perhaps the most famous person in the world, Bingham accompanied him on charitable missions, on visits to world leaders and in private moments at home. They spent an average of 100 days a year together and spoke on the phone almost every day. Their shorthand greeting for each other was "Hi, Bill."
During the long years of Ali's decline, as the debilitating effects of Parkinson's disease became all too apparent, Bingham became something of a gatekeeper for Ali.
He coordinated Ali's poignant appearance at the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996, when Ali falteringly lifted a torch to light the Olympic flame.
"Millionaires could not have done the things that I have done because of my friendship with Ali," Bingham told Newsday in 1993. "I've met presidents, kings and queens, Bill Cosby, Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela. I feel very fortunate just to have been his friend."
