The Unfiltered Past: Exploring the Authenticity of Vintage Photographs
By Sophia Maddox | April 13, 2024
Dr. Frank N. Furter with Columbia and Magenta. (1975)
Few things are as satisfying as a trip down memory lane -- and it's even better when you find something you didn't notice before. Because as Ferris Bueller said -- life moves pretty fast. Here are dozens of pictures of celebrities and remarkable people of yesteryear in all their beautiful, vintage glory. The glamour, the fashions, the hair -- whether classically elegant, effortlessly cool, or interestingly tacky, we shall not see their like again. Here's to the movie stars who were larger than life, here's to the rock stars who lived on the edge, here's to the comedians who still make us smile, here's to the bit players who had those moments of glory that changed their lives forever. It's all good, it's all groovy, and the rest is history.
There are cult films, and there are cult films. The cultiest of all cult films has to be The Rocky Horror Picture Show, in which Tim Curry (center) played Frank N. Furter -- a self-described "sweet transvestite from Transsexual Transylvania." This bizarre gender-bending musical (the film version of the successful stage production The Rocky Horror Show) went virtually unnoticed when it opened in 1975, and might have vanished, just another weird movie that flopped. But an executive at 20th Century Fox noted that offbeat "midnight movies" were becoming a thing, and arranged to have the film screened at theaters looking to make a little money on the late-night crowd. It proved to be the right movie for the right audience -- fans, often in costume, came back week after week to watch, sing along, and shout retorts at characters on the screen. The movie's addictive, ritualistic appeal has kept it in theaters to the present day, making it the longest-running theatrical release of all time.
Christopher Walken performs for his young neighbors at his home in Bayside, Queens. (1955)
Just when you thought you'd seen Christopher Walken at his creepiest, here he is as a clown to fuel your coulrophobia (it means fear of clowns). He's only 12 years old in this shot, decades away from his chilling performances in The Deer Hunter, A View to a Kill, King of New York and Pulp Fiction, but he's clearly already been bitten by the showbiz bug. Walken -- known by his given name "Ronnie," during his early career -- would get his start acting on stage and TV, and doing quite a bit of song-and-dance in New York's nightclubs and cabarets. This would explain the bizarre dancing Walken you may have witnessed on Saturday Night Live, or in the video for "Weapon of Choice" by Fatboy Slim.
A great shot of Loretta Lynn with her golden-brown acoustic guitar and her golden palomino back in the day.
Loretta Lynn is the all-time most successful female recording artist in country music, with 24 chart-topping singles and 11 number-one albums to her name. The Academy of Country Music named her "artist of the decade" for the 1970s, she's been inducted into every conceivable hall of fame, and she is a Kennedy Center honoree. Her best-known tune is the autobiographical and sentimental "Coal Miner's Daughter," released in 1970, but Lynn made her name with feisty, rebellious songs that often carried messages of rebellious empowerment if not outright feminism. The songs "You Ain't Woman Enough (to Take My Man)" and "Fist City" are addressed to man-stealing women, while "Rated 'X'" and "The Pill" discuss, respectively, double standards in male-female relationships and birth control.
Bill Murray in his 1968 high school graduation photo.
Local caddy graduates! In 1968, Bill Murray received his diploma from Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Illinois, and headed west to study pre-med at Regis University in Denver, Colorado. Pre-med? Really, Bill? That plan didn't last long, and he soon dropped out and returned to the Chicago area, where he eventually joined his brother Brian Doyle Murray in the Second City comedy troupe. Two other Murray boys, John and Joel, became actors; it's said that the acting bug tended to bite these Murrays because, as kids, they were constantly competing with each other to elicit laughter from their father, Edward Murray. The brothers also worked as golf caddies at Indian Hill Golf Club, an experience that led Brian to co-write a movie about the unsung heroes of the links -- it was Caddyshack, of course, in which Bill played deranged groundsman Carl Spackler.
Suzanne Pleshette, 1970s
Suzanne Pleshette's most famous TV role was that of Emily Hartley, the wife of Bob Newhart's character Robert Hartley on The Bob Newhart Show, from 1972-78. As such, she was involved in one of the most famous and controversial moments in sitcom history. See, Bob Newhart went on to do another sitcom, Newhart, which ran from 1982-90. Viewers of the series finale of Newhart were shocked by the last scene, in which the famous comedian wakes up in bed with Pleshette and describes an outrageous dream -- indicating that the full 8-year run of Newhart was simply a dream Robert Hartley of The Bob Newhart Show had one night. Pleshette's brief appearance completed the most outrageous prank any TV show has ever played on its viewers. Her photo shoot with Harry Langdon in 1979 was much less meta.
A pre-Wonder Woman Lynda Carter, circa 1971-72.
In the comic books, Wonder Woman's alter ego is Diana Prince -- but to Americans who watched TV in the '70s, Wonder Woman (and, technically speaking, Diana Prince) will always be Lynda Carter. When this picture was taken, Carter was about 20 years old, soon to be a pageant winner. She was Miss World USA 1972 and a semifinalist in the 1972 Miss World pageant (held in London), after which she began to study acting and landed small roles on TV series and in B-movies. In 1975, Carter landed the role of Wonder Woman, whom she portrayed on TV through 1979. Current WW actress Gal Gadot is good -- she's very good -- but she'll never dethrone Lynda Carter as the all-time iconic Wonder Woman.
Stage shot of a Pink Floyd concert in San Diego, 1970.
