audrey hepburn Photo Archives - LIFE

Insider’s View: LIFE Goes Backstage with the Stars

Bill Syken — Tue, 17 Oct 2023 13:31:59 +0000

In this collection of backstage pictures captured by LIFE photographers over the years, there’s a great variety of stars in all kinds of situations. But the recurring themes are those of intimacy and surprise.

Some moments are beautiful because they are quiet, like the glimpses of Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn before they went on stage together at the Oscars. Or the photo of Sammy Davis Jr. eating spaghetti and watching the news on television. Or burlesque star Gypsy Rose Lee sitting at a typewriter while in costume before she performs one of her strip-teases.

Or consider the photo of the cast of The Honeymooners all sitting and waiting, Jackie Gleason with his ankle on ice. It’s funny to see the cast of this all-time great sitcom together without a smile on their faces, or any expression at all, really. Each of these photos their own way feels like a glimpse of reality.

Some photos offer curious juxtapositions, such as Johnny Cash, dressed in his trademark black, coming backstage at production of the musical Annie. Same with Frank Zappa and his family posing with the cast of Broadway show Cats. You can also find unexpected couplings, such as Lucille Ball visiting with Shirley Maclaine in her dressing room, or James Dean helping actress Geraldine Page with her hair.

Also intriguing are the images of stars just before they go onstage. This gallery includes shots of Alec Guinness and Albert Finney before they have leapt into character, and singer Paul Anka stretched out across two beds, They are about to cross the bridge from private person to public performer, and give their audiences the performances they came for.

Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly backstage at the RKO Pantages Theatre during the 28th Annual Academy Awards, 1956.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Award presenters Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly waiting backstage at the RKO Pantages Theatre during the 28th Annual Academy Awards, 1956.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Not published in LIFE. Sammy Davis Jr. eats spaghetti in his Golden Boy dressing room while watching The Huntley-Brinkley Report news show in 1964. "My only contact with reality," he told LIFE. "Whatever I'm doing, I stop to watch these guys." Reflected in the mirror: LIFE photographer Leonard McCombe." caption="Leonard McCombe/Life Pictures/Shutterstock" title="Sammy Davis Jr. ate spaghetti in his backstage dressing room while watching The Huntley-Brinkley Report news show in 1964. "My only contact with reality," he told LIFE. "Whatever I'm doing, I stop to watch these guys." Reflected in the mirror: LIFE photographer Leonard McCombe." src="https://static.life.com/wp-content/uploads/migrated/2012/01/12-5-1024x684.jpg" alt="Sammy Davis Jr. eats spaghetti in his backstage dressing room in Golden Boy. Photographer Leonard McCombe is relected in the mirror." />

Sammy Davis Jr. ate spaghetti in his backstage dressing room while watching The Huntley-Brinkley Report news show in 1964. “My only contact with reality,” he told LIFE. “Whatever I’m doing, I stop to watch these guys.” Reflected in the mirror: LIFE photographer Leonard McCombe.

Leonard McCombe/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Paul Anka, backstage at the Copacabana, 1960.

Peter Stackpole The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Albert Finney backstage during a production of the play Luther, 1963.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Elvis Presley tenderly kissing the cheek of a female admirer backstage before his concert, 1956.

Robert W. Kelley The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Ray Charles backstage talking with Eric Burdon and the Animals, 1966.

Bill Ray/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Shirley MacLaine preparing to perform the TV show “Shower of Stars” in 1955.

Loomis Dean The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Shirley MacLaine and Lucille Ball backstage during a benefit show for victims of the devastating Isewan typhoon, 1959.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Marcia Diamond (right) watched as her husband Neil clipped their son Jessie’s nails in a dressing room at the Winter Garden Theatre, 1972.

MICHAEL MAUNEY/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Burlesque star Gypsy Rose Lee writes in her dressing room in Memphis, Tenn., 1949.

George Skadding/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Bobby Darin in his dressing room, 1959.

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jimmy Shine, New York City, 1969." caption="John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock" title="Dustin Hoffman in his dressing room for the play (which he also directed), Jimmy Shine, New York City, 1969." src="https://static.life.com/wp-content/uploads/migrated/2012/08/150216-dustin-hoffman-06-1024x669.jpg" alt="Dustin Hoffman in his dressing room" />

Dustin Hoffman in his dressing room for the play (which he also directed), Jimmy Shine, New York City, 1969.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Mae West backstage at the Hotel Sahara with one of the co-stars of her Las Vegas show, 1954.

