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Edward L. Woody is known for taking pictures of celebrities, and began taking pictures while in the U.S. Army. During the Vietnam War, 1968-1969, he was a medic and platoon leader on the 5th Special Forces Nha Trang Mike Force, where he was known as "Shotgun" Woody (1968-1969). He received a Bronze Star with V device, Navy Commendation Medal with V device, Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, and Combat Jump Wings, as a result of his numerous combat operations with The Mike Force.
He photographed for numerous magazines including Easyriders, Oui, Club, and many others, until Mary Crosby (the woman who shot J.R. on Dallas) asked him to photograph her for a Star Magazine article about her rescuing her horses from a Malibu fire. The money received for that photo shoot set him on his photographic path.
A still photographer, Woody was fascinated with the potential for video. He began the video paparazzi business in 1992, when he began his video career by providing footage of celebrities to A Current Affair, Inside Edition, Entertainment Tonight, Hard Copy, and many other celebrity news shows.
Since 1993, E. L. Woody has amassed a huge video library which documents the past 15 years of Hollywood history. With almost 4000 hours of footage, and 70,000 video clips, his library is used as an archive by Dateline, 60 Minutes, and other news and documentary shows around the world. His collection of Anna Nicole Smith clips is the largest in the world.
His Christopher Rocancourt clips document the French con man, faux Rockefeller, featured on Dateline's "To Catch A Thief", which also includes an interview with E. L. Woody on the Sunset Strip.
Woody, and videographer J.D. Ligier, were the first video paparazzi shooting the Hollywood scene. Most of the footage in the video archives is exclusive video of the most famous stars, out at clubs, dining, shopping, and doing all the things you[who?] would think stars would do in Hollywood. Woody is regarded as the original video paparazzo. There are more than a hundred video paparazzi shooting video in Hollywood. Most have joined the ranks after seeing Woody on one of the many television shows which have featured segments, or whole shows, to his exploits; see "When Cameras Cross The Line" for an example. It was executive-produced by Edward Wessex, Princess Diana's brother-in-law, and features a paparazzi safari with E.L. Woody.
Channel 5 in the UK produced a thirty-minute program about Woody.