The prog-rock group Pink Floyd is best known for the decade of massive commercial success that kicked off in 1973 with Dark Side of the Moon. Wish You Were Here, Animals, The Wall, and The Final Cut, all of them high chart performers and huge sellers globally, followed. But the group's work before Dark Side of the Moon was more challenging -- unconventional song structures with long instrumental sections and sound experiments. Albums like A Saucerful of Secrets, Ummagumma, and Atom Heart Mother are highlights (or perhaps low-lights, if 20 minute, multi-part song suites aren't your cup of tea) of the psychedelic space-rock and prog-rock that flourished in the early '70s. In this shot, band members Rick Wright, David Gilmour, and Roger Waters (drummer Nick Mason is not pictured) are playing in support of the Atom Heart Mother album.
Marcia, Marcia, Marcia! You're gonna lose! Lose! Lose! A miffed Maureen McCormick on The Brady Bunch, 1972.
Here's Maureen McCormick as Marcia Brady at the height of her miniskirt-enabled powers. Though she may have been every teenage boy's crush in 1972, on this particular episode of The Brady Bunch, "Greg's Triangle," she doesn't come out on top. See, her adopted brother Greg is to cast the deciding vote in the selection of head cheerleader (wait, why does Greg get to vote on-- oh, never mind), and he's torn between his sis and his girlfriend-du-episode, Jennifer. In the end, Greg does the somewhat-right thing and chooses neither of them, instead giving the top job to Pat, who is played by Rita Wilson in her first TV role. Jennifer, predictably, dumps Greg after the vote, but in a surprise twist, the normally self-centered Marcia praises her brother for his decision.
Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Bob Dylan hangin', drinkin' and smokin', 1970s.
New York City, 1972: It's Mick Jagger's 29th birthday. Mick's dressed as a lion tamer and of course his Rolling Stones life-partner Keith Richards is on hand in a stripey suit jacket. It's all the outrageous fashion sense we'd expect from these two in the early '70s, but then Bob Dylan shows up looking like a lumberjack -- and he's ok. He's more than ok, he's Bob Freakin' Dylan, he can wear whatever he wants. It's unlikely that any of these three rock stars can recall just what was being said at this moment, but it's tempting to think Keith had just asked, "Ay Bob, wazzat Rolling Stone song of yours named after us, or wot?" To which Dylan would have replied, "It ain't you, babe."
Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong, 1969.
Just a couple of stoners about to hit it big -- you're looking at Richard "Cheech" Marin and Tommy Chong in a very early photo shoot. Their debut comedy album, Cheech & Chong, would come out in 1971, bringing their brand of self-ridiculing marijuana-infused humor into the mainstream. Cheech & Chong peaked at #28 on the Billboard album chart; the follow-ups Big Bambu (1972) and Los Cochinos (1973) both made it all the way to #2, and Los Cochinos won the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Recording in 1974. The huge popularity of these early albums set up the next phase of their career, in which they starred in fairly successful movies such as Up In Smoke (1978), Cheech & Chong's Next Movie (1980), and Nice Dreams (1981). In the mid-'80s, the pair split up, but they have since reunited on numerous projects.
Burt Reynolds and Farrah Fawcett during filming of the 1981 comedy "The Cannonball Run."
The 1981 road-racing comedy The Cannonball Run was packed with star power: Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Adrienne Barbeau, Mel Tillis, Terry Bradshaw, Dom DeLuise, Jackie Chan and 007 himself, Roger Moore. But you could have left all of them on the side of the road and powered to box office success with this supernaturally attractive pair of human beings: Burt Reynolds and Farrah Fawcett. He was the greatest heartthrob of the late '70s; she had the decade's hottest poster, and was the hottest lady detective on Charlie's Angels, a show that was completely about conspicuously hot lady detectives. The chemistry in the movie (and this photo) wasn't fake -- Fawcett and Reynolds were romantically involved for a time.
A beautiful 2,000 year-old genie named 'Jeannie'
Barbara Eden played a genie named Jeannie on the sitcom I Dream of Jeannie, and you have to wonder -- how did they get away with this? Her midriff-baring outfit made her a sex symbol from the show's first episode in 1965, but the outfit was strictly regulated. While Eden's ribcage and cleavage were allowed to breathe free, NBC decided her navel should always be covered. The network brass mandated billowy harem pants in a further attempt to tone down Eden's sex appeal, lest a woman appear with midsection and legs exposed. Eden even had to wear a one-piece suit in a scene filmed at the beach. Armchair theologists (perhaps after a few beers) have debated whether Adam and Eve had belly buttons. Did a TV genie named Jeannie have one? We will never know.
The Addams Family, 1964.
Gomez, Morticia, Lurch, Uncle Fester, Grandmama, Wednesday, Pugsley, Thing and Cousin Itt -- we all know them as the Addams Family from the TV series and movies. But the characters were in development for decades before the show's 1964 premiere. Way back in 1938, freelance cartoonist Charles Addams placed a one-panel gag in The New Yorker that showed a vacuum-cleaner salesman demonstrating his product to a spooky, vampirish housewife. The woman (her appearance based on that of Addams' wife) would eventually acquire a name, and a husband, and children, and other relatives, as Charles Addams created stories and scenes for this family. They were Addams' macabre and funny family -- they were the Addams Family.
Cindy Morgan as 'Lacey Underall' in a scene from the comedy film "Caddyshack," 1980.
