winterlive | [ bust open the photoshop ]

i've spent the last couple days trolling the internets for pictures of classic hollywood stars. these aren't all the items i found, nor do the represent The Best Of That Era, but i thought i would share some with you anyway.

they're images i liked. the people in them, sometimes, or the framing of the picture, or just the attitude involved. some of them might be attractive menfolk, i'm not confirming or denying. >.> but they're all representative of a time before i was born, sometimes way before, and they embody a kind of idol that i'm not sure it's possible to be in modern hollywood. they certainly were great, though.

this is humphrey bogart in up the river, 1930. i love me some bogey, always have, but this long ago his face is unlined and he's... well, he was always handsome, but here he's just beautiful. i have traditionally had trouble explaining what i mean by that word when it relates to men, but... well, read on.

faye dunaway. last time i saw her she was in don juan demarco playing the wife of johnny depp's psychiatrist. she was still beautiful, y'know? but it's different and beautiful in a whole other way to see her like this.

errol flynn. in like flynn, they used to say, because he could robin hood his way into or out of anything. the man was a rock star before they knew what one of those was. if they had booze, drugs or women, errol flynn needed six of each.

audrey hepburn. obviously she's stunning, but this look on her face, i love it. it should be captioned: audrey hepburn suspects bullshit.

henry fonda. tradition of eyeliner on the menfolk evidently acceptable at this point in history, but it's subtle and. okay. this is that beautiful thing i was talking about. it's not girly pretty kind of beautiful. you couldn't say it was. but they're really exquisitely handsome. jensen's like that, in my mind, kind of like robert redford. but he's for later. :)

brigitte bardot. an idol in her day, international film star, doing things on film they wouldn't dream of doing in america for decades. she's very controversial in france, where she is from. i like this picture because omg look at her. if she were here and now, they'd consider her too fat to pose like that. they'd airbrush her into tomorrow. they'd ruin her. the woman in this picture is pure porn, and i mean that in the best way. she's hot, she's even all naked, but there's no innocent cute little girl attitude to her. it's popular for rock stars to put the eyeliner on with a trowel these days, but she's just making shit up, i mean. in her time? nobody did that shit, and especially not for pictures.

rock hudson. he was the quintessential hollywood paragon of masculinity... until he came out as gay. i had to look him up, way back when i first heard that, just to see if i recognized him - i didn't. we've come a long way, baby. people won't fucking shut up about jake gyllenhall. :)

dame liz taylor! queen of diamonds! an ever growing tally of husbands! and look how pretty she is. she was a good buddy of rock's, above, and when he died she helped start the american foundation for AIDS research. she does a lot of work with them, particularly in new orleans. liz taylor fucking rules.

gene kelly and frank sinatra. hello, sailors. i love how frankie's like, taxicab with the doors open. what happened with those ears! :D

lauren bacall can kick your ass, your friends' asses and your boss's ass without even breaking a sweat. and with a kicky hat.

jack nicholson and angelica huston. did you know they dated for a while? i didn't know that, but i SO VERY approve.

this one is off point b/c it's jack in his later years, but i just had to sneak it in. ryan gosling!!

grace kelly. HER GLASSES. HER GFY 'TUDE. <3333333333333

this is paul newman with his wife, joanne woodward. they have been together for fifty years. in hollywood, that is essentially forever, and that is where they met - on the set of a movie. they are delightful.

oh. oh, paul newman. i linger over you. a lot. gngh, i am only human.

natalie wood. i honestly had no idea that she was a notorious old-hollywood fag hag until i looked her up on wikipedia just now. i just loved this shot. look at her eyes.

al pacino, and i believe he is gearing up for the godfather. he may actually be in sicily right here. at any rate, god almighty, he was gorgeous when he was younger. like faye dunaway, he definitely stayed handsome as he got older, but seeing this is almost like a whole different person.

shirley maclaine. dear lord, how i love her. her little face is exceptionally dear to me. she is a ballsy, brassy, no-guff woman who says exactly what she thinks, and somehow manages to stay positively MADE OUT OF CLASS as she does it, even when her opinions are unpopular.

seriously, people, it is harder to find pictures of His Bobliness here than it should be. this one's from the sting, in which he wears excellent and amazing clothing. oh, the pinstripes.

sophia loren is a devastatingly beautiful woman. please note that is phrased in the present tense. and as a young woman, god, what a knockout. she's so distinctive, and i love that about her face. you don't see that anymore, not on TV.

marilyn! look at her wee pigtails! her jeans and boots! she's always gorgeous, but i love the shots where she looks happy, like she's having fun for her own sake. i love that they exist.

and now is the part where i confess to you that i have totally fallen for this one boy. so much so that i will give you three pictures of just him. he's a mental case, he slept his way all over hollywood (girls and boys, bring 'em on), he was notorious and infamous and even though the years took a heavy fucking toll as he got older, he was still unquestionably respected as an elder statesman of the silver screen until the day he died.

people.

marlon brando.

what.

who told him that he had any right to look like this. who. oh my GOD.

aigh defies description aigh aigh *fall down*

this total lack of coherence has been brought to you by old school hollywood, when "elegant" and "classy" meant a way of living, and not the kind of thing one tells an interior decorator to aim for.

Current Music: Weezer - Island In The Sun

Page 1 of 2 << [1] [2] >>

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

wesleysgirl.livejournal.com

Oh, these are incredible, thank you so much for sharing them. Is it just me, or does that shot of Henry Fonda remind you a little bit of John Barrowman?

From:

(but for who can endure it)

[ bust open the photoshop ]

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags