Draft:Nancy Ellison

• Comment: Draft is written in a promotional tone, and also reads like a CV or resume. The abundance of name dropping is not helping. Choose the key events of her life an career and focus on those. Netherzone (talk) 19:48, 7 September 2026 (UTC)

• Comment: Needs about 1-3 more reliable sources for acceptance. A number of these cites are just to her own work. guninvalid (talk) 16:52, 30 August 2026 (UTC)

• Comment: In accordance with the Wikimedia Foundation's Terms of Use, I disclose that I have been paid by my employer for my contributions to this article. Izzynova (talk) 15:42, 26 August 2026 (UTC)

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Nancy Ellison
Born	1936 (age 89–90) Los Angeles, CA, U.S.
Known for	Photography
Spouses	Robert A. Ellison Jr. (m. 1958) Jerome Hellman (m. 1973) William D. Rollnick
Children	Hillary Ellison

Nancy Ellison (born 1936), also known as Nancy Ellison Rollnick, is an American portrait photographer and photojournalist. Beginning in the 1970s, she worked for the Sygma photo agency, photographing subjects in entertainment and politics. She has published books of photographs on subjects including the American Ballet Theatre and the Metropolitan Opera, and received a World Press Photo prize in 1996. Her working archive, the Nancy Ellison Collection, is held by the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library at the University of Georgia.

Early life

Ellison was born in 1936 in Los Angeles. She has said she grew up around film studios, observing actors on sets as a child. Trained as a painter, she became interested in photography in the 1960s after visiting the photographer Robert Frank at his studio in New York. She later recalled that seeing his contact sheets inspired her to take up the medium. She borrowed a camera and began photographing in New York."

Career

Ellison's professional career developed after she returned to Los Angeles in the 1970s. At the suggestion of her then-husband, film producer Jerome Hellman, she visited the set of the 1975 film The Day of the Locust. The resulting photographs drew the attention of the Sygma photo agency, which assigned her to cover entertainment and human-interest stories. She worked for the agency for nearly two decades, photographing subjects including Hollywood productions, British forces in Central America, and the Miskito people of Honduras and Belize.

After her marriage to William D. Rollnick, Ellison moved to New York City and increasingly photographed the performing arts, documenting the Metropolitan Opera and the American Ballet Theatre. She has published books of photographs including studies of the American Ballet Theatre and the Metropolitan Opera.

Her 2000 book Barbie Live!, with text by Lisa Birnbach, presented staged photographs of the Barbie doll and featured outfits by designers. Ellison described the project as an attempt to "bring Barbie to life" and "give her a soul." For her 2010 book Wagner's Eternal Ring, she photographed a Metropolitan Opera staging of the Ring cycle.

Theatre and public service

Ellison has also worked as a Broadway producer, with producing credits including Inherit the Wind (2007) and The Threepenny Opera. She has served on the boards of the American Ballet Theatre and the National Trust for the Humanities, and was director of the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts. President Bill Clinton named Ellison deputy commissioner general for Expo 2000, where she created the "America's Voices" program with her husband, William Rollnick. She and Rollnick serve as co-directors of the William D. Rollnick and Nancy Ellison Rollnick Foundation, which supports the performing arts. In 2010, she was a Distinguished Visitor at the American Academy in Berlin.

Exhibitions

Ellison has held solo exhibitions at the Mary Boone Gallery in New York (2000) and at the Metropolitan Opera House (2003). In 2023, Sotheby's Palm Beach presented "Nancy Ellison: Icons Unveiled," a selling exhibition of 33 portraits. From July to December 2026, the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library at the University of Georgia presented "Seeking Intrinsic Essence, Whatever Direction: The Photography of Nancy Ellison."

Style

Ellison's portraits are characterized by an emphasis on the physical presence of her subjects. The American Academy in Berlin has described her photography as combining visual narrative with historical material to convey a total work of art, or Gesamtkunstwerk. Describing her approach to portraiture, Ellison has said, "If it's a woman, I want to find her sexuality ... I want men to be their strongest. Everybody should be their strongest."

Personal life

Ellison's first marriage, in 1958, was to the painter and ceramics collector Robert A. Ellison Jr.; the couple had a daughter, Hillary. In 1973, she married the film producer and director Jerome Hellman. She later married theater and opera producer William D. Rollnick, a former chairman of Mattel, and has used the name Nancy Ellison Rollnick. She has lived in Palm Beach, Florida, since 2005.

Selected publications

• Lisa Birnbach, Birnbach; Ellison, Nancy (November 2000). Barbie Live!: The World's Most Famous Doll Having the Time of Her Life!. Universe Publishing (Rizzoli). pp. 176 pages (Hardcover). ISBN 978-0789304872.
• Ellison, Nancy; Volpe, Joseph; Joseph, Clark; Levine, James (2006). In Grand Style: The Glory of the Metropolitan Opera. Rizzoli. p. 239. ISBN 9780847827992.
• Ellison, Nancy; McKenzie, Kevin; Moore, Rachel S. (April 29, 2008). In Classic Style: The Splendor of American Ballet Theatre. Rizzoli International Publications. p. 240. ISBN 978-0-8478-3041-1.
• Ellison, Nancy; Wagner-Pasquier, Eva; Gelb, Peter; Levine, James (September 21, 2010). Wagner's Eternal Ring: The Complete Production at the Metropolitan Opera. Rizzoli International Publications. p. 240. ISBN 978-0-8478-3463-1.