Young lady starts in radio, becomes a weather woman on local TV, sells green soap, and ends up in perhaps the most quotable comedy ever made -- no, it's not a Cinderella story, it's the Cindy Morgan story. She did indeed work as a radio DJ and newscaster while in college, and a meteorologist after graduation, but America got its first good glimpse of Cindy in national TV commercials, snuggling up to clean, beefy Irishmen as the Irish Spring Girl. She made her mark in movies as Lacey Underall, Judge Smails' bad-girl niece, in Caddyshack (1980), and went on to play Lora/Yori in Tron (1982).
Caroline Kennedy taking her Raggedy Ann doll for a walk in a stroller and JFK tagging along. (1960)
The man who would be the leader of the free world was also a dad -- twice over. Photographers captured this father-and-daughter shot just two-and-a-half weeks after Kennedy had narrowly defeated Richard Nixon in the race for the Presidency of the United States. But this stroll around the block with daughter Caroline and her Raggedy Ann doll was no victory lap; rather it was a moment of normalcy for the President-elect in what was bound to have been a hectic day following a frenetic campaign. As election day had approached, so had another momentous event: The birth of another child. This picture was taken on November 25, 1960 -- the day John F. Kennedy, Jr. was born.
Farrah Fawcett and her iconic '70s hairstyle
You could debate who was the sexiest female sex symbol of the 1970s -- you could say that Lynda "Wonder Woman" carter had the most heroically Amazonian figure, or that Raquel Welch had an untouchable smoldering exoticism, or that Catherine "Daisy Duke" Bach had the best, uh, jean shorts. But there's no debate about the hair. Farrah Fawcett owned the hair prize in the 1970s. She had an epically tousled, feathered look. Her feathers had feathers. A California condor with a 10-foot wingspan didn't have this many feathers. There was nothing like it. The controlled chaos of Fawcett's hair was on full display in her 1976 photo shoot with Bruce McBroom, which yielded the iconic red-swimsuit image that would adorn teenage boys' rooms all over the country for years to come.
10 year-old Jack Black looked like 'Peter Brady' in 1979.
Jack Black rocked his way into our hearts in the late '90s as one half of Tenacious D, a comedy act (with Kyle Gass) that poked fun at adolescent heavy metal fantasies while cranking out some pretty kickass music. In a way, that's what Black has continued to do in every film and TV show since -- he brings a childlike enthusiasm to every project, then proceeds to nail the performance like a pro. It's controlled chaos, it's madness with a purpose. He's just a big kid, as they say -- but he once was a little kid. A little 10-year-old kid with a contagious smile who looked eerily like... a young Christopher Knight, TV's Peter Brady?
Randy, Janet and Michael Jackson at home in 1972.
The musical legacy of the Jackson family is well known, having begun with the massive chart success of the Jackson 5 and continuing through the solo careers of Michael and Janet. Randy, Janet and Michael were the three youngest of the 10 Jackson children, and in 1972 were in different phases of their careers. Michael, then around 14, was inarguably the star of the Jackson 5 (with brothers Jackie, Tito, Jermaine and Marlon) and was beginning to release solo albums. Eleven-year-old Randy had performed with the Jackson 5 on percussion, but didn't actually join the group as one of the "5" until 1975, as a replacement for Jermaine. Janet, who was about 6 years old in this shot, would find more success as an actress in the '70s and early '80s, not emerging as a major pop star until 1986 with her third solo album, Control.
Edy Williams And Russ Meyer, The Director Of Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, 1970.
In Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970), Edy Williams played Ashley St. Ives, an adult film star who seduces one of the main male characters, Harris Allsworth (played by David Gurian). The film itself was a cavalcade of beautiful women (two of the three female leads were Playboy Playmates), swinging sexual liberation, drug use (the "dolls" of the title was slang for depressant pills) and the vagaries of the music industry. It was directed by notorious sexploitation legend Russ Meyer (whom Williams would marry after the film's release), and was more of a parody of its 1967 predecessor, The Valley of the Dolls, than a sequel.
Cavett Has a Few Questions for Raquel Welch, 1972
Raquel Welch was considered one of the sexiest female celebrities of the 1970s -- well, in Playboy's words she was the "Most Desired Woman of the Decade" -- and Cavett was the thinking man's late-night talk show host. This meeting of the minds from 1972 would seem to have something for everyone, then. Cavett was known for his ability to engage guests in intellectual conversations on The Cavett Show to an extent that more humor-focused shows (like Johnny Carson's Tonight Show) didn't. Welch was of course known for her glamour and sex appeal, but by the early '70s was becoming more and more appreciated as a real actress. Two years later, she would win the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for her turn in The Three Musketeers.
Linda Gray as Sue Ellen Ewing on "Dallas."
The TV series Dallas is remembered for J.R. Ewing, the scheming, egotistical larger-than-life oil baron who made the weekly drama must-see TV (before that was even a thing). But J.R.'s machinations would not have been quite so despicable without the presence of Sue Ellen, the trophy wife played by Linda Gray. J.R.'s disinterest, infidelity and emotional abuse of Sue Ellen drove the character to drink heavily, and to have numerous affairs. Gray maintains Sue Ellen's struggles made her one of the most interesting characters on TV in the 1980s, and has referred to her as "the original Desperate Housewife."
