30 Stunning Portraits of a Young and Beautiful Meryl Streep in the 1970s

Mary Louise “Meryl” Streep (born June 22, 1949) is an American actress. Known for her versatility and adept accent work, she has been described as “the best actress of her generation.” She has received numerous accolades throughout her career spanning over five decades, including three Academy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, eight Golden Globe Awards, four Emmy Awards, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards, in addition to nominations for seven Grammy Awards and a Tony Award.

In the 1970s, Meryl Streep established herself as a versatile and talented actress, transitioning from theater to film and earning critical acclaim. She began with diverse roles, showcasing her ability to inhabit different characters, and by the end of the decade, she had earned her first Academy Award nomination for The Deer Hunter and won for Kramer vs. Kramer. This decade marked the beginning of a legendary career for Streep.

One of Streep’s first professional jobs in 1975 was at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Playwrights Conference, during which she acted in five plays over six weeks. She moved to New York City in 1975, and was cast by Joseph Papp in a production of Trelawny of the Wells at the Vivian Beaumont Theater. She went on to appear in five more roles in her first year in New York. She starred in the musical Happy End on Broadway, and won an Obie for her performance in the off-Broadway play Alice at the Palace.

Although Streep had not aspired to become a film actor, Robert De Niro’s performance in Taxi Driver (1976) had a profound impact on her; she said to herself, “That’s the kind of actor I want to be when I grow up.” Her first feature film role came opposite Jane Fonda in the 1977 film Julia, in which she had a small role during a flashback sequence. Most of her scenes were edited out, but the brief time on screen horrified the actress, “I had a bad wig and they took the words from the scene I shot with Jane and put them in my mouth in a different scene. I thought, I’ve made a terrible mistake, no more movies. I hate this business. However, Streep stated in 2015 that Fonda had a lasting influence on her as an actress, and credited her with opening “probably more doors than I probably even know about.”

Robert De Niro, who had spotted Streep in her stage production of The Cherry Orchard, suggested that she play the role of his girlfriend in the war film The Deer Hunter (1978). Author Karina Longworth notes that Streep, “Made a case for female empowerment by playing a woman to whom empowerment was a foreign concept–a normal lady from an average American small town, for whom subservience was the only thing she knew.” Pauline Kael, who later became a strong critic of Streep, remarked that she was a “real beauty” who brought much freshness to the film with her performance. The film’s success exposed Streep to a wider audience and earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

In the 1978 miniseries Holocaust, Streep played the leading role of a German woman married to a Jewish artist played by James Woods in Nazi era Germany. She found the material to be “unrelentingly noble” and professed to have taken on the role for financial gain. With an estimated audience of 109 million, Holocaust brought a wider degree of public recognition to Streep, who found herself “on the verge of national visibility.” She won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie for her performance.

In 1978, she played a supporting role as the former girlfriend turned lesbian in Manhattan (1979) for Woody Allen. Streep later said that Allen did not provide her with a complete script, giving her only the six pages of her own scenes, and did not permit her to improvise a word of her dialogue. Vincent Canby of The New York Times described her performance as being “beautifully played.”

In the drama Kramer vs. Kramer, Streep was cast opposite Dustin Hoffman as an unhappily married woman who abandons her husband and child. Streep thought that the script portrayed the female character as “too evil” and insisted that it was not representative of real women who faced marriage breakdown and child custody battles. The makers agreed with her, and the script was revised. In preparing for the part, Streep spoke to her own mother about her life as a wife with a career, and frequented the Upper East Side neighborhood in which the film was set, watching the interactions between parents and children. The director Robert Benton allowed Streep to write her own dialogue in two key scenes, despite some objection from Hoffman, who “hated her guts” at first. Hoffman and producer Stanley R. Jaffe later spoke of Streep’s tirelessness, with Hoffman commenting: “She’s extraordinarily hard-working, to the extent that she’s obsessive. I think that she thinks about nothing else, but what she’s doing.” The film was controversial among feminists, but it was a role which film critic Stephen Farber believed displayed Streep’s “own emotional intensity,” writing that she was one of the “rare performers who can imbue the most routine moments with a hint of mystery.”

For the film, Streep won both the Golden Globe Award and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, which she famously left in the ladies’ room after giving her speech. She received awards from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, National Board of Review and National Society of Film Critics for her collective work in her three film releases of 1979. Both The Deer Hunter and Kramer vs. Kramer were major commercial successes and were consecutive winners of the Academy Award for Best Picture.

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Sweethearts of the Rodeo, 1917

In 1917, the photograph “Sweethearts of the Rodeo” captured three professional cowgirls – Clyde Lindsay, Mildred Douglas, and Ruby Dickey – at the Miles City Round-Up in Montana. Dressed in split skirts, spurs, and boots, they posed with two quirts and an extra hat, likely belonging to the photographer, Ralph R. Doubleday. Mildred Douglas, a prominent figure among them, later became a champion bronc rider, the first woman to ride a steer, and a successful trick rider and sharpshooter.

The Miles City Round-Up, where the photograph was taken, was a significant event in the early days of the rodeo.

Mildred Douglas, who would later be inducted into the Cowgirl Hall of Fame, was a pioneer in the world of rodeo. She not only rode a steer, but also performed as a trick rider and sharpshooter with the Miller Brothers 101 Ranch Show. She also starred in western films with Tom Mix and trained animals for films and circuses. In 1954, at age 59, she became a professional nurse.

