But with those meaningful caveats in mind, we offer up these photos of couples who seem be enjoying each other’s company, at least for the time being. The pictures range from those whose show an idyllic view of young romance, such as the one of a handsome couple on vacation at Lake George, to others of older couples that appear to demonstrate a well-earned comfort, such as the man and woman sitting on rocking chairs on their front porch, each caught up in their diversions while listening to a record player.

This photo set also includes some celebrity couples, for whom more of the romantic backstory is well-known. They range from the famously tempestuous pairing of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton to the model of a long-lasting (77 years) public marriage, Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter.

The most forbidding couple in this photo set would be the Bergerons of the Quebec town of Saint-Fidele, who were photographed by John Phillips and featured in LIFE as part of a 1942 story on changes coming to French Canada. The story said that the Bergerons had “a true old-fashioned culture,” and described them as “thrifty but not stingy, carefree but conscientious” and, most importantly—and you can kind of tell this just by looking at them—”dead set against the manifestations of the 20th century.”

It’s possible the Bergerons gave Phillips a stern pose to let the readers of LIFE, know that they were not happy with the world. But they were united in their disdain, which can be one of the true joys of couplehood.

A young couple enjoyed a Lake George vacation in a Nina Leen photo entitled “Private Island,” 1941.

Nina Leen/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Janet Leigh with actor husband Tony Curtis, who is holding daughters Kelly Lee (left) and Jamie Lee on his lap as they sit on the floor at home.

Allan Grant/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Miami Beach, Florida, 1940.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation

Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor

Paul Schutzer / (c) The LIFE Picture Collection

A couple on vacation in Cape Cod, 1946

Cornell Capa/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Leonard Bernstein and his wife on the opening night of the New York Philharmonic, 1958.

Gordon Parks/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Bicycle riders in Mansfield, Ohio, 1942

John Phillips/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The RKO studio lot was where Lucille Ball met Desi Arnaz, when they co-starred in the 1940 musical Too Many Girls. Here, in a rare color photo from his 1958 spread on the launch of Desilu Studios, LIFE’s Leonard McCombe catches the couple as they ponder their risky new venture.

Leonard McCombe The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A couple listened to the gramophone, 1940.

Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Steve McQueen and his wife, Neile Adams, embrace in the kitchen of their Hollywood home, 1963.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

French Canadian couple Mr. and Mme. Henri Bergeron, 1942.

John Phillips/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Josephine Baker receiving a congratulatory kiss on the nose from her husband, orchestra leader Jo Bouillon, after Baker’s show at the Strand theater during her US tour, 1951.

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Winter in Maine, 1942.

Bernard Hoffman/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Lauren Bacall fed wedding cake to her groom, Humphrey Bogart, after their marriage ceremony in Ohio, 1945.

Ed Clark The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Couple kissing in front of the Delta Tau Delta mummy at the University of the South, 1940.

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A floating party on the Apple River in Somerset, Wisconsin in 1941.

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Senator John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline at their wedding reception, Newport, Rhode Island, 1953.

Lisa Larsen The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

American soldiers in England, 1944.

Ralph Morse The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jimmy Carter kissed his wife Rosalynn, 1971.

Stan Wayman The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Drive-in movie, Chicago, September 1951.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

An elderly Polish couple walked hand in hand in the city of Poznan, 1963.

Paul Schutzer/Life Picture Collection/Shuttetstock

Actress Sophia Loren and husband, producer Carlo Ponti, after moving into their 50-room villa outside Rome, 1964.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A couple danced at Rosie’s Cafe, 1937.

Carl Mydans/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Hippie couple Randy Brook and Laurie Thruelsen hitched a ride in the back of a truck, 1971.

Vernon Merritt III/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A couple walked through Luxembourg Gardens in Paris, 1963.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Bette Davis in front of a plane with her third husband, William Grant Sherry, who was studying to become a pilot under the G.I. Bill.

Loomis Dean The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Bob Smith and Mary Beth Sanger kiss after their underwater wedding in San Marcos, Texas, 1954.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A street scene in Yugoslavia, 1948.