"Jungle Pam" Hardy, sweetheart of the dragstrip
When "Jungle Jim" Lieberman, drag racing's top showman, spotted young Pam Hardy in West Chester, Pennsylvania, he knew he had to find a place for her on his team. It was 1972, Pam was just about to graduate from high school, and she knew nothing about the sport of drag racing. Liberman didn't care; he and his crew could show her the ropes -- Liberman saw a star quality in her figure, spirit and beaming smile, and those are things you can't teach. Much to the delight of race fans, "Jungle Pam" was soon a regular presence on the track, helping Liberman's team care for his Chevy funny car. Clad in tight tops and cutoff jean shorts (today known as "Daisy Dukes"), she was just the eye-catching asset Jungle Jim had wanted, cementing his reputation as the most entertaining racer in the sport.
Ann-Margret is ready for takeoff
Perhaps it was her Scandinavian free-spiritedness -- Swedish-born actress and singer Ann-Margret seemed on call to be as sexy as necessary. Need an actress to smother Jack Nicholson with her cleavage? Ann-Margret would do it (in Carnal Knowledge, 1972). Need an actress to writhe in satin sheets and foam, then get sprayed by baked beans? Ann-Margret's your girl (in Tommy, 1975). Need an actress to ride a large motorcycle in a thigh-high sweater dress and calf-high boots? Ann-Margret's raring to go (in The Prophet, 1968). Need an actress who can shake her fringe top and miniskirt like a professional go-go dancer? Ann-Margret has that exact skill (in Appointment in Beirut, 1969). Need an actress you could cover in fluorescent paint and drag around a canvas like a human paintbrush while burly men in tribal garb howl and beat their bongos? That was so Ann-Margret's thing (in The Swinger, 1966). Need an actress to wear a bra at a photo shoot on a chilly day? Not her thing, man.
"Jungle Pam" Hardy, one of drag racing's main attractions in the '70s.
Jim Liberman was a drag racer who went by the nickname of "Jungle Jim." He won a lot of races in the 1970s. Fans loved him for his flamboyant personality and masterful driving. But this is not a picture of Jungle Jim -- this is "Jungle Pam" Hardy, Jim's sidekick, who commanded attention at the track with her tight, skimpy outfits. She had a job to do, as Jim's "backup girl," she helped guide him as he drove his Chevy Vega backward on the track after a burnout. Pam joined Jim's team in 1973, and in 1977 Jim died on an off-track car accident. Though she only did the job for four years, Jungle Pam remains the most iconic backup girl in drag racing history.
Sean Connery doing a handstand for Ursula Andress on the set of "Dr No."
Suck it, Trebek! Sean Connery, the manliest Scotsman of '60s cinema, just had to show off for piping-hot Swiss miss Ursula Andress on set, didn't he? Dr. No (1962) was the first James Bond movie, and Honey Ryder (Andress), who unforgettably emerged from the ocean in the white bikini pictured here, is considered the first cinematic Bond Girl. Andress' character as written by Ian Fleming in the novel was slightly different -- in the book, her name is Honeychile Rider, and she wasn't wearing a bikini (or even a one-piece) when she met agent 007. In another tweak to make the movie watchable, all of Andress' dialogue was dubbed by voiceover specialist Nikki van der Zyl. Ursula may have been easy on the eyes, but her harsh Swiss accent was murder on the ears.
Oh Yeah! "Macho Man" Randy Savage, Miss Elizabeth and Jesse Ventura in 1983.
Be honest -- which of these three sparklers from 1983 would you have pegged to be the future governor of Minnesota? History tells us it was Jesse "the Body" Ventura (at right), and not Randy "Macho Man" Savage or the lovely Elizabeth "Miss Elizabeth" Hulette. Randy and Elizabeth would marry the following year, and she would later debut in the WWF as Macho Man's mysterious, glamorous manager. Sadly, neither Macho Man nor Elizabeth are with us today. Ventura, who served one term as governor and has since remained a popular political figure, occasionally floats the idea of a bid for the U.S. presidency. That seems far-fetched, as American voters would never make a crass TV blowhard the leader of the free world.
Groovy stewardesses, early 1970s.
The 1967 "memoir" Coffee, Tea or Me? purported to spill the beans on the hijinks and sexcapades of two real-life airline stewardesses, a profession we now describe as "flight attendant." The book was in fact written by Donald Bain, who years later admitted he made a lot of it up because he didn't get salacious stories out of the real stewardesses he interviewed. The tales were either a deterrent or selling point for the profession, depending on one's own inclinations (it was the free-love era, after all). The book and the fashion trends of the '60s and '70s turned stewardesses into glamorous fantasies for many travelers. Today, we know that these Florida Air employees, in their high-cut shift dresses and purely decorative headbands, are being degraded and exploited. Indeed, they look miserable. Cute, but miserable.
James Dean looking cool and cooler needing ice in the 1950s.
James Dean was the coolest guy in Hollywood during his brief career, but even he needed to pick up some ice to keep his food and drink cold. Here he's doing just that at the West Texas Ice Co., an ice house that may have been in or near Marfa, the Texas town where the 1956 film Giant was filmed. Giant turned out to be Dean's last movie, and he did not live to see its release, as he died September 30, 1955, in a car accident. On that fateful day, Dean was driving his 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder west on route 466 near Cholame, California, when he suffered a head-on collision with an eastbound vehicle; he was taken by ambulance to the Paso Robles War Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. James Dean appeared as leading actor in just three films -- Rebel Without a Cause (1955), East of Eden (1955), and Giant -- but his legacy as one of Hollywood's coolest dudes looms large.
Pat Priest, famous for portraying Marilyn Munster, with the Munster Mobile.