Loomis Dean/LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

James Dean with the great Geraldine Page in her dressing room, New York City, 1955.

Dennis Stock—Magnum

Betty Grable, in her dressing room at 20th Century-Fox studios, pulled on black mesh stockings for a scene that would feature her famous legs, 1943.

Walter Sanders The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Josephine Baker’s four-foot chignon is wound up into three tiers of buns in her dressing room, 1951.

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Honeymooners cast—Jackie Gleason, Art Carney, Audrey Meadows and Joyce Andrews—in 1954.

Leonard McCombe The LIFE Images Collection/Shutterstock

Chorus girls watching the Ed Sullivan television show at the Roxy Movie Theater dressing room, 1958.

Peter Stackpole/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Alec Guinness put on theatrical makeup at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Ontario, Canada, 1953.

Peter Stackpole/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy relaxing in dressing room, waiting for show to begin, 1942.

John Florea/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Movie director Vincent Sherman (right) with actor Paul Newman in dressing room reviewing lines for the legal drama The Young Philadelphians, 1958.

Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Johnny Cash, with stepson John (right), posed with Annie star Alison Smith and Sandy at a Broadway production of musical, 1981.

DMI/Shutterstock

(Center, left-to-right) Musician Frank Zappa and children Moon Unit and Dweezil visited backstage at the Broadway musical Cats in 1983; the cast included actress Betty Buckley (center, bottom).

David Mcgough/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

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Intimate Pictures of Audrey Hepburn at Home in 1953

Wed, 04 May 2016 07:30:18 +0000

Audrey Hepburn had only had one major film role in 1953’s Roman Holiday when photographer Mark Shaw spent a day with the star. She was a 24-year-old waif (born on May 4, in 1929) who had made a good impression in Hollywood and on the stage but had yet to solidify her fame. Some, like director Billy Wilder, worried that she would somehow slip through the cracks, too hard to classify, neither sex goddess nor girl next door.

The nine-page photo essay that Shaw produced for LIFE’s December 7, 1953 issue, like the outtakes seen in this gallery, provides some hint of what made Hepburn different: rather than trailing her at parties or even in front of the camera, the photographer focused on her workaday life. She got up early for work, went to the studio, got ready to film Sabrina (referred to by the title of the play on which it’s based, Sabrina Fair, in the story), practiced ballet and got ready for another day of work. The most glamorous parts of the day, the actual filming, were elided in favor of behind-the-scenes prep. But the day was a fitting subject for a photo essay, the magazine noted, “not because there is anything so remarkable about it but because whatever Audrey does, she looks pretty remarkable doing it.”

As for the question of whether Hepburn would be more than a one-hit wonder, the years have provided an unassailable answer. In the decades that followed the release of Sabrina, Hepburn become one of the 20th century’s most iconic stars, and it was just as photographer Shaw predicted. In a note at the beginning of the issue, he commented that she was a “monster” when it came to productivity and that the studio technicians who worked with her guessed that she would have a long and illustrious career.

“We can tell,” they told Shaw, “when someone has got it.”

Audrey Hepburn, 1953.

© Mark Shaw / mptvimages.com

Original caption: “Dinner alone is usually eaten on floor where she squats easily because of lifelong ballet training. While eating she often reads classical drama, with heavy helping of Shaw and Shakespeare.”

© Mark Shaw / mptvimages.com

Original caption: Being made up, Audrey has the contours of her eyes skillfully emphasized. They are naturally large, tilted at the corners, with heavy brows.”

© Mark Shaw / mptvimages.com

Audrey Hepburn, 1953.

© Mark Shaw / mptvimages.com

Audrey Hepburn on the set of Sabrina.

© Mark Shaw / mptvimages.com

Audrey Hepburn, 1953.

© Mark Shaw / mptvimages.com

Audrey Hepburn photo essay that ran in LIFE magazine, December 7, 1953.

Mark Shaw LIFE Magazine

The post Intimate Pictures of Audrey Hepburn at Home in 1953 appeared first on LIFE.

