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

Cleveland Browns Vince Costello (#50) wrapping a tackle around Green Bay Packers running back Jim Taylor. (Photo by Arthur Rickerby/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation) Photographer

Arthur Rickerby

Painter Henri Matisse using a bamboo pole tipped with charcoal to draw a half-scale figure of St. Dominic. (Photo by Robert Capa/The LIFE Images Collection) Photographer

Robert Capa

Balinese farmer herding his flock of ducks through a field. (Photo by Co Rentmeester/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation) Photographer

Co Rentmeester

Drawing room at Notre-Dame-de-Vie withPortraits of Picasso and wife Jacqueline taken by David Douglas Duncan (Photo by Gjon Mili/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation) Photographer

David Douglas Duncan

Technician at Washington State University measuring lumps of cow fetuses. (Photo by Oscar Fritz Goro/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation) Photographer

Fritz Goro

Students Steve Poster and Jessalyn Gray (fore C) talking at side of taxi while crowd of White Supremacists taunt them. (Photo by Joe Scherschel/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation) Photographer

Joe Scherschel