You know how there always seems to be that one kid in a family who doesn't turn out quite right? On The Munsters (1964-66), it was Lily's niece Marilyn Munster, who is pitied by her relatives because she looks so plain and un-grotesque. In fact, Marilyn is a gorgeous young woman, but by the twisted logic of the Munster household she's a freak. Marilyn was first played by Beverley Owen, but Pat Priest, seen here posing with the Munster Koach, took over the role beginning with the 14th episode of the first season. Did the Munsters even notice the change in their leggy blonde niece? Perhaps not, seeing as both Beverley and Pat were so unattractive and hard to look at.
Cast of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" 1986.
When three Chicago-area '80s teenagers decide to skip school for a day, where do they go? Why, the Art Institute of Chicago, of course. Ok, so this scene from Ferris Bueller's Day Off is fairly unlikely, but it made for good watching. The stylish juvenile delinquents in this shot are Cameron Frye (Alan Ruck), Sloane Peterson (Mia Sara) and Ferris himself (Matthew Broderick). The museum scene is just one stop in a whirlwind tour around Chicago that includes the Mercantile Exchange, Sears Tower and Wrigley Field. And what's up with that parade, with the dancers in their dirndls backing Ferris on "Danke Schone" and "Twist and Shout"? Well, it's supposed to be the von Steuben Day parade, a celebration of German-American culture. It's a real parade, but it takes place in late September, which doesn't fit with the movie's setting, which is likely the springtime. Remember, we learn from principal Rooney that Ferris is trying to coast through the semester to graduation, but has already been absent how many times? Nine times. Nine times? Nine times.
19 year-old Kurt Cobain, 1986.
Kurt Cobain was a tortured soul, a grunge poet, a rock 'n roll casualty -- and in this pre-fame shot, a happy and good looking kid. He was 19 at the time, and soon to form Nirvana with Krist Novoselic and Aaron Burckhard. Of course, he'd had his share of difficulties -- trauma from his parents' divorce, bullying in school, vandalism and other antisocial behavior. But it's good to remember that even our brooding antiheroes have their share of fun. After all, Cobain was at this point committed to the rock 'n roll path -- it beats digging ditches. The darkness did catch up with him, and he came to see Nirvana's massive success as more curse than blessing. He committed suicide in 1994 at the age of 27.
Janis Joplin and Tom Jones singing in a duet, 1969.
It's not un-- ok, it was a bit unusual. You wouldn't necessarily pair up Tom Jones and Janis Joplin for a duet -- Tom was, frankly, a little too square for the hippie diva. But showbiz being what it is, Tom had a variety program in 1969 called This Is Tom Jones, and Janis stopped by to do a number with the host. Other acts that were probably too hip to be there, but played nevertheless, included the Moody Blues, Joe Cocker, Joni Mitchell, and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. And in its weird way, Jones-Joplin kinda worked -- in a song called "Raise Your Hand," the Welshman's big voice holds its own against Janis' wild backwoods screech.
Joan Jett, 1977.
In 1977, Joan Jett was a member of The Runaways, an all-female hard rock/glam-punk band that became hugely famous everywhere, it seems, but their native United States. The Runaways sold out large venues in the UK, Canada, and especially Japan, where they were mobbed by adoring fans upon arrival, but just never quite rose above cult status in the States. Some members of the Runaways were destined for bigger things -- following the band's breakup in 1979, Lita Ford became a successful solo artist, and Micki Steele joined The Bangles. But Jett became the biggest star by far, topping pop charts all over the world in 1982 with "I Love Rock 'n Roll" and cracking the top 10 with "Crimson & Clover" and (much later) "I Hate Myself for Loving You." She continues performing to this day, and is appreciated by fans of many ages as the Queen of Rock 'n Roll and the Godmother of Punk.
Yvonne Craig as 'Batgirl' on "The Merv Griffin Show" in 1967.
The late Yvonne Craig, who died in 2015, had a long and successful career as a television actress, but will always be remembered, by countless rabid fans, for exactly two roles. That's the funny thing about rabid fandom -- devotees of a film or show watch it endlessly,they invite its stars to conventions, and they never ever forget. In 1967 and 1968, Craig appeared in 26 episodes of Batman, the campy TV series starring Adam West, as Barbara Gordon -- Commissioner Gordon's niece, who secretly fought crime alongside Batman as Batgirl. Then in 1969, Craig played the seductive, green-skinned, but ultimately doomed Orion female Marta in "Whom Gods Destroy," the 69th episode of Star Trek. That was one character, in one episode of Star Trek, but you know how Trekkies are. Thanks to Marta and Batgirl, Craig will forever loom large in the pantheon of classic cult-TV babes.
Steven Spielberg relaxing in the mouth of Jaws, the 1975 film classic.
Jaws, released in the summer of 1975, which was the first film to earn over $100 million at the box office, is acknowledged as the first summer blockbuster -- but don't let director Steven Spielberg's relaxed pose fool you. The production was beset with difficulties, many related to the animatronic shark (which Spielberg named "Bruce," after his lawyer) and of course the weather and unavoidable issues involved with shooting so much at sea. The original shoot, which took place mainly on or near the Massachusetts island of Martha's Vineyard, was expected (or hoped) to last 55 days; in all, it went on for 159 days.
Andre the Giant and his dog in 1983.