Actresses on the Brink of Fame

Thu, 01 Aug 2013 07:12:56 +0000

There’s nothing quite like being there at the earliest emergence of a new Hollywood star, and as the premier pictorial weekly of its era, LIFE magazine was uniquely positioned to feature more than a few famous faces at the start of their careers, well before they became bona fide legends.

Here, LIFE.com offers a gallery of some of moviedom’s most celebrated (and gorgeous) young talents on the very brink of life-altering fame, from Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn to Kim Novak, Ann-Margret, Liz Taylor, Rita Moreno, Barbra Streisand, Catherine Deneuve and others who would go on to dazzle audiences for years.

Marilyn Monroe posed in 1947. The next year, she’d get a six-month Columbia Pictures contract.

J. R. Eyerman/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Seen here in a 1954 photo that ended up on the cover of LIFE, Rita Moreno debuted on Broadway at 13 before making it big years later in the film version of West Side Story.

Loomis Dean/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Rita Moreno, 1954.

Loomis Dean/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

.Kim Novak, 1954

J. R. Eyerman/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Kim Novak, 21, posed with crystal figurines in 1954. The Chicagoan started off as Miss Deep Freeze for a local refrigerator company, and was recruited by Columbia Pictures to be a more manageable replacement for Rita Hayworth.

J. R. Eyerman/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Elizabeth Taylor in 1947, at age 15.

J.R. Eyerman/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Sophia Loren posed in 1957, the year she began to make a name for herself in America in such movies as Boy on a Dolphin (her U.S. debut) and Legend of the Lost.

Loomis Dean/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Audrey Hepburn in 1951—two years before her film breakthrough in Roman Holiday—posing under a theater marquee for the stage version of Gigi.

Time Life Pictures/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Catherine Deneuve in 1961, at age 18.

Loomis Dean/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Margarita Carmen Cansino, soon to be Rita Hayworth, modeled tennis fashions in 1939. After her small turn in Only Angels Have Wings that year, fan mail started pouring in. She was soon a major star.

Peter Stackpole/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Cyd Charisse, seen here in 1945, was best known for her dancing roles opposite Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly.

Peter Stackpole/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Nineteen-year-old Ann-Margret belted out a tune during a screen test for the movie State Fair in 1961.

Grey Villet/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Esther Williams, the famed synchronized swimmer (seen here in 1943), got her start in movies when MGM wanted a female sports star to rival Fox’s figure skater, Sonja Henie.

Peter Stackpole/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Eva Marie Saint opened a prop door during a TV shoot at NBC studios in 1947. The Newark, N.J.-born actress started her career as an NBC page.

Andreas Feininger/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Eva Marie Saint (in 1949) got her film break in 1954’s Oscar-winning On the Waterfront.

Nina Leen/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Actress Jeanne Crain took a bubble bath for her role in the movie Margie in 1946.

Peter Stackpole/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Jane Fonda was a well-regarded actress by the time this shot was taken in 1959, when she was 22, but it took the screwball Western Cat Ballou (1965) to turn her into a movie star.

Allan Grant/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Jane Fonda, 1959.

Allan Grant/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Laura, Tierney left New York's socialite life to be an actress. She did become a star, but her own story was scarred by disastrous romances, failed marriages and mental illness." caption="Grey Villet/Life Pictures/Shutterstock" title="The actress Gene Tierney posed in 1941. Best remembered for 1944's Laura, Tierney left New York's socialite life to be an actress." src="https://static.life.com/wp-content/uploads/migrated/2012/01/89729092_high_res.jpg" alt="Gene Tierney, 1941" />

The actress Gene Tierney posed in 1941. Best remembered for 1944’s Laura, Tierney left New York’s socialite life to be an actress.

Grey Villet/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Mickey Rooney kissed co-star Judy Garland at the premiere of Babes in Arms in 1939. The two starred in nine movies together, among them the popular Andy Hardy series.

Peter Stackpole/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Barbra Streisand sang in the musical that was her Broadway debut, I Can Get It for You Wholesale, in 1962.

George Silk/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Shirley MacLaine sang on the TV program Shower of Stars in 1955.

Loomis Dean/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Debbie Reynolds, circa 1950. She’d won a film contract just two years earlier, after winning the Miss Burbank pageant at age 16.

Loomis Dean/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews ran lines in My Fair Lady rehearsals, 1956. Though the stage musical helped launch Andrews’ career, she was replaced in the big-screen version by Audrey Hepburn.

Leonard McCombe/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

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