During the swinging 1960s, he helped catapult struggling young groups like the Rolling Stones into stardom.

Known for giving a personal touch to showbiz greats, he quickly became the go-to man for cultural icons, getting close access to Hollywood A-listers that most could only dream of – such as Frank Sinatra, for example.

“Frank Sinatra was a fascinating man,” O’Neill said. “He was as tough as you like, yet he treated women magnificently. I managed to take a rare picture of him. I was that close to him and he totally ignored me, which is the best thing that can happen to a photographer.”

A celebrity in his own right in the 1980s, O’Neill married American actress Faye Dunaway and managed to bag one of his most famous pieces the morning after she won an Oscar.

“I got all the newspapers and put the Oscars on the table, and she came in and sat down,” O’Neill said. “When people win, they don’t realize it immediately – it’s the day after the event that they realize it. And she realized that her money was to go from, say, $50,000 to $3-4 million, so it was a big changing point in her life. This photo has become the most famous Oscar picture in the world.”

Even today at 72, the photographer is still sought out by modern stars wanting his definitive style.

Recently he decided it was about time Russia’s capital got a piece of the action, be it the last ever image of Winston Churchill in public or one voted the second-greatest rock ’n roll photograph of all time. A month-long outdoor exhibition catalogues O’Neill’s best pictures from a career spanning over 50 years.

The project is not aimed only for Moscow, however. In October, O’Neill will be giving all Russia an exclusive sneak peak at archive shots never published before, including long lost photos of the Beatles.