Wrestler Andre the Giant stood 7 feet, 4 inches tall, and weighed 520 pounds -- that's a big man. His massive size was caused by an excess of growth hormone, a condition known as gigantism. It means "being a giant," more or less. The dude was huge, and he used his size to his advantage in the wrestling ring, where he towered over his rivals (who were very large men themselves). Andre the person was less fearsome than his wrestling persona. His career had made him rich, and he was famously generous, always insisting on paying for dinner. He was also famously, uh, thirsty, and known to consume unbelievable quantities of beer or wine. But Andre -- who had been born Andre Roussimoff in France -- was perhaps most comfortable away from the crowds, on his ranch in North Carolina, among his cattle and dogs. Andre died of heart failure in a Paris hotel room in 1993, at the age of 46.
Cher and her hair for Vogue, 1969.
She's got long hair, long legs, career longevity, and a short name. Cher -- just Cher, since 1965. It seems like Cher has always been with us, doesn't it? From her days as a pop-chart powerhouse in Sonny & Cher (with husband Sonny Bono), to TV success on the Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour in the '70s, to her '80s movie career in such hits as Mask (1985), The Witches of Eastwick (1987), and Moonstruck (1987). In 1998, she scored the biggest hit of her career with "Believe" and charmed a new generation of fans as a dance-pop diva and fashion icon. And if this 1969 photo from Vogue tells us anything, it's that Cher could have been an it-girl magazine model as well -- but you know, she was kinda busy with the other stuff.
Bond beauty Barbara Bouchet, 1967.
It's a shame Hollywood didn't know what to do with Barbara Bouchet. After fumbling about with the usual pretty-girl bit parts, the gorgeous German-American actress appeared in just a handful of memorable roles, including Miss Moneypenny in the 007 spoof Casino Royale (1967) and Ursula in Sweet Charity (1968). She did a little TV, appearing on Star Trek and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. But then, feeling like she wasn't getting the interesting parts she deserved, she left. Just took off for Italy -- arrivederci, baby. Since 1970, she has acted almost exclusively in Italian-language films. Glamorous, memorable, even iconic -- but absent. The one that got away.
Judas Priest, 1975.
Portrait of a band at a crossroads. Judas Priest is an institution of heavy metal music today, but in 1975 they didn't exactly look likely to succeed. The group had released their debut, Rocka Rolla, in 1974, and the album had flopped. There was buzz about the band, enough to tour and even get onto TV, but Rocka Rolla was not selling well. Band members had to take side jobs and were on the verge of poverty when, in 1975, they headed back into the studio, resolved to give it another try. With a budget of £2,000, Judas Priest recorded The Sad Wings of Destiny, which was released in early 1976. The album solidified the band's sound, settling on a mixture of hard rock and prog-rock that would play a major role in defining the genre of heavy metal. The Sad Wings of Destiny caught the attention of CBS, and the following year the band released their major-label debut, Sin After Sin.
Marlo Thomas between takes on "That Girl" in New York, 1967.
On That Girl, Marlo Thomas played Ann Marie, a character who was groundbreaking and even controversial. Today, of course, Ann Marie's situation is nothing noteworthy, but in 1965, when That Girl premiered, it had hardly been seen on TV. Ann Marie was... young and single! She was... living alone in the big city! She had a serious boyfriend but... they were not engaged to be married! For young female viewers eyeing a career path and questioning the patriarchy, these abnormalities made the character more relatable. By the time That Girl ended its run in 1971, after 136 episodes, the torch had already been passed to a new actress, character and program that spoke to young female empowerment -- The Mary Tyler Moore Show.
Ann-Margret, a sex symbol unlike any other
When Ann-Margret was starting out in showbiz in the very early 1960s, the cognoscenti and the rumor mill thought they had her figured out. She began as a singer -- a really sexy singer who could dance like a Rockette. The buzz was that this Swedish-born siren would be the "female Elvis Presley," able to shake her hips while singing pop hits and drive the crowds wild. She did end up making a movie with Elvis -- Viva Las Vegas in 1964, in which she proved every bit the boy King's equal on screen -- but she was not the female Elvis. When Ann-Margret embarked on her acting career and became a star with her turn in Bye Bye Birdie (1963), the talkers decided she'd be the next Marilyn Monroe. But that turned out to be a faulty prediction as well. The truth is, all Ann-Margret had to do was be Ann-Margret and she'd be a legend in no time. And so it came to pass.
Natalie Wood, 1960s
Oh Carol! The 1969 film Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice addressed issues of honesty and fidelity in marriage, and ultimately depicted an attempt at wife-swapping between a fairly liberated couple and their conservative friends. When you realize that Natalie Wood, vixen in a paisley bikini, is in the mix, the stakes seem suddenly a bit higher. Wood played Carol, who had resolved to be totally honest with her husband Bob (Robert Culp) -- even about the extramarital affairs they were having. Ted (Elliott Gould) and Alice (Dyan Cannon) weren't so comfortable with the idea, but in one of those movie-world intellectual conversations that gets real, Alice ends up demanding to swap partners. It works -- briefly, and then it doesn't.
Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin with Sandy Denny of Fairport Convention, 1970.
You're looking at Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin and his friend Sandy Denny, formerly of the British folk band Fairport Convention. Denny holds a special place in Led Zeppelin's history -- as Plant's duet partner on "The Battle of Evermore" off Led Zeppelin IV. The song remains the one time that the band enlisted a guest vocalist in the studio, and the resulting piece, boosted by Jimmy Page's mandolin playing, is without a doubt a classic. To acknowledge her contribution to the album, Jimmy Page gave Denny her own runic symbol -- three downward-facing triangles -- as he had given himself and the other three group members. Unfortunately, Denny died in 1978, just 31 years old.