Walter Sanders/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The post A Tribute to Couplehood appeared first on LIFE.

There’s all kinds of laughter here, in situations expected and unexpected. In one photo Bob Hope cracks up a few of his fellow entertainers, and himself, as he tries out material before hosting the Academy Awards. But you also see general Douglas MacArthur cackling with glee the day after the successful invasion of Inchon. Whatever prompted MacArthur’s laughter in that moment, the relief following the previous day’s assault had to have been a factor.

Humphrey Bogart laughs more gleefully in a photo from the set of The African Queen than he was known to do when playing any of his memorably hard-bitten characters. Frank Sinatra, while hanging out with friends in a Miami hotel room, laughs so hard at a joke told by his pal and opening act Joe E. Lewis that the singer was literally rolling on floor laughing.

One of the more frequent celebrity laughers in the LIFE archives is Sophia Loren, represented here with three photos. No small part of the icon’s appeal is that, among her other virtues, she seemed to enjoy where life had taken her.

Clark Gable, Cary Grant, Bob Hope and David Niven laughed at a Cold War-era Russian joke from Hope during a break from rehearsals for Academy Awards show at the RKO Pantages theater, 1958.

Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Singer Billy Eckstine (right) having some backstage laughs with his ex-boss, orchestra leader Earl Hines (center) and trumpeter Louis Armstrong backstage, 1949.

Martha Holmes/Life Picture Collection/Shuttetstock

Warren Beatty with Natalie Wood at the 1962 Academy Awards ceremony at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Broadway producer Kermit Bloomgarden with Marilyn Monroe in her Manhattan apartment, 1958.

Robert W. Kelley/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Humphrey Bogart laughed while on location for the filming of The African Queen along the Ruki River in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 1951.

Eliot Elisofon/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

(left to right) George Jessel, Dean Martin, and Jack Benny at a Friars Club dinner for Dean Martin, 1958.

Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Elton John (right) sharing a laugh with his mother Shelia (left) and stepfather Fred Fairebrother (center) in their apartment, 1971.

John Olson/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Lyndon B. Johnson (left) and running mate Hubert Humphrey enjoying a laugh at Johnson’s ranch after their landslide victory in the 1964 presidential election.

John Dominis/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

General Douglas MacArthur (center), slapped Vice Admiral Struble (left) on the knee while laughing gleefully the day after the invasion of Inchon, 1950.

Carl Mydans/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Kennedy played with their children, April 30, 1957.

Paul Schutzer/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sophia Loren with her husband Carlo Ponti on a boating trip off of Naples, 1961.

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sophia Loren laughing while exchanging jokes during lunch break on a movie set, 1961.

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sophia Loren laughed about her guitar-playing ability with her secretary Ines Bruscia beside her, 1964.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Dick Clark on his TV show the “American Bandstand” in 1958.

Paul Schutzer/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

American generals George S. Patton (left) and Omar Bradley (center) and British general Bernard Law Montgomery (right) laughed while discussing strategy and the progress of the campaign in France, July 7, 1944.

Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sammy Davis Jr. laughed over dinner with his wife, Swedish actress May Britt.

Leonard McCombe/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Rolling Stone band members Mick Jagger (left) and Keith Richards shared a laugh.

DMI

Nancy Reagan and her husband, then California Governor Ronald Reagan, walked behind Dean Martin and Phyllis Diller, California, 1970.

Ralph Crane/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A rare laugh from somber Kim Novak greeted a joke by Otto Preminger, who visited Kim while she was in New York. She had great fondness and respect for Preminger, who directed her in The Man With the Golden Arm and put her genuinely at ease.

Leonard McCombe The LIFE Images Collection/Shutterstock

Alan Shepard laughs with fellow astronauts Gus Grissom (right) and Deke Slayton upon his arrival at Grand Bahama Island, shortly after his successful flight and splashdown, May 1961.

Paul Schutzer The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Harry Belafonte laughed during Bop City nightclub’s opening night, 1949.

