A long-standing freelance photographer who took pictures of countless celebrities during his career has died on the eve of his 93rd birthday.

Willoughby Gullachsen, who was known as Gus, began his career as a photographer more than 70 years ago and became well known in the Midlands, where he was a member of Birmingham Press Club.

He served in the RAF as a photographer during the Second World War in places such as South Africa, India and Iraq, before moving to the West Midlands, where he worked for ABC Television (later ATV), TV Times and the BBC.

Over the next 50 years, he photographed 189 productions from the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, many RSC productions in his home town of Stratford-upon-Avon, and was the unit photographer for BBC Drama for 22 years.

Gus had many exhibitions of his work staged in Birmingham and Stratford and his book Shooting Through Life captured the highlights of his career. He also helped arrange many of Birmingham Press Club’s celebrity lunches through his contacts.

His funeral will take place on 21 February at 10.30am at The Old Chapel in Oxhill, near Stratford.