64 Groovy Photos So Beautiful We Can't Look Away
By | March 2, 2020
Some photos are so beautiful that you just can't look away. Whether their subject is mesmerizing or they show the world in a way that you’ve never never seen it before, a truly gorgeous picture can actually put you in a better mood...especially if it's your first time ever seeing them.
These photos capture way more than expected. From Marilyn Monroe in her work out routine to Phoebe Cates caught behind the scenes and even never before seen photos of young Pamela Anderson before fame took over...these photos will leave you begging for more.
Try not to gasp as you look closer at these rarely seen photos that may not be suitable for all eyes...
Catherine Bach, the original Daisy Duke, was never one to shy away from an outfit that disregarded the laws of physics. Case in point: the shorts that she made famous and the mind boggling shoes that she’s wearing in this still from The Dukes of Hazzard. Even though she may not look comfortable Bach was a standout from this long running network series that spawned remake and tons of merch. She went onto appear in Canadian show African Skies and you can still see her on The Young and the Restless. It’s inspiring to know that Bach is still out here working and looking great.
Already a Wonder Woman, Lynda Carter was one of the most anticipated actresses to appear on ABC’s Battle of the Network Stars. From 1976 to 1988 this show appeared biannually, pitting celebrities from the big three networks against one another in track and field style games. In 1976 Lynda Carter was on a team with Farrah Fawcett, Penny Marshall, and Ron Howard. The team won the inaugural games, with Carter winning the swimming relay as well as the hearts of the viewers at home. Honestly, did you expect a team with Wonder Woman and one of Charlie's Angels to lose?
Out of all the couples from the groovy era, Charles Bronson and Jill Ireland are easily the best looking pair from the ‘60s and ‘70s. The two did everything together from vacationing to starring in films. After their wedding it was rare to see Bronson play the romantic lead of someone who wasn’t his actual wife. Bronson wans’t a man of many words and he rarely spoke about his partnership with Ireland, but it’s clear that these two were in real deal love while they were together. It’s awesome to see that someone so tough was so capable of being such a softy.
Pamela Anderson was "The Blue Zone Girl" for Labatt's Beer in 1989.
Who’s this fresh faced young woman selling beer? Would you believe that it’s Pamela Anderson? My my how things can change. Anderson captured the imaginations of people everywhere in 1989 when she appeared in a series of Labatt Blue beer ads and her first of many magazine covers. How’d she get all of that in one year? She was spotted on the Titantron at a football game. She said:
The cameraman zoomed in on me and everyone screamed and yelled, so they brought me down to the 50-yard line. I was wearing a Labatt Blue T-shirt, and Labatt ended up giving me a commercial.
Cameron Diaz cheerleading in high school, 1988.
Before she went full throttle as one of Charlie’s Angels Cameron Diaz was a cheerleader at Long Beach Polytechnic High School along with Snoop Dogg of all people. She signed a contract with the Elite Model Management when she was only 16 and started appearing in ads for Calvin Klein and Levi’s - it wasn’t long before she was flying across the world for Coca Cola. Can you imagine getting a chance to do that as a teenager? It didn’t take long for Diaz to break out as a gorgeous presence on film when she appeared in The Mask in 1994.
When Fast Times At Ridgemont High was released audiences could only talk about one person - Phoebe Cates. Her swimming pool scenes are still some of the most uh… entertaining parts of that movie. At the time of the film’s release she explained that she was okay with the nude scene in the film because it was a lark. She explained:
I was only 17 when I did my nude scenes in Paradise. They were serious and more difficult because they were not easily justified. But the topless scene in Fast Times at Ridgemont High was funny, which made it easy.
The classic photo of Jane Mansfield and Sophia Loren, 1957.
One of the most well known photos of the groovy era it’s this shot of Sophia Loren and Jaybne Mansfield’s… particular pair of assets.When this photo was taken the two stars were attended a Paramount party in Beverly Hills to celebrate Loren’s jaunt into the United States in 1957. Sitting next to Clifton Webb, Loren didn’t have any choice but to look at Mansfield’s low cut dress. I mean… how can you look at anything else? It’s just not possible. As Mansfield bent over to great the partygoers Loren worried that the blonde’s bombshells would spill out over the table. In this photo it looks like she's trying to look anywhere BUT at Mansfield's cleavage.
Dolly Parton back in 1978.
