Armenian-Egyptian photographer Van Leo was BOTD in 1921. Born Levon Boyadjian in Ceyhan, Turkey to Armenian parents, his father worked for the German-owned Berlin Baghdad Railway, ensuring the family’s survival during the Turkish slaughter of ethnic Armenians during World War One. His family moved to Egypt in 1924, settling in Cairo where he studied at the English Mission College. As a teenager, he developed a love of Hollywood cinema, and began collecting photographs of film stars including Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich. Pausing his studies at the American University in Cairo, he apprenticed with the society photographer Artinian, opening his own photography studio with his brother Angelo in 1941. He established his own studio in 1947, naming himself Van Leo in tribute to artist Vincent van Gogh. He became famous as a chronicler of Cairo high society, making portraits of politicians, writers, military leaders, actors and singers. His style was heavily influenced by glamour portraits of Hollywood stars, particularly noted for his use of light and shadow. Privately, he created hundreds of portraits of himself as male and female characters, and created hundreds of images of muscled male nudes. The advent of colour photography in the 1970s led to a decline in the output and quality of his work. He retired in 1996, donating his photographic archive to the American University in Cairo, and collecting a series of lifetime achievement awards. A lifelong bachelor, the homoerotic themes in much of his work have led to biographical speculation that he was secretly gay. He died in 2002, aged 80.