Attended the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
He started his career as an advertising copywriter and photographer in New York, shooting such up-and-comers as Nicholson, Gould and Liza Minnelli and acts that played The Bottom Line, including Woody Allen, Cass Elliot and Bill Cosby.
Gittes was a longtime friend of Jack Nicholson, whose character in Chinatown (1974), "Jake Gittes," was named for the producer.