As far as country stars go Dolly Parton is easily the most famous face out there. For many people who don’t know the two-step she’s the only country star they know, which why her wardrobe malfunction at the 1978 CMAs was such a big deal. Right before she stepped up to the podium to accept the CMA Awards' Entertainer of the Year award her delicate, tight fitting dress ripped right up the front. Thank goodness Kenny Rogers’ then-wife handed Parton her fur stole. The singer began her acceptance speech:
I had this dress made in case I won, and about five minutes ago, I was hoping I wouldn’t win because I busted the front out of it! My daddy says that’s what I got for putting 50 pounds of mud in a five-pound bag.
Ann-Margret lets it all hang out on a chopper
Swedish superstar Ann Margret isn’t just some run of the mill actress, she’s a Harley riding rocker who takes to the highways of Southern California when she wants to cut loose. According to Palm Springs Life she takes her bike out through the countryside of Ojai rather than riding through Los Angeles. She loves her motorcycle so much that she named her dog “Harley” and she had her bike painted to be lavender with a series of daisies. Can you imagine being out on the road and seeing this Swedish bombshell fly by? What’s the Swedish word for “vroom vroom?”
Before she was the Queen of Pop, Madonna was just a midwestern girl with dreams of being a dancer. She even scored a scholarship to study dance at university. This photo is a still from a student film in which she appeared as a kind of human frying pan. The short film, Egg, showed Madonna lying on the floor while an egg cooked on her stomach. It may not be reminiscent of her later work but it shows that she was always a performer. Just don’t bring an egg to any of her performances, we doubt that she’ll appreciate it.
Before she was one of the highest paid television stars of the 2000s Sofia Vergara was just a young woman studying dentistry at the university of Columbia. However one day while she was walking along the beach a photographer noticed her and after her initial photo series was released she became one of the most wanted commercial and magazine models. When she was 17 she appeared in a commercial for Pepsi and she was all over the place. In the late ‘90s Vergara moved to Miami and started making progress in her film career. It’s inspiring to see a woman like this have such a slow burn career.
From the beginning of her career, Faye Dunaway had an effortless cool that made women want to be her and men want to be with her. She had a pouty face and a baritone voice that set her apart from every other actress on screen in the 1960s. She has a legendary attitude that’s neck and neck with her history as one of the most intense actresses of the day. She’s still working today and every time she’s onscreen it’s hard not to sit up straight and take notice. She told Harper’s Bazaar:
Work is a salvation. Work is how you connect with who you are, no matter how painful it might be.
The late great Janis Joplin. Photographed by Elliott Landy at Rhode Island, 1968
Come on, come on, come on, just take it, this picture that is. This gravel voiced singer was the star of the late ‘60s Bay Area music scene. In 1968 she was playing with Big Brother and the Holding Company, a band that inspired pretty much every band that followed. Whether you’re listening to Joplin sing or just looking at her out of this world fashion it’s clear that there’s no one else like her. When asked how she sang the blues Joplin said:
Even a housewife in Nebraska can sing the blues. Anybody can sing the blues. Well, I don’t know whether they can sing them or not, but they can feel them. All you gotta do is have a throat, the throat’s the difference. Everybody’s got feelings inside of them. It’s just the faculty of being able to transform it into music.
After starring in commercials for milk (remember milk commercials?) Heather Locklear was catapulted to stardom in roles on Dynasty and T.J. Hooker. Throughout the ‘80s she was one of the hottest pinups in the world, and while it’s clear that she’s super hot, Locklear thinks that it’s from her hair. When asked how she feels about that big ‘80s hair she said:
It helps my head shape! I could put a beer on my flat head. [Her daughter] Ava will go, ‘Mom, why is your hair puffy?’ Ava’s got this big, round, perfect head. But on me, the puff works.
Filming Perfect, the aerobics romantic comedy starring Jamie Lee Curtis and John Travolta, Curtis got way into character and worked out nearly constantly. In an interview with Esquire at the time she notes that even though much of the dance moves in the film are sexually suggestive she made sure that she wasn’t doing too much, so much so that she admitted that from time to time she could cause some problems. She said:
I really believe this is a luxury. So if you start screwing around and exercise this right of movie stardom, of demanding things, you’re really abusing a privilege. If I inherently believe something is wrong, I’ll walk off the set.
