Paul Newman and his wife Joanne Woodward in 1960
photos of vintage classic stars male and female
This portrait by Nickolaus Murray helps to show the grace and beauty that caught the eye of film producers and helped to launch Ginger Rogers to movie stardom.
Born in Virginia McMath in 1911, Rogers began her career on the vaudeville stage at the age of 14 and in the late 1920's, began appearing in minor film roles. In 1933 came her now historic teaming with Fred Astaire in the RKO film "Flying Down To Rio" and to coin an often-used phrase, "a star was born".
Later in her career, Rogers also proved that she could act as well as dance, appearing in well-received dramas such as 1940's "Kitty Foyle" (for which she won an Oscar) and romantic comedies such as "Roxie Hart" ('42) (which the Oscar-winning film "Chicago" would be partially based on 60 years later...)
English actor Stewart Granger (1913–1993) made over 60 films but is mainly associated with heroic and romantic leading roles. He was quoted: “I've never done a film I'm proud of”. Tall, dark, dignified and handsome, Granger became England's top box office star in the 1940’s which attracted Hollywood's attention.
Edward Steichen's photographs scanned from Masters of Photography Beaumont and Nancy Newhall Copyright 1958
Began her show biz career not as an actress, but as a scriptgirl and secretary for such stars as Charlie Chaplin. Warner Brothers envisioned her becoming the next Clara Bow and she was often cast in roles that involved singing and dancing, although she wasn't particularly gifted at either. Starred in films for smaller studios as well as co-starring in films such as "Picture Snatcher" and "Jimmy The Gent" opposite James Cagney.
Paramount, 1933. Directed by Arthur Ripley. Camera: John W. Boyle. With W.C. Fields, Elise Cavanna, Harry Watson, Dagmar Oakland, Fay Holderness, Gloria Velarde.
On movie sets, W.C. Fields kept a vacuum flask of martinis handy; he referred to it as his "lemonade". One day a prankster switched the contents of the flask, filling it with actual lemonade. Upon discovering the prank, Fields was heard to yell, "Who put lemonade in my lemonade?"
In "Horse Feathers", Paramount, 1932. Directed by Norman McLeod. With Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, Harpo Marx, Zeppo Marx, Thelma Todd, David Landau, Florine McKenney, James Pierce, Nat Pendleton, Reginald Barlow, Robert Greig, Ben Taggert, Edward J. LeSaint, Edgar Dearing, Vince Barnett.
French film actress and dancer Leslie Caron (1931) was one of the most famous Hollywood stars in the 1950’s. She is best known for the waif-like gamines in musical films like Gigi, Lili, and An American in Paris. Since the 1960’s she’s also working in the European cinema.
Vintage postcard. Photo: Camera Press.
Brigitte Bardot (1934) was the sex kitten of the European cinema. She was every man's idea of the girl he'd like to meet in Paris
French postcard by E.D.U.G., nr. 163. Photo: Sam Lévin.
Flamboyant singer and actor Johnny Hallyday (1943) is the father of French Rock and Roll. He was a European teen idol in the 1960’s with record-breaking crowds and mass hysteria, but he never became popular in the English-speaking market. In recent years he has concentrated on being an actor and appeared in more than 35 films.
British postcard in the 'Famous Film Stars' series by Valentine., nr. 7123G.
George Arliss (1868-1946) was the first British actor to win an Academy Award. He was also an author, a playwright, and a Hollywood film maker with an unusual amount of creative control.
Dutch postcard by Uitg. Takken, Utrecht, nr. 3980. Photo: N.V. Meteor Film/Speva/Play Art Prod. Publicity still for Christine/Liebelei.
In the late 1950’s and early 1960’s Alain Delon (1935) was the breathtakingly good-looking James Dean of the French cinema. The “male Brigitte Bardot” soon proved to be a magnificent actor in masterpieces by Luchino Visconti and Michelangelo Antonioni. In the late sixties Delon came to epitomise the calm, psychopathic hoodlum in the 'policiers' of Jean-Pierre Melville, staring into the camera like a cat assessing a mouse.
French actress Gaby André (1920-1972) was a film star during World War II, who later became the mother of another gorgeous French film star, Carole André.
French actor Albert Préjean in an image clearly taken from his early sound film, the Franco-German production Sous les toits de Paris (René Clair 1930). Préjean plays a street singer and here distributes the texts of the song 'Sous les toits de Paris'. For a biography and filmography
Ivan Mozzhukin (1889-1939), spelled Iwan Mosjukin in German, is represented here as Giacomo Casanova. He played the well-known Venetian gentleman, lover, poet and inventor in the homonymous film Casanova (1927), directed by Alexandre Volkoff. For a biography and filmography,
Blonde French actress Michèle Morgan (1920) was a classic beauty. She has been one of her country's most popular leading ladies for over five decades. The delicate, sophisticated, and detached star was especially noted for her large, expressive eyes.