Martha Holmes/The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

In a Miami hotel room Frank Sinatra fell off his chair howling at a joke told by his opening act and longtime friend, comedian Joe E. Lewis, 1965.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The post Laughing With the Stars appeared first on LIFE.

Football, after all, is for manly men. But there are many types of toughness. Mental toughness (Jackie Robinson); quiet toughness (Gregory Peck, Gary Cooper); gritty toughness (a weary, determined American Marine); crazy, spasmodic toughness (Cagney’s sociopath, Cody Jarrett, in White Heat); run-right-over-you toughness (Jim Brown); and on and on.

Here, LIFE.com offers a look back at some of the iconic faces and personalities that, in their own time and in their own chosen pursuit, were tough enough to answer that age-old question: Who’s the man?

John Garfield 1938

Alfred Eisenstaedt Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Marine on Saipan 1944

W. Eugene Smith Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Jimmy Stewart 1945

Peter Stackpole Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Kirk Douglas 1949

Allan Grant Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

C.H. Long 1949

Leonard McCombe Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Gary Cooper 1949

Peter Stackpole Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

James Cagney 1949

Allan Grant Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Marlon Brando 1949

Ed Clark Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Jackie Robinson 1950

J.R. Eyerman Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Gregory Peck 1950

W. Eugene Smith Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Humphrey Bogart 1951

Eliot Elisofon Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Rocky Marciano 1951

Eliot Elisofon Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Ernest Hemingway 1952

Alfred Eisenstaedt Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Spencer Tracy 1955

J.R. Eyerman Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Mickey Mantle 1956

Ralph Morse Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Mercury Astronauts 1959

Ralph Morse Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Burt Lancaster 1959

Grey Villet Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Frank Sinatra 1961

Leonard McCombe Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Steve McQueen 1963

John Dominis Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Muhammad Ali 1966

Bob Gomel Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

John Wayne 1969

John Dominis Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Jim Brown 1969

Henry Groskinsky Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Johnny Cash 1969

MIchael Rougier Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Jack Nicholson relaxing at home in Los Angeles, 1969.

Arthur Schatz/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Clint Eastwood 1971

Bill Eppridge Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

The post Manly Men: Classic American Tough Guys, Seen Through LIFE’s Lens appeared first on LIFE.

Liz Ronk edited this gallery for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter @lizabethronk.

Rita Hayworth with husband Orson Wells and daughter Rebecca, 1946

Peter Stackpole (LIFE Picture Collection)

Kirk Douglas with son Michael, 1949

Lisa Larsen/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Humphrey Bogart and son Stephen in 1952

J.R. Eyerman /Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Charlton Heston lifted his two-month-old son, Fraser, who was portraying the baby Moses during filming of The Ten Commandments in 1955.

George Silk/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Senator John F. Kennedy played peek-a-boo with daughter Caroline in 1958.

Ed Clark/ Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Desi Arnaz with son Desi Jr. and TV son Richard Keith at a Dodgers game in 1958.

Leonard McCombe/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Dean Martin with his son, Ricci, at home in 1958.

Allan Grant/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Vice President Richard Nixon and daughter Julie at a ballgame, 1958.

Hank Walker Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Tony Curtis and daughter Jamie Lee Curtis in 1959

Allan Grant/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Richard Burton and his future stepdaughter, Liza (Liz Taylor and Mike Todd’s daughter), in 1962.

Paul Schutzer/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Steve McQueen kissed his daughter Terry goodnight in 1963.

John Dominis/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Sammy Davis Jr. with his son Mark in 1964.

Leonard McCombe/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Dustin Hoffman with his daughter Karina, 1969.

John Dominis/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Jack Nicholson played with his daughter, Jennifer, on the deck of his home overlooking Franklin Canyon, Los Angeles, 1969.

Arthur Schatz/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Donald Sutherland with his son, Kiefer, in 1970.

Co Rentmeester/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Robert Redford and his son, David, in Utah in 1970.

John Dominis/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

The post LIFE With Famous Dads (and Their Sometimes-Famous Kids) appeared first on LIFE.