Demi Moore didn’t know what she wanted to do when she was a young woman, all she knew was that she didn’t want to work a normal job. Initially she took acting classes but they weren’t for her, but after a friend suggested she try modeling her career choices broadened. Her most saucy cover in the early ‘80s was for Oui Magazine (which is where this photo is from). At the same time she met a guitarist named Freddy Moore and fell in love. She told Vanity Fair:
I met him and liked what I saw. I wanted him, as anybody who’s had a relationship with a married man knows, there’s a great adrenaline rush with it. I didn’t think about the consequences. I was a different person. I messed with people’s lives. I feel bad if I hurt them, but I was just trying to figure it all out myself.
So even though the most well known photo of Sophia Loren and Jayne Mansfield shows Sophia Loren being super judgey about Mansfield’s cleavage the real story is that the while thing was just a publicity stunt, more so for Mansfield but Loren benefitted as well. Loren admits that she was never able to take her eyes off the dress, but she thought the whole thing was pretty funny. Supposedly Loren has been asked to autograph photos of the moment multiple times but she always declines out of respect for the memory of Mansfield. That Sophia, she’s a class act all the way.
Susan Sarandon has been appearing in films since 1970’s Joe and she’s always been a bit of a brainiac. She’s always been intellectual, but the one thing that she doesn’t think too much about is her acting. She told her friend George Saunders how she jumps into all of her roles:
I can’t speak for other people, but for me, it never really worked to think something like, ‘What Beatle did she like in high school?’ or those kinds of elaborate backstories. It never really worked for me to have long arguments about motivation. I think looking at your own life, on- and offscreen, you can motivate anything, or you can delude yourself into anything.
Lynda Carter has been in show business since she was a young woman. Aside from being in the pageant system, Carter wanted to a be a singer long before she had a magic lasso and cuffs. She says that she never wanted to be in the pageant circuit and that her foray into the world of crowns and tule was a complete fluke. She told the Huffington Post:
I walked into a modeling agency to earn some extra money and they were putting this pageant on. A wonderful woman by the name of Gina Cord—she used to be a runway model—and she said, ‘I think you can win this.’ ‘Oh, I don’t know my God…’So, I entered and won Miss Phoenix, Miss Arizona, Miss USA in—I don’t know, three weeks or something.
Supermodel Christie Brinkley, 1978.
Growing up in Malibu it makes sense that Christie Brinkley would be comfortable in a swim suit, after all why wear anything else when the beach is right there? Months after her discovering in France she had three ad campaigns under her belt and she quickly became a household name. Brinkley is an iconic cover girl who has appeared on more than 500 magazine covers in her storied career. Even though she’s one of the most well known faces in the world, she’s always felt that she didn’t look perfect. She told the NY Post:
I have big cheeks, and when I was younger, my British friends nicknamed me ‘Fat Face.’ The first thing I would say to the makeup artist is, ‘Give me cheekbones!’ and I would suck in my cheeks.
At only 18 years old Sally Field had landed the role of Gidget, a role that threatened to define her entire acting career, but the actress took things into her own hands and refused to be just another little surfer girl or flying nun. In 1976 she won an Emmy award for her role in Sybil where she played a woman suffering from identity disorder. Fields says that she was able to tap into the character because of her childhood. She explained:
My own childhood, my own survival system, played into acting so beautifully. It wasn’t because I was acting in my life, but because my own survival system was able to detach certain parts of myself that I felt threatened by.
Long before she starred in Gilligan’s Island Tina Louise was a bit of a wanderer. She studied drama as a girl and even studied theater at Miami University, but she didn’t think that their program was up to snuff. After six months she left college for New York City and that’s where her career really took off. She explained her decision to leave college to Authority Magazine:
I saw a friend of mine who had gotten a part in a play on Broadway and he was the same age as me and I was very impressed. My mother took me backstage and I just really enjoyed it. And the very fact that my friend was in it gave me a little push to just proceed. I told my mother that I wanted to leave the University because the drama department wasn’t sufficient for me.
When Raquel Welch appeared on the Dick Cavett Show in 1972 she was there for two reasons: she wanted to promote Myra Breckinridge, the film where she played a post-op transsexual woman and you better believe she wanted to meet Janis Joplin. It’s hard to imagine Welch and Joplin hanging out or even being in the same room, but according to the star that’s why she did the show. She told the Observer:
I happened to be a big, huge fan of Janis Joplin—she probably wouldn’t have known that. … I was gaga … and she was looking at me like I was from the moon.
