1918 Born in Akron, Ohio.

1925 Introduced to photography by his uncle, a professional photographer.

1934-37 Photographs for Roosevelt High School, Los Angeles, yearbook.

1937 Studies photography at Frank Wiggins Trade School. Darkroom assistant at Morgan's camera store while attending Art Center School.

1938 Shoots celebrities in nightclubs for fan magazines.

1939 Opens studio specializing in portraiture, photojournalism, and publicity photographs.

1941-45 Assigned to Pictorial Service, U.S. Army Signal Corps, following a six-month course in photojournalism at Life. Stationed in London (1941-44), helps establish Pictorial Service laboratory, processing facility for all combat still and motion picture footage from the European theater of operations. Commissioned a Lt. prior to the Normandy invasion; in Paris (1944) helps establish second division of Pictorial Service.

1946 Reestablishes studio in Hollywood. West Coast contributor to magazines, including Collier's, Photoplay, and Saturday Evening Post.

1947-61 Forms Avery and Associates, photographing for numerous commercial accounts while continuing editorial photography for magazines.

1962 Discontinues editorial work.

1967-68 As director of television commercials, forms Avery-Kuhn Productions with title designer Dick Kuhn, developing special effects techniques, including solarization, motion picture strobe, and soft lens effects. Introduces "north-light" technique, creating a true-to-life look for commercials, and "golden hour" (sunrise/sunset) shooting for automobile commercials.

1969-85 As Avery Film Group produces about seventy commercials a year.

1985-88 Retires to devote full time as chairman of Hollywood Photographers Archives.

1989-2002 Directs Motion Picture and Television Photo Archive. Lectures and teaches at Art Center, UCLA and other colleges. Speaks at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Laguna Museum, Palm Springs Desert Museum and other institutions.

2002 Survived by wife Diana, sons, Mark and Ron and daughter Sandra.

Text by Richard Schickel, Hollywood At Home, A Family Album (New York: Crown, 1990).

FNAC, Paris, France, solo exhibition, 1991-95.

Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, Living Legends of Hollywood, 1993.

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Los Angeles, Artifice and Illusion: Photographs from the Gift of Sid and Diana Avery, 1993.

Alyce de Roulet Williamson Gallery at Art Center College, Pasadena, Hollywood, Hollywood: Identity Under the Guise of Celebrity, 1992.

Giorgio Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California the Cultural Edge, 1992.

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Los Angeles, solo exhibition, 1991.

International Museum of Photography, George Eastman House, Rochester, New York, The Art of Persuasion: A History of Advertising Photography, 1988.

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, Masters of Starlight, 1987.

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Photography in the Fine Arts, 1963.

California Museum of Science and Industry, Los Angeles, solo exhibition, 1962.

Professional Photographers Association (1956), Andy Award of Excellence (1971, 1975), Caddy Award (1975), Belding Award (1980), and Clio (1981).