Diana Dors Posing With Her Custom 1949 Delahaye Type 175 S Saoutchik Roadster

The 1949 Delahaye Type 175 S Saoutchik Roadster owned by British “blonde bombshell” actress Diana Dors is widely considered one of the most striking and flamboyant coachbuilt automobiles of the post-WWII era. Often referred to as “the ultimate expression of French automotive Art Deco,” the car was a spectacle of dramatic swooping lines and extravagant chrome ornamentation.

The car was originally commissioned by the flamboyant English millionaire Sir John Gaul. Built on the first post-war Delahaye chassis (chassis number 815023), it was brought to life by the legendary Parisian coachbuilder Jacques Saoutchik. Saoutchik gave the roadster its iconic “Narval” nose, heavily inspired by the protruding tusk of a narwhal whale. The car was fully wrapped in sweeping, voluptuous Art Deco bodywork featuring fully enclosed wheels, heavily skirted fenders, and intricate brass trim that was original gold-plated.

The roadster debuted at the 1949 Paris Auto Show and spent the year sweeping top honors at elite European Concours d’Elegance events in Monte Carlo and San Remo. It was eventually purchased for a 23-year-old Diana Dors for £5,000 in 1954, before she even possessed a driver’s license. She did not keep it long; it was traded for a Cadillac Eldorado convertible around 1955.

By the 1970s, the car migrated across the Atlantic to Colorado. Frustrated by the unreliable and complex French mechanical layout, a subsequent owner controversially sliced out the front portion of the chassis to swap in an Oldsmobile Toronado V8 engine and a front-wheel-drive system.

The car remained separated from its original powertrain for nearly 40 years. Eventually, a dedicated collector sourced correct Type 175 components, commissioning master restorer Fran Roxas to bring the vehicle back to its original factory glory. The restored automotive masterpiece made its official comeback debut at the 2006 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, where it won Best-in-Class. It later commanded a jaw-dropping price of nearly $5 million USD at auction and has been displayed as a historic treasure at the Qatar National Museum in Doha.

30 Stunning Vintage Photos of Brigitte Bardot From ‘Plucking the Daisy’ (1956)

These stunning vintage photos capture Brigitte Bardot during the filming of Plucking the Daisy (En effeuillant la marguerite, 1956), a lighthearted French comedy directed by Marc Allégret. In the film, Bardot plays Agnès Dumont, a young woman who escapes her strict father and finds herself navigating Parisian life with charm and mischief.

The images highlight her natural beauty, playful energy, and emerging star quality at a pivotal moment in her career, just before the international breakthrough of And God Created Woman. They offer a captivating glimpse of Bardot in one of her early leading roles.

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22 Amazing Photographs of Tom Skerritt in the 1970s

Emmy Award-winning actor Tom Skerritt passed away at the age of 93 on October 21, 2026, at his home in Seattle from natural causes. His family confirmed his passing in a statement, remembering him not just for his extraordinary seven-decade Hollywood career, but for his humor, curiosity, wisdom, and generosity.

The 1970s was the defining decade that launched Skerritt from a busy television guest star into a prominent, recognizable cinematic presence. During this era, he established his signature “everyman” charm, navigating effortlessly between counterculture comedies, prestigious dramas, and landmark science fiction. Skerritt secured his true breakout role playing US Army Surgeon Captain Augustus Bedford “Duke” Forrest in Robert Altman’s seminal military black comedy M*A*S*H (1970). Starring alongside Donald Sutherland and Elliott Gould, the massive hit solidified his footing in Hollywood.

He displayed his range in the critically acclaimed The Turning Point (1977), Oscar-nominated drama starring Anne Bancroft and Shirley MacLaine, which helped prove he could handle grounded, emotionally heavy studio pictures. Skerritt showed off his comedic timing by appearing in Cheech & Chong’s legendary counterculture stoner comedy Up in Smoke (1978). He capped off the decade with one of his most iconic roles, Captain Dallas of the Nostromo in Ridley Scott’s sci-fi horror masterpiece Alien (1979). Playing the doomed captain opposite Sigourney Weaver, Skerritt’s quiet authority anchored the terrifying first half of the film.

Before his film career exploded later in the decade, Skerritt spent the early 1970s as a highly visible face on the small screen. He frequently guest-starred on major westerns, dramas, and police procedurals of the era, including: Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Hawaii Five-O, Baretta and Barnaby Jones.

Often described as a “character actor locked in a leading man's body,” Skerritt’s work in the 1970s laid the foundational rugged charm that would later lead to iconic roles in the 1980s and 1990s, such as Viper in Top Gun and his Emmy-winning run on Picket Fences.

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Wende Wagner: The Athletic Beauty of 1960s Television and Film

Wende Wagner (1941–1997) was an American actress and stuntwoman known for her athletic grace and striking presence in 1960s television and film.

Born in Connecticut to a Navy swimming coach and a champion skier, Wagner grew up with a strong athletic background and became an accomplished swimmer, diver, and surfer. She began her career as an underwater stunt double on series such as Sea Hunt before transitioning to acting.