Ann-Margret has always been so cool. This Swedish born actress has never seemed to really care about being the most famous person in the world, she clearly just likes to act, to sing, and to follow her bliss. Throughout the ‘60s she appeared in movies with Elvis and Jack Palance, and while she was an onscreen dynamo it was in the ‘70s when she found critical acclaim. She was nominated for a Golden Globe in Carnal Knowledge and another on in Tommy and Joseph Andrews. This was the decade that people finally came around on her as more than just a eyecandy, but as an actual artist.
By the 1980s Carrie Fisher was every ski fi nerd’s super crush. When Return of the Jedi was released in 1983 jaws dropped in theaters across the world when people saw Princess Leia in her slave girl bikini. According to Fisher the bathing was impossible to wear no matter how good it looked:
When [director George Lucas] showed me the outfit, I thought he was kidding and it made me very nervous. I had to sit very straight because I couldn't have lines on my sides, like little creases. No creases were allowed, so I had to sit very, very rigid straight.
Kelly LeBrock may not have been in a lot of movies but she definitely made a splash in Weird. Science. However, she almost didn’t appear in the movie. At the time of casting she was having fun modeling in Europe and when she heard about the movie she was vacationing in the South of France with none other than Sting. Needless to say she wasn’t interested in going to work. She said:
When I was first offered that role I turned it down because I was having way too much fun in the South of France with Sting, and I didn’t want to go back to the U.S., so they had hired someone else. After about three weeks of shooting the girl had to be fired, so they called me up and said we will give you whatever you want, so the next day I was on a plane to Chicago. My first scene was the shower scene...
If there’s one actress who’s managed to capture the hearts and minds of audiences across the world it’s Sophia Loren. This Italian star is popular in America, she’s popular in Europe, it’s hard to imagine anyone who’s able to be this famous. When asked by W magazine if there was anything that she would have done differently in her career, Loren explained that it’s hard not to think about her missteps no matter how famous she is:
In a long, long career like I had—and by the way, I have—it’s very difficult to be able to criticize some of the moments that you do by yourself that you never tell to other people. It’s a very normal thing to do because you cannot every time have a big victory – no, there have been moments, maybe weak moments, where you did something that you are not really very happy about.
Farrah Fawcett and Jaclyn Smith (Charlie’s Angels), 1970s.
Farrah Fawcett and Jaclyn Smith were two of the original Angels, and while Fawcett didn’t stick around for the entire series Smith played Kelly Garrett for the entire 110 episode run of the series. Smith worked on everything from shampoo commercials to toothpaste ads before she was hired onto Charlie’s Angels in 1976. While people called the series “Jiggle TV” Smith thinks that the show was popular for another reason. She told Parade Magazine:
If we were that salacious then we wouldn’t be talking about it 40 years later. People saw something else, whether it was the relationship of the girls who had each other’s backs or the fact that we were financially or emotionally independent and had a work ethic. There was something on that show for everyone, and you could tell we really loved each other.
If there’s one horror host that makes us howl at the moon it’s Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. In the early ‘80s she hosted Elvira’s Movie Macabre on KTLA and rather than just be another spooky chick she made audiences go absolutely gaga. With her punny one-liners and valley girl voice Elvira filled the gap left by Vampira when she stepped away from the spotlight. Elvira was all over television in the '80s, from CHiPS to The Tonight Show. Cassandra Peterson still plays Elvira but she doesn’t keep such a tight schedule anymore, thank goodness we’ve still got copies of her show.
Brigitte Bardot at Saint-Tropez in the early 1960s.
In the 1950s and ‘60s Brigitte Bardot was one of the most eye-catching celebrities in the world. She seemingly came out of nowhere to become an international sensation. Born to wealthy parents in France, Bardot was only 15 years old when she appeared on the cover of Elle Magazine in May 1950. That cover did more for her than any casting director could have. Director Roger Vadim saw the cover and immediately put her in two of her earliest films: And God Created Woman and The Night Heaven Fell. It wasn’t long before she was the darling of the cinema.
Italian actress and body double for Sophia Loren, Scilla Gabel, 1961.
It can’t be easy to be the body double for one of the most beautiful women on Earth, although that kind of pedigree does mean that you’re also up there when it comes to looks so that’s a nice consolation. Born in Rimini, Italy, Gabel appeared in film, on television, and the stage. Seriously, she has a ton of credits in European and American cinema. She’s most well remembered by American audiences as the body double for Sophia Loren, but after she stepped away from Loren’s shadow she went on to find critical acclaim while working on Italian television. Mucha Bella.
