Martin Reichenthal, 77, an artist and photojournalist who was known for shooting celebrity portraits, died Thursday in Hospice of Northwest Ohio.

He died from lung cancer, said his cousin, Claire Kirsner.

Mr. Reichenthal began his professional career in photography at The Blade, where he worked from about 1957 to 1959.

Mrs. Kirsner said he moved to Cleveland to work in marketing and advertising for Western Electric Co. and directed the company’s display at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York.

He moved around for a bit and finally wound up taking photos for American Express and other travel companies. He lived in England and Spain for periods, returning to Toledo from time to time to visit his mother, the late Alice Reichenthal.

By the 1980s he earned a reputation for the portraiture work he did for The Associated Press and advertising agencies in New York.

Angela Lansbury, Vladimir Horowitz, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Tennessee Williams, Marcel Marceau, and Henry Fonda were among his subjects.

“I do pore-by-pore portraits. I shoot wrinkles. I shoot character, not beauty. I don’t flatter. The strange thing is that despite the harshness of my work, none of my subjects have ever complained. Their friends do, but they don’t,” he told Seymour Rothman for a story published in The Blade in 1986.

He was born Nov. 18, 1937, to Alice and David Reichenthal. They owned a woman’s apparel shop in Rock Island, Ill. Mrs. Kirsner said her cousin stayed in Toledo during the summers with her family while his parents went to New York on buying trips.

She said her father gave Mr. Reichenthal his first camera when he was about 12 years old, after his father died.

“Marty never let that camera out of his hands,” Mrs. Kirsner said.

Mr. Reichenthal attended the University of Iowa but left after his junior year because his mother became ill, and she returned to live in Toledo, where she grew up. He continued his education at Ohio University, earning a degree in photojournalism.

He returned to Toledo in the 1990s and began creating his own original artwork by using computer software to enhance photos he had taken. His work was exhibited from time to time in local galleries and art shows.

Carrie Roca, a friend of Mr Reichenthal, said he often spoke freely spoke about what was on his mind and offered his opinion on issues, a quality that earned him the reputation of being a curmudgeon.

“He even called himself that,” she said. “Marty didn’t back down from people. He would get mad, and he would stay mad. But underneath was a person with a kind, caring heart.”

A celebration of life will be held later.

Contact Mark Reiter at: markreiter@theblade.com or 419-724-6199.

First Published May 12, 2015, 4:00 a.m.