A former Los Angeles policeman, Paul Dorsey (1902-) joined LIFE in 1936 as the first photographer signed after the original four—Margaret Bourke-White, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Thomas McAvoy, and Peter Stackpole—had been hired. Dorsey initially made his mark at LIFE with his work in China and Japan. As a Marine Corps photographer attached to Edward Steichen’s unit during World War II, Dorsey later returned to Asia for combat operations in Saipan and Guam.

Adapted from The Great LIFE Photographers

LIFE magazine cover published August 16, 1943, featuring Japanese soldiers. (Photo by Paul Dorsey/The LIFE Images Collection)

LIFE magazine cover published August 16, 1943, featuring Japanese soldiers. (Photo by Paul Dorsey/The LIFE Images Collection)

Writer and director Preston Sturges, in white tee shirt, showing cut on arm. (Photo by Paul Dorsey/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation)

Writer and director Preston Sturges, in white tee shirt, showing cut on arm. (Photo by Paul Dorsey/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation)

Screenwriter Jack Cunningham snapping suspenders as he works on Harold Lloyd's new film. (Photo by Paul Dorsey/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation)

Screenwriter Jack Cunningham snapping suspenders as he works on Harold Lloyd’s new film. (Photo by Paul Dorsey/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation)

More Like This

Huge crowd gathered in the surf and amp; at the beach in front of Coney Island Amusement Park. (Photo by Marie Hansen/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation) Photographer

Marie Hansen

Imperial Dam in California. (Photo by Horace Bristol/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation) Photographer

Horace Bristol

American movie producer, artist, and animator Walt Disney and fellow artist and animator Mary Blair sit on a balcony and draw on sketch pads while in South America. (Photo by Hart Preston/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation) Photographer

Hart Preston

Propeller turbulence photographed in stroboscopic light as water passes the torpedo. (Photo by Al Fenn/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation) Photographer

Al Fenn

Sidney Poitier in a scene from "Porgy and Bess," 1959. Photographer

Gjon Mili

Representatives of 14 NATO nations (including US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles (fore, far R) signing a pact admitting Germany as 15th member in a ceremony at Palais de Chaillot. (Photo by Frank Scherschel/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation) Photographer

Frank Scherschel