After launching his magazine in 1953 with nothing $8,000, Hugh Hefner quickly became the wunderkind of the print business. Throughout the ‘50s and ‘60s he hosted two low key variety shows where he interviewed cool celebrities like Lenny Bruce and Sammy Davis Jr. By the 1970s he was multi-millionaire who traveled on a private jet while producing films and creating a place for some of the biggest thinkers of the era. He was also just really cool. Is there anyone else who you’d like to swap lives with? For his adult life he was a jet setting swinger with nary a worry in his head.
After a decade spent playing doe eyed sweethearts and flying nuns Sally Field made a huge splash in the 1970s as a more grown up version of herself than audiences had ever seen. Of course, the film that made people stand up and notice her was Smokey and the Bandit. At the time no one thought that she could play the love interest opposite Burt Reynolds but she proved the naysayers wrong by winning over the audience’s heart. She worked with Reynolds again in Hooper and finally capped off the ‘70s with an Academy Award winning role in Norma Rae.
Is there anyone who’s more quintessential to the 1960s than Marilyn Monroe? She may have only been in the spotlight for a brief period of time but she still managed to win the hearts of fans across the world while creating the “blonde bombshell” look that was copied by actresses throughout Hollywood. While we think of of Marilyn Monroe as mid-century babe thanks to films like Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, she got her start in the 1940s as a model. While working at a machine shop she was discovered by a photographer and it wasn’t long before she was off of the work floor and in front of the camera.
Groovy actress Jocelyn Lane in the 1960s.
One of the most popular models of the 1960s, Jocelyn Lane grew up across the world. Born in Vienna, she was educated in New York and at the age of 14 she moved to the UK to train as a dancer. By the time she as 18 she was all over the covers of the magazines from the British press. In 1965 she reached her career peak when she starred alongside Elvis Presley in Tickle Me. She could have done more but in 1971 she married a real life Prince. She may have been a princess, but we’ll always remember her as one of the coolest cover girls of the groovy era.
Was there any better viewing than MTV in the 1980s? At the onset of the channel the producers could do whatever they wanted which made the whole channel feel anarchic and so cool, and in 1987 MTV took Bon Jovi and Samantha Fox down to Jamaica for some good old fashioned hedonism. VJ Alan Hunter wrote that at the time Bon Jovi was happy to do whatever the channel wanted while on location:
When MTV said jump, they jumped. They’re kazillionaires now, but back then, they were just a bunch of mooks from New Jersey. They hammed it up but managed to keep it casual.
'Sweetums' in a scene from "The Muppet Movie" (1979)
Everyone has their favorite Muppet, and for these ladies it’s clear that they love Sweetums, the eight foot ogre that’s nicer than you think. Even though this larger than life Muppet got its start as a baddie in The Muppets’ Frog Prince although over time he softened and became a big old, well, sweetie. Performed by Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, and Jim Henson himself, Sweetums was one of the earliest Muppets to appear on television and remains one of the most beloved creations from Henson’s shop. More often than not he appeared in the spookier sketches with guests like Vincent Price.
Meow, Julie Nemar is from that era of superheroes that was cool and kitschy, just how we like it. Out of all the Catwomen who appeared on Batman she’s definitely our favorite, but she went through some serious pain while she was strutting through Gotham City and robbing the place blind. She told the Observer:
[Her nails] were made of metal. They pinched my fingers… In those days who cared. When you’re performing pain never matters.
When asked how she won the role of Catwoman she said, “Well the body fit the work, and the work fit the body.”
A groovy American Airlines stewardess posing for a photo in 1967. ✈️
Stewardesses have always had a tough job, but in the 1960s they were living a glamorous life. In the heyday of groovy flying stewardesses wore smart outfits in colors that look like they’re straight out of an acid trip. To become a flight attendant in the ‘60s a would be stewardess had to study everything from geography to hair and makeup for 10 hours a day for five weeks. They had to practice first aid and figure out how to help someone in an emergency. It helps that airline workers of the era look absolutely stunning. It’s amazing what a cool outfit and a worldly brain can do for you.
In the 1970s there was no cooler couple than Ike and Tina Turner. From the outside they were an absolute powerhouse, but no one knew that in private Tina was being put through intense physical and emotional abuse. It wasn’t until the 1980s that she was able to tell her story and move forward with her life, inspiring women across the world In 1997 she told Larry King:
It wasn’t something that I planned. I kind of see it as a gift. Because of the life I lived, it had a meaning, and I think that the meaning was all of what is hatching now. I think that if I had not had — if I had not given the story to the world, maybe my life would not be as it is. I believe.