Spock and James T. Kirk
Well don't these two guys look like they could take on the universe. A photo of Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner from this shoot (though not this exact picture) ran in TV Guide the week of the premiere of Star Trek -- September 8, 1966, as all Trekkies know. The series was embraced by science-fiction fans, who soon picked up (or picked apart) its meticulous details. For instance, the uniforms in this picture actually mean something. Space-farers in command positions, like Captain Kirk (Shatner) wore a gold shirt, while those in the science/medical division wore blue, a la Mr. Spock (Nimoy). The three stripes on Kirk's sleeve indicate his rank of captain, while the two on Spock's indicate that he is a commander.
Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty rockin' out on stage, 1981.
Stevie Nicks and the late Tom Petty were very good friends, but never lovers. Musically, though, the relationship was something of a romance. Nicks admired Petty deeply, even idolized him, and told him she wished she could be a member of his band, the Heartbreakers. They wrote songs for each other, and sang together live and on each other's albums, most notably the track "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around," which was a song Petty wrote for his own band but essentially "gave" to Nicks. It went to number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, and was her biggest hit. After decades of collaboration, Nicks finally did get the invitation she'd always wanted when Petty made her an honorary Heartbreaker. In fact, the last time they performed together -- at London's Hyde Park, in July 2017, just a few months before his death -- Petty welcomed her to the stage by saying, "over the years, we've become very close and she is the honorary girl in our band—Stevie!"
The one and only "Blues Brothers", 1980.
Elwood (left) and Jake Blues -- the fictional Blues Brothers, played by Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi -- became audience favorites for their musical performances on Saturday Night Live. Aykroyd and Belushi were cast members, and the act had a comedic edge -- but at the same time, both were fans of blues and soul music, and actually took the band seriously. And it was a real band, with veteran and virtuoso musicians playing horns, guitars and rhythm. The band's first album, Briefcase Full of Blues, went to number 1 on the Billboard album chart, and contained the two Top-40 singles "Soul Man" and "Rubber Biscuit." In this photo, the brothers are sitting on the hood of their car, the Bluesmobile, a 1974 Dodge Monaco that is also (the story goes) a decommissioned Mount Prospect police car.
Tina Fey in her high school yearbook photo, 1988.
Tina Fey was a nerd. No, she was, it's a fact -- at Upper Darby High School, in Pennsylvania, she was an honor student, a member of the choir and the drama club, and co-editor of the student newspaper. (She was also on the tennis team, which isn't that nerdy.) She was also a comedy nerd, exposed at an early age to Saturday Night Live, Monty Python, and the classics (Marx Brothers, The Honeymooners). And here's the thing: Nerds win. They may not win in high school, but they win in life. Nine years after graduating from high school, Fey was a writer on Saturday Night Live. Two years later, she was the show's head writer -- and the first woman to hold the job. Way to go, nerd.
Allen Ludden and Betty White at their wedding in Las Vegas, 1963.
When Alan Ludden married Betty White, it was a match made in game-show heaven. Ludden was the host of Password, which aired every weekday, from 1961-75; additionally he hosted Liar's Club, Win With the Stars, and Stumpers!. White, on the other hand, had been a TV star since the dawn of TV, playing the lead on Life With Elizabeth in 1952. In 1960, she began appearing on game shows, always ensuring entertainment value thanks to her hilarious ad-libbing abilities. Her game-show resume is too long to list here -- but yes, it included Password. And so the host romanced the contestant, in 1963.
Colonel Sanders and Alice Cooper meet in Amsterdam, 1974.
Public relations makes for strange bedfellows. In 1974, rocker Alice Cooper and Colonel Harland David Sanders, founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken, were staying in the same hotel in Amsterdam. Each was there doing PR for his own business, but even celebrities like having their picture taken with other celebrities. You have to wonder whether Cooper told Sanders the story of the "Chicken Incident" -- in which Cooper produced a live chicken on stage and proceeded to kill it (sources vary on the details of the execution). The Chicken Incident made Cooper the inventor and king of a new genre called "shock rock." Nah, he probably didn't tell that story.
Head East, 1974.
Show of hands -- who here remembers a band called Head East? Ok... three of you do. Head East was a solid quintet who achieved a very respectable level of success in the midwest and south in the early '70s. They showed promise, and have exactly one song you might hear on classic rock radio, "Never Been Any Reason." The sound of the group's self-released first album, Flat as a Pancake, was interesting enough to attract attention from A&M Records in 1974; the label signed Head East and re-released Flat as a Pancake in 1975. This was A&M's publicity photo of the band from those heady days. Everybody's all smiles, even clowning around. They seem to know they're going to be the next big thing. They weren't, of course -- they released another six albums for A&M but never went national. But they'll always have '74.
Elly May Clampett (Donna Douglas) and Jane Hathaway (Nancy Culp) compete in a contest to determine "The Queen of Beverly Hills." 1964
The Beverly Hillbillies, the sitcom about a family of country folk who strike it rich, ran for 9 seasons on CBS. It struck a curious balance with its female supporting characters: Donna Douglas played Elly May Clampett, the stereotypical pinup-style, tomboy-ish country girl, while Nancy Kulp played Miss Jane Hathaway, the humorless, prim-and-proper secretary to the banker Milburn Drysdale. But Jane secretly (sometimes not-so-secretly) wrestles with her blandness. If she could just find her way out from behind that curtain of repression, she might be more fun, more free-spirited -- she might be more like Elly May. We see it in moments like this one, in which Hathaway tries to play along as Elly May competes for the title of Miss Beverly Hills. (Elly May, for her part, wasn't so interested in being Jane.)
