At the age of 18, after a troubled adolescence that saw him shuttled between orphanages and the homes of distant relatives, Slim Aarons enlisted in the United States Army. He served as a combat photographer during World War II, and received a Purple Heart after he was wounded in Italy. Back home, Aarons turned his camera towards a decidedly lighter subject—“attractive people doing attractive things in attractive places.” Working for LIFE, Look, and Town & Country, among other publications, he mingled with the Hollywood elite, winning over aristocrats and movie stars with his charm. Aarons’s hard-won insider status allowed him to capture public figures in fleeting, private moments. “They would invite me to one of their parties because they knew I wouldn’t hurt them,” he said in 2002. “I was one of them.” —Paulina Prosnitz