30 Rare Photos of Golden Age Hollywood Stars (31 photos)

The 1920s through the 1960s are often hailed as the "Golden Age of Hollywood." It was an era dominated by the Big Five studios—a time of glitz, glamour, and legendary stars like Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland, Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Sinatra, and Audrey Hepburn. Pure classic style, much like the timeless black-and-white photos featured in our collection.







Carrie Fisher watching her mother, Debbie Reynolds, perform from backstage at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas, 1963





Louis Armstrong serenading his wife Lucille in front of the Great Sphinx of Giza, Egypt, 1961



Marlon Brando typing at a typewriter in the company of his cat, 1954



Dolly Parton and her husband, Carl Dean, 1966

The couple met outside a laundromat on the very day Parton arrived in Nashville in 1964. She was 18, and he was 21.

“My first thought was, ‘I’m gonna marry that girl,’” Dean later recalled. “My second thought was, ‘Lord, she’s good lookin’.’ And that was the day my life began.”



Marilyn Monroe and Sammy Davis Jr. at 20th Century Fox studios, 1953

The actress was promoting her film, How to Marry a Millionaire.

“There were rumors that Marilyn and I were dating. We were friends. Nothing more. Marilyn was one of the sweetest people in the world,” Sammy later recalled.



“I’ll never forget the day Marilyn and I were walking through New York, just taking a stroll on a nice day”

“She loved New York because nobody bothered her there like in Hollywood. She could wear plain clothes, and no one would even notice her. She loved that. So we were walking down Broadway, and she said, ‘Do you want to see me become her?’ I didn’t know what she meant, but I said yes—and then I saw it. I don’t know how to explain what she did. It was like she flipped a switch inside herself, almost like magic. Suddenly cars slowed down, and people started turning their heads and stopping to stare. They realized it was Marilyn Monroe, as if she had taken off a mask or something, even though a second before nobody had noticed her. I’ve never seen anything like it before.” — Amy Greene, wife of Marilyn’s personal photographer, Milton Greene.



John Travolta with his sisters Ellen and Ann during a theater production of the musical Bus Stop, 1976



Audrey Hepburn and Julie Andrews at the Academy Awards, 1964

Andrews was passed over for the role of Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady—a role she had originated on stage—in favor of Hepburn. However, this freed up Andrews to star in Mary Poppins and win the Oscar for Best Actress. That night, Audrey reportedly told Julie:

“You should have played Eliza, but I didn’t have the heart to turn it down.”

“We’ve been friends ever since,” Julie recalled.



Jane Fonda shopping in Mayfair, London, 1967



Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman at their Hollywood home, 1965

Woodward once remarked:

“Sexiness fades, and beauty fades, but to be married to a man who makes you laugh every day—ah, now that’s a real treat.”



Meryl Streep photographed by Duane Michals, 1975

“The photo was taken before she was famous,” Michals recalled. “I was simply told that she was extremely talented and had a bright future ahead of her. We went downtown, ran around the Marquis Theatre on Broadway, and had a blast. I asked her to dance, and she was as joyful as she looks in the picture—just beaming.”



“When you watch Marilyn on screen, you don’t want anything bad to happen to her. You want her to be alright... to be happy.” — Natalie Wood



A dapper Muhammad Ali (then known as Cassius Clay) taking a stroll in New York City, 1963



Hugh Grant photographed by Gregory Heisler, 1984

“He was sitting alone in a booth, sipping coffee, killing time by absentmindedly tapping his teaspoon,” Heisler remembered. “It was a genuine, candid moment tucked away among not-so-authentic ones.”



Tom Cruise, Ralph Macchio, Emilio Estevez, Patrick Swayze, Matt Dillon, C. Thomas Howell, and Rob Lowe in a promotional shot for The Outsiders, 1983



James Dean and Eartha Kitt at Katherine Dunham’s dance studio, New York, 1955

“He [James Dean] said to me, ‘I want to move like you. Can you teach me how to move my body like you do on stage?’ I told him where to meet me here in New York, and that’s where we met up for dance lessons.”



In February 1954, Marilyn Monroe took a break from her honeymoon with her second husband, Joe DiMaggio, to entertain troops in Korea

The actress put on ten shows for over 100,000 service members. She later described the experience as “the best thing that ever happened to me. I never felt like a star in my heart before. It was so wonderful to look down and see a guy smiling at me.”



Robert Redford and Paul Newman on the set of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, 1969

Newman fought hard for Redford, a Hollywood newcomer at the time, to play his co-star.

“At the time, he was considered a major star and I wasn’t,” Redford recalled. “From that point on, I was deeply grateful for what he did for me. He didn’t have to do it.”



Family portrait: a two-year-old Elvis Presley with his parents, Gladys and Vernon, 1937

“My love for my son started before he was even born,” Vernon later shared. “At that time, hardly anyone was poorer than me and my wife Gladys. But we were thrilled and happy when we found out we were going to be parents...” On January 8, 1935, Gladys gave birth to twins. Sadly, Elvis’s brother, Jesse, was stillborn. “...God came into my heart and told me that Elvis would be our only child, and the only child we would need. He was a special gift that made our lives whole... It’s hard to describe the feeling Elvis, his mother, and I had for one another.”



Audrey Hepburn shot by William Klein for Vogue, 1966



A dapper Cary Grant stepping out of a London hotel, 1946

“My father used to say, ‘Let them see you, not the suit.’ It should always be secondary,” the actor explained.



Audrey Hepburn anxiously awaiting the announcement for Best Actress at the 26th Academy Awards, 1954

That evening, the actress took home her first and only Oscar for her role in Roman Holiday (1953), the movie that launched her to stardom and made her a style icon. Despite her success, she wrestled with deep self-doubt, once stating:

“I’m terribly shy, and clothes give me a great deal of confidence. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I see flaws when I get up in the morning and do everything I can to look my best. I wish I weren’t so tall, I wish I had nicer legs, a fuller figure, a smaller nose, and blonde hair. I’d change everything if I could.”



Diane Keaton and Al Pacino behind the scenes of The Godfather, 1972



Grace Kelly dress shopping with her mother, Margaret, in New York, 1955



Meryl Streep and Robert De Niro in The Deer Hunter, 1978



Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta at the Grease premiere at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles, 1978



Frank Sinatra during a visit to the Royal National College for the Blind in Northwood, Middlesex, 1962



Ingrid Bergman with her daughter Isabella Rossellini in Rome, 1962



Nancy Sinatra with her father Frank and family friend Yul Brynner at The Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, 1965



Elizabeth Taylor and her husband Eddie Fisher attending a boxing match, 1960