George Harrison and Bob Marley, 1975.
A meeting of musical geniuses -- George Harrison, the ex-Beatle, and Bob Marley, the Jamaican artist who brought reggae music to America. It occurred backstage at the Roxy Theater in Los Angeles, as Bob was getting ready to do a show. The two reportedly indulged in sensimilla and, presumably, some mutual admiration. Like his good friend Eric Clapton (who would end up stealing Harrison's wife Pattie Boyd, but that's another story), Harrison was a fan of Marley; and of course everyone knew the Beatles -- even kids in Trenchtown, the impoverished neighborhood of Kingston, Jamaica, where Marley grew up.
Nancy Kwan in "The World of Suzie Wong" (1960)
Nancy Kwan is regarded as the first actress to break Hollywood's barrier against Asian performers -- while Asian men and women were often seen in supporting roles, the American movie industry was skeptical about their bankability in a leading role or as a major love interest. American audiences and males in particular, the thinking went, just wouldn't be interested in an actress from China or Japan. Kwan demolished that myth with her portrayal of the titular character in The World of Suzie Wong, released in 1960. She also became a fashion icon, setting trends with both the hairstyle (designed by Vidal Sassoon, it became known as the "Kwan bob") and the dress she wore (the cheongsam, a fitted frock noted for its high collar, short sleeves, and slits up either thigh) in the film.
Burt Reynolds as 'Lewis Medlock' in "Deliverance," 1972.
Today, the late actor Burt Reynolds is often associated with comedy -- the version of him that remains frozen in amber is part Cannonball Run, part Smokey & the Bandit, with a sprinkling of football/race car movies as well. Burt Reynolds, handsome wisecracker. But the first decade and a half of his Hollywood career wasn't so funny; in fact, he was a supporting actor and then leading man primarily in TV dramas and movies about cops and cowboys. And of all the not-funny movies he made, the not-funniest was Deliverance, in which he played a studly adventurer on a river rafting trip that goes very, very wrong.
Betty White graces the cover of Life Magazine in 1957.
Who is that regal lady, the queen? Well, it's the queen of TV comedy -- Betty White, an actress whose career on the tube spans seven decades. Betty White has done so much TV that she has had her own show with the same title -- The Betty White Show -- three times (1954; 1958, and 1977-78). Betty White is so good at TV comedy that she won Emmy Awards in the '70s, '80s, '90s, and 2010. Betty White was such a good celebrity game-show contestant that NBC gave her her own game show to host (Just Men!, 1983) and she won an Emmy for it. Betty White was so good at playing Rose Nylund on all 180 episodes of The Golden Girls that two different networks pulled her character into three spinoff shows (Empty Nest, Nurses, and The Golden Palace). Betty White isn't just the queen of TV comedy -- she's the Chuck Norris of TV comedy.
Joe Strummer (The Clash) performing back in 1982.
In 1982, punk group The Clash had their moment in the pop-music sun. The album Combat Rock reached #7 on the U.S. album chart, and contained two bona fide hit singles -- "Rock the Casbah" (#6 on the U.S. chart) and "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" (#13). But as with many professional peaks, it was also the beginning of the end for the band. Joe Strummer, the mohawk-coiffured frontman, spent a particularly bizarre stretch before Combat Rock's release. As a gimmick to boost ticket sales, he was supposed to go "missing," then show up in Texas. Instead, Strummer really did go missing, spending time in France, his whereabouts unknown to his bandmates and management. Three weeks before the release of Combat Rock, Strummer ran in the Paris Marathon (or so he claimed -- not implausibly, as he ran two other marathons in his life). Meanwhile, in his absence, the other band members had begun to bicker. Combat Rock would be the last true Clash album.
Tom Hanks and Tawny Kitaen in the movie, "Bachelor Party" 1984.
In the 1984 film Bachelor Party, Tom Hanks played a groom who attends a hedonistic (guess what) bachelor party. It was one of two hit films he was in that year (the other was Splash!), establishing him as a movie star after a run on the TV sitcom Bosom Buddies. The rest is history -- Hanks is now one of the most accomplished leading men of our time. His co-star Tawny Kitaen never made another successful movie (she did make movies, they just weren't successful -- and she did a stretch on a legit soap opera, Santa Barbara, in the late '80s) but managed to become a household name nonetheless. Kitaen was one of the first women who could be called a "video vixen" thanks to her highly sexual performances in rock videos for the band Whitesnake, when she was dating lead singer David Coverdale. It wasn't Saving Private Ryan, but it looked like a pretty good time.
"National Lampoon's Vacation," 1983.
National Lampoon's Vacation was the movie that gave us line after line of memorable dialogue -- but it was more than a bunch of jokes. It was a commentary on the dreams and disappointments of the modern married dad and family man. No, really -- for all his buffonery (and dads are often buffoons IRL, aren't they?) Clark W. Griswold, played by Chevy Chase, wanted to do something wonderful for his family. He wanted a special and memorable family trip -- he wanted them to see America at ground-level, on a drive west from Chicago to a fun-for-all amusement park in California called Walley World. But before the Griswolds even set off, things begin going wrong. With every bum steer and bad break, Clark doubles down on his foiled quest for family fun, alienating himself from the family with his increasingly erratic behavior. It happens in life -- we mean to do well, but we end up naked in a pool with swimsuit model Christie Brinkley. It's nothing to be proud of, Russ.