After Cher called it a day on duo with Sonny & Cher she says that her ex-husband and longtime singing partner told her that America would never accept her. She proved him wrong by throwing herself into different roles and outrageous outfits. She explained that she never did anything she didn’t want to do and has always had more control over her career than people think.
I never did anything I didn't want to. I was pushing an envelope that I wanted to push. I felt that looking the way I wanted to look and doing what I wanted to do made me more empowered.
Is there a more ‘70s couple than Lee Majors and Farrah Fawcett. At the height of their careers he was the $6 Million Man and she was the most popular of Charlie’s Angels, but more importantly she was the focus of the world’s most popular poster. According to Lee Majors he’s the guy who picked out the photo, you know the one. Aside from helping each other with their careers the two did their best to get out of the spotlight. He told People:
It was hard to get around. It was not quite as hard as it is today with everyone has a cellphone and the social media is so quick. Back then we only had to deal with the paparazzi at large. A lot of time you could evade them, but not all the time.
Whether you know her from her role in Beastmaster or as a Bond girl in A View to a Kill, you remember Tanya Roberts’ unique look. Even though she didn’t take off in the same way as her co-stars did she still says that she wouldn’t change a thing:
I sort of felt like every girl who'd ever been a Bond Girl had seen their career go nowhere, so I was a little cautious. remember I said to my agent, 'No one ever works after they get a Bond movie' and they said to me, 'Are you kidding? Glen Close would do it if she could.’ And I thought to myself, well you can have regrets if you wish, but what's the point? At the time I didn't know what I know now, and to be honest, who would turn that role down, really?
In the 1970s there was no one whose life was as full of drama as Stevie Nicks. As the singer for Fleetwood Mac she fronted one of the most popular bands in the world, and somehow she managed to have relationships with members of the group while putting out hit singles. Even though she had a ton of breakups, Nicks said that during the ‘70s the one thing she understood was men:
I understood men pretty well in my twenties. Lindsey [Buckingham] and I lived together like married people. I had one girlfriend in Los Angeles in those years, so I really had a lot of different types of men in my life that I really got to know and respect.
This fresh faced cutie is Susan Dey, one of the members of The Partridge Family and a Golden Globe winner for her work on LA Law. She’s one of the few stars from that show to make a career out of the groovy show. After the show ended Dey distanced herself from The Partridge Family because she and star David Cassidy had a major falling out. Dey refused to appear on any TV reunions of the cast, hopefully she was able to forge a new relationship with her former cast members and let bygones be bygones. Or that is to say that she’ll “come on and get happy.”
As one of the most beautiful women of the 20th century Marilyn Monroe is often misunderstood as a bit of a ditz, but she knew the kind of leg up she received because of her looks. Monroe says that she was ignored for most of her childhood until she hit puberty, and then people finally started paying attention to her. She explained how it changed her world, but not necessarily for the better:
When I was 11, the whole world was closed to me. I just felt I was on the outside of the world. Suddenly, everything opened up. Even the girls paid a little attention to me because they thought, "Hmmm, she's to be dealt with!" And I had this long walk to school, two and a half miles [there], two and a half miles back. It was just sheer pleasure. Every fellow honked his horn, you know, workers driving to work, waving, you know, and I'd wave back. The world became friendly.
Before she was Wonder Woman and way before she was rocking the TV as a winner on Battle of the Network Stars Lynda Carter was a force to be reckoned with in the pageant world. When she was only 21-years-old she entered a beauty pageants in Arizona and it wasn’t long before she won Miss world America in 1972. She went onto compete for Miss World at Royal Albert Hall in London that December but she fell short of the crown. It turns out that even without the pageant award she was A-OK. TV producers in America loved her demeanor ands he started getting casted in small roles.
Long before she was using her mind to get revenge on her high school class in Carrie, Sissy Spacek was an aspiring singer who was performing under the name “Rainbo.” Even though she has a unique look Spacek’s songs didn’t exactly set the world on fire. After a single called “John You Went Too Far This Time” she was dropped from her label and left with nothing to do in New York City. It was then that she decided to study at the Strasberg Theater and work as a print model (obviously). Luckily her cousin Rip Torn (yes that Rip Torn) she was able to score her earliest acting gigs.