Wagner is best remembered for her role as Lenore “Casey” Case in The Green Hornet (1966–1967) alongside Van Williams and Bruce Lee, and she also appeared in films including Rio Conchos (1964), Rosemary’s Baby (1968), and Guns of the Magnificent Seven (1969). With her natural beauty and adventurous spirit, she remains a memorable figure of 1960s popular culture.

These captivating photos highlight the beauty, energy, and distinctive presence of Wende Wagner, a standout of 1960s television and film.

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20 Stunning Portraits of Sarah Bernhardt From the Late 19th Century

In the 19th century, Sarah Bernhardt (October 22, 1844 – March 26, 1923) pioneered the template for modern celebrity culture through her groundbreaking theatrical talent, shrewd mastery of mass media, and open defiance of societal norms. Known globally as “The Divine Sarah” and praised by Victor Hugo for her “golden voice,” she transformed herself from an illegitimate child of a courtesan into the world’s most famous stage icon.

Bernhardt broke major theatrical barriers by commanding the stage across Europe, the Americas, and beyond. She famously took on complex male roles, most notably playing Shakespeare’s Hamlet in 1899, alongside standard femme-fatale and tragic heroines like Cleopatra and Camille.

Rather than relying solely on established institutions like the Comédie-Française, which she famously left after slapping a senior actress, she managed Parisian venues and operated her own international touring company, the Théâtre Sarah-Bernhardt. She became one of the first major stage performers to embrace early silent films and sound recordings, extending her artistic reach into the 20th century.

Bernhardt understood that fame required an active relationship between the star, the media, and the public. She collaborated closely with legendary artists, utilizing Alphonse Mucha’s iconic Art Nouveau promotional posters and photography by Félix Nadar to burn her image into the public consciousness. She leveraged her face for advertising, commercial merchandise, and memorabilia, standardizing commercialized stardom. Beyond performing, she was a highly accomplished sculptor and painter who regularly exhibited her work at the prestigious Paris Salon.

Her eccentric lifestyle fascinated the public and broke rigid Victorian-era expectations for women. She maintained a lifelong preoccupation with death, famously sleeping in a flower-adorned coffin inside her home and keeping a menagerie of wild animals. Bernhardt proudly wore pants in public, had romantic affairs with both men and women, and raised her son Maurice as a single mother out of wedlock, giving him her own last name.

As her fame grew, she faced immense sexist, racist, and anti-Semitic mockery in France due to her unconventional behavior and Jewish origins, yet she successfully used this press coverage to fuel her outsider allure.

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1929 Rolls-Royce Phantom I Riviera Town Car: Rare Brewster Elegance

The 1929 Rolls-Royce Phantom I Riviera Town Car by Brewster is one of the rarest and most elegant coachbuilt automobiles of the late 1920s.

Only about ten examples of this distinctive Riviera Town Car style were produced, featuring graceful curved front doors, a low windshield, and close-coupled proportions that gave it a more sporting appearance than traditional formal town cars. The rear compartment was often finished with intricate canework, fine wood inlays, and luxurious appointments befitting its wealthy owners.

Built on the powerful Phantom I chassis, it combined Rolls-Royce’s legendary engineering with Brewster’s refined American coachwork. Today, surviving examples remain highly prized for their rarity, craftsmanship, and timeless elegance.

These photos capture the rare beauty and sophisticated design of the 1929 Rolls-Royce Phantom I Riviera Town Car, a true masterpiece of coachbuilt luxury.

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32 Photos of Joan Fontaine on the Set of Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rebecca” (1940)

On the set of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1940 psychological masterpiece Rebecca, actress Joan Fontaine experienced a famously intense atmosphere marked by deliberate isolation, psychological manipulation, and cast hostility, which director Hitchcock actively encouraged to enhance her on-screen performance, for which she received her first of three nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

The environment was notoriously challenging for Fontaine due to severe friction from her co-star. Laurence Olivier, who played Maxim de Winter, openly displayed disdain for Fontaine. He had heavily campaigned for his then-girlfriend, Vivien Leigh, to win the role of the second Mrs. de Winter. Because Fontaine beat out Leigh after a grueling six-month casting process involving hundreds of actresses, Olivier treated her horribly. Other members of the cast took Olivier’s cue and routinely snubbed her, treating her like an unwelcome outsider.

Instead of shielding the young actress, who secured the career-defining role just before her 22nd birthday, Hitchcock chose to weaponize the backstage friction. He deliberately leveraged Fontaine’s real-life isolation to mirror the terrified, inferior reality of her unnamed character. Hitchcock continuously whispered into her ear that everyone on the set hated her, feeding her paranoia. In one cruel manifestation of this psychological method, he manufactured a birthday party for Fontaine on set, only to ensure that major cast members were conspicuously absent, cementing her feeling of utter isolation.

Hitchcock recognized that Fontaine’s distinguishing quality was an innate, fragile “vulnerability.” By keeping her constantly on edge, insecure, and intimidated by Olivier and the crew, he successfully captured the raw, anxious timidity crucial for the film’s haunting atmosphere.

Despite the agonizing psychological toll of the shoot, the toxic environment ultimately translated into cinematic gold. Fontaine’s fragile, haunted performance earned her the first of three Best Actress Academy Award nominations, cementing her status as a Hollywood star and defining the legacy of the only Hitchcock film to ever win Best Picture.

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