Farrah Fawcett is one of those once in a lifetime stars. She was a television star and a model, and according to the people she worked with on her jobs she did her own hair and makeup - even on the shoot where she wore her famous red bathing suit. On top of being a total babe Fawcett was incredibly funny. According to Jaclyn Smith, one of Fawcett's friends and Charlie's Angels co-stars, Fawcett cracked everyone up on set. Her raw talent is likely why she was able to jump from production to production, be it a modeling shoot, a movie, or a TV show.
In the 1960s and ‘70s flight attendants wore some of the coolest outfits of the era. Whether they were the go-go dancer inspired outfits that we’ve seen in photos for San Diego Air & Space Museum or the somewhat militaristic (albeit sassy) uniforms worn by the women of Southwestern Airlines they definitely made us stand up and take notice. Or they would if the fasten seatbelt light wasn’t on. Most flight attendants were only on the job for about a year and a half, which makes sense because it’s such a hard job. These saucy outfits were meant to attract businessmen to specific airlines, and it looks like it worked.
Audrey Hepburn is one of those rate stars who audiences know from her voice or the curve of her eyebrow, but we don’t really know anything about her personal life. While she gave interviews and spoke to the press, she never spoke about herself or the people in her life. It was as if there were two Audreys: The Audrey onscreen and the Audrey at home. Born in Brussels to an English banker and a Dutch baroness, Hepburn may seem quintessentially American but she’s genuinely super European. She worked mostly on the stage before she was cast in film roles, but that almost didn’t happen. When casting directors first saw her they didn’t think anyone would respond to her. Boy they were wrong.
As a young woman Madonna just wanted to be onstage. Whether she was dancing, singing, or playing the drums - she was always a star. The oldest of eight children so things were tough. She had to take care of her younger siblings and quarreled constantly with her stepmother when her father was at work. Rather than going out to party she had to do chores, clean, and basically act as her family’s maid. She said:
I resented it, because when all my friends were out playing, I felt like I had all these adult responsibilities... I saw myself as the quintessential Cinderella.
He may not have been the lion maned frontman or the guitar wizard of Led Zeppelin, but John Paul Jones was the musical lynchpin of the group. He was the one guy who understood the mathematics of the music that the band was playing and according to Jason Bonham (John Bonham’s drum playing son) this arcane knowledge put a major rift between the members of the group. He described a fight between Jones and Page thusly:
He's a well-educated — there's a certain bracket, and I don't know what the American equivalent is ... he conducts, he can chart, orchestra, you know, hands down. So much so that there was a time when we were rehearsing with those guys, and we were doing a part, and Jimmy — Mr. Page — was counting it as guitar cycles. He'd do it and say, 'That's 16 guitar cycles. That's right, isn't it, John?' and John goes, 'Whatever.' He goes, 'No, no — John, we're right, aren't we?' and John goes, 'We've never been right. What's the point of continuing now? You do it your way, and I'll do it the correct way.
Groovy fashion of the '70s.
If there’s one style that totally defined the 1970s its these hip hugging denim bell bottoms. While flowy wide leg jeans were cool starting in the 1960s they got wider and wider at the bottom and tighter and tighter at the top. There’s no better kind of clothing to show off how groovy you are while showcasing curves. The grooviest of gals often had to work in groups to squeeze into these babies. Supposedly the easiest way to get into a pair of these was to lie down on the bed while squeezing yourself into them and having a friend use a pair of pliers to zip them up. The things we do for fashion.
Scilla Gabel may have started as Sophia Loren’s body double in the early 1950s, but it wasn’t long before she started acting on her own. Even though her start was inauspicious she soon took on a series of lead roles, although they were all fairly stereotypical. She often played the hot lead, which makes sense, she was a nearly perfect copy of Sophia Loren after all. After moving from film to the stage and television Gabel started picking up fans and critical acclaim, although she never really broke into America in the same way as Loren did. Still, it's one heck of a career.
Sure, we all know about waxing on and waxing off, but before she appeared in Karate Kid Elisabeth Shue had never appeared in feature film. She was just out of Wellesley and had only made commercials and a pilot for ABC. While her co-stars had to learn karate for their roles, Shue had to get in shape for a scene where she wore a bathing suit, something that she really didn’t want to do. She told Sports Illustrated:
I remember having to wear a bathing suit for that scene, which was a big deal because I felt so uncomfortable. When we first started filming, I was given a trainer. and asked to stay in shape. Once the beach scene was shot, I went back to eating whatever I wanted. Watch, I slowly gain weight throughout the rest of the movie.
Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta leave the New York premiere of Grease.
For many young people Grease was the beginning of their love of musical theater, ‘50s music, and drag racing. At the center of it all was Olivia Newton John as Sandy, the Australian goody two shoes who’s in love with greaser Danny Zuko. She says that she wasn’t sure about appearing in the film and that John Travolta convinced her do it. She told the Telegraph:
I was very nervous about making the film, because I was an Australian, but they said, ‘That’s OK, you can do an Australian accent.’ I worried that at 29 I was too old to play a high-school girl. But John was charming and really wanted me to do it, and that was one of the deciding factors. He’s a lovely man – we became great friends and he was very helpful to me on set, as I was not an experienced actress.
Whether you know her from Bullitt or The Deep, you know that Jacqueline Bissett is one of the most fly ladies of the 1970s. One of her earliest roles was as Mrs. Goodnight in the 007 spoof Casino Royale, but it was when she appeared opposite of Frank Sinatra in The Detective. In 1977 Bissett appeared in The Deep, a film where she wore scuba dived in nothing but a t shirt. The film was a smash hit, mostly because of her bodacious bod. But Bissett is more than just her looks. She’s never stopped acting and you don’t get continual work if you’re not good.
A young 25 year old Pamela Anderson.
Even though she’d been working as a professional model for years while she popped up on TV shows like Home Improvement, Pamela Anderson made a big splash in 1992 when she made her first appearance as CJ Parker on Baywatch. According to Anderson even though she was on the show for five years she never watched an entire episode. She explained:
I watched part of one once, and I almost fainted. I never felt really confident in what I was doing in the past. I don’t regret it. It was a positive experience for me, and it did me a lot of good. I mean, a lot of good! But, c’mon, what was I supposed to do? Go home and have Baywatch parties and have my friends come over and watch me on television?
Women have been wearing bras for generations. Historians trace the piece of uncomfortable undergarment back to the 14th century BCE but it really took off in the 1800s when all manner of women’s clothing became common place. In the 1960s many feminists not only stopped wearing bras, but they burned them in protest of the restrictive piece of clothing. In 1968 the Miss America Pageant was protested for making women be judged for their looks more than their brains. At many protests there were “freedom trash cans” where women were encouraged to throw their bras away. This was one protest that many people could agree on.
Even though she first got her start as a scream queen in movies like Halloween and Prom Night Jamie Lee Curtis has branched out to become one of the most popular, and beautiful, famous faces of the 20th century. To get to where she is and stay on top Curtis says that she’s had to put up with a lot of BS. She told USA Today:
I’ve never been a soldier. I’ve never had to put my life on the line like a police officer or a fireman. … I’m an actor. But I’ve had pain. I’ve been oppressed. I’ve been a woman in the movie business. I’ve been a woman who's known for her figure in the movie business, and I’ve had to navigate my version of that. And so I can relate. I think that’s the goal for all of it. I want to relate.
A young Christie Brinkley during the '80s.
Wow. Has there ever been someone who’s so beautiful? Brinkley was studying art in 1972 when she was discovered by a photographer in the post office of all places. Brinkley says that she never thought of herself as a model, but by the early ‘80s she was the most sought after model in the world. She appeared on three consecutive Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue covers - something that had never been done before - and she even had two of her own calendars. Even though she’s essentially out of the game now, Brinkley is still one of the most well known models who’s ever strutted down the cat walk.
Sally Field in the late 1960s.
In the 1960s Sally Field was primarily a television star. She was a cute actress who starred in Gidget and The Flying Nun even though she really didn’t want to do TV. She wanted to be a serious actress but those roles weren’t coming to her. She says that she felt humiliated after playing the Flying Nun when she was only 19 or 20. The whole goof around her character hurt her feelings and almost made her quit the biz. She says that the experience made her disconnect from acting and that it left her “in a fog.” Thankfully she was proactive and started taking acting classes and got a new agent. By the mid ‘70s she was a real deal star and an Emmy winner.
This is one singer that we’d never leave hanging on the telephone. Debbie Harry of Blondie did so much work in the 1970s to improve the standing of women in rock that she deserves a statue in New York City, or at the very least she deserves to have a street named after her. While reviews weren’t always kind to Blondie, Harry says she didn’t read them:
I always found it sort of disturbing to read stuff while I was doing shows—all of a sudden the things I’d read would flash in front of my face in the middle of a song and I’d forget where I was, and go [gasps]. Like shock therapy.