Cyndi Lauper Photographed by Rob Verhorst at Pullitzer Hotel in Amsterdam, Netherlands, 1980

In November 1980, before her meteoric rise to solo stardom with hits like “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” Cyndi Lauper was in Amsterdam as part of her band, Blue Angel. It was during this period, specifically on November 19, 1980, that she was photographed by Rob Verhorst at the Pulitzer Hotel.

At this time, Blue Angel had released their eponymous debut album, which, despite critical acclaim for Lauper’s distinctive vocals, did not achieve significant commercial success. The photoshoot at the Pulitzer Hotel likely served as promotional material for the band.

While the exact details of the photoshoot itself are not widely publicized, Cyndi Lauper herself has reminisced about her time in Amsterdam in 1980. In an interview, she mentioned releasing a single there and even an incident where she twisted her ankle onstage during a show, requiring her to walk with a cane afterward. She also fondly recalled purchasing unique clothing items, like stretch leopard pants and a reversible coat, which she would incorporate into her stage attire.

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Alice Faye: A Golden Voice of Hollywood’s Golden Age

Alice Faye was one of the most beloved stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age—a singer and actress whose warmth, charm, and husky contralto voice made her a standout in 1930s and 1940s cinema.

Faye began her career in entertainment as a chorus girl and band singer. Her big break came when she joined Rudy Vallée’s orchestra, which led to a role in the 1934 film George White’s Scandals. Her performance caught the attention of 20th Century Fox, where she quickly became one of the studio’s top stars.

Throughout the 1930s and early 1940s, Faye became known for her musical roles, particularly in Technicolor extravaganzas. Films like Alexander’s Ragtime Band (1938), Lillian Russell (1940), and Hello, Frisco, Hello (1943) showcased not only her acting talent but her rich singing voice. She helped define the Fox musical style—sentimental, stylish, and tuneful.

Alice Faye was also a favorite of Fox studio chief Darryl F. Zanuck, who considered her the studio’s premier leading lady before the rise of Betty Grable. Despite her success, she was known for her grounded personality and dislike of Hollywood pretension. Take a look at these glamorous photos to see the beauty of a young Alice Faye in the 1930s.

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Jane Russell as Mamie Stover in Publicity Photos for in “The Revolt of Mamie Stover” (1956)

The Revolt of Mamie Stover is a 1956 American DeLuxe Color romantic drama film directed by Raoul Walsh and produced by Buddy Adler from a screenplay by Sydney Boehm, based on the 1951 novel of the same name by William Bradford Huie.

In the film, Jane Russell stars in the title role as Mamie Stover, a tough and ambitious woman who leaves San Francisco for Honolulu in the early 1940s in search of a better life. Hers performance as Mamie showcases her strong screen presence and signature sultry charisma. The story follows Mamie as she rises from being a nightclub hostess to a wealthy businesswoman during World War II, all while navigating romance, prejudice, and her own personal ambitions. The film explores themes of class, independence, and the evolving role of women.

The role of Mamie Stover originally was intended for Marilyn Monroe, but Marilyn was on “strike” with Fox over contact negotiations and was turning down many roles offered to her. The role eventually was offered to Jane Russell, whose confirmation was reported in November 1955.

In the novel, Mamie Stover was described as a blonde, resembling actress Lizabeth Scott. However, producer Buddy Adler believed audiences would be thrown if Russell, one of the more famous brunettes in Hollywood, went blonde so he had Jane become a redhead. Russell wore a long red wig, but dyed her short natural black hair red along with her eyebrows.

Russell’s dresses and costumes in The Revolt of Mamie Stover were designed by the renowned Hollywood costume designer William Travilla, who was also famous for his collaborations with Marilyn Monroe. Mamie Stover’s wardrobe reflects her journey from a woman forced out of San Francisco to a successful, financially independent, albeit controversial, figure in Honolulu. The costumes aimed to highlight Russell’s iconic figure and the character’s audacious personality, while still adhering to the censorship of the time.

In its list of the 100 top box-office hits of 1956, Variety Weekly (January 2, 1957 issue) ranked The Revolt of Mamie Stover at #44 for the year in box office rentals earning $2 million, most assuredly earning more in ticket sales. The June 18, 1956 issue of Time reported the film at #3 as one of “the most popular and successful movies in the U.S. last month, according to the tradesheet Variety” coming in behind Alfred Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much and The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit.

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40 Fabulous Photos of Claudia Cardinale During the Filming of ‘Once Upon a Time in the West’ (1968)

Once Upon a Time in the West is a 1968 epic spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone, who co-wrote it with Sergio Donati, based on a story by Dario Argento, Bernardo Bertolucci and Leone. It stars Henry Fonda, playing against type as the villain, Charles Bronson as his nemesis, Jason Robards as a bandit and Claudia Cardinale as a widowed homesteader. The widescreen cinematography was by Tonino Delli Colli and the acclaimed film score was by Ennio Morricone.

In 2009, the film was selected for preservation in the US National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”. The film is regarded as one of the greatest Westerns of and one of the greatest films of all time.

These fabulous photos capture portraits of Claudia Cardinale during the filming of Once Upon a Time in the West in 1968.

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20 Vintage Photos of a Young Brian Wilson in the 1950s

Brian Douglas Wilson (June 20, 1942 – June 11, 2025) was an American musician, songwriter, singer and record producer who co-founded the Beach Boys. Often called a genius for his novel approaches to pop composition and mastery of recording techniques, he is widely acknowledged as one of the most innovative and significant songwriters of the 20th century. His best-known work is distinguished for its high production values, complex harmonies and orchestrations, vocal layering, and introspective or ingenuous themes. He was also known for his versatile head voice and falsetto, which degraded after the 1970s.

Brian spent his childhood in Hawthorne, California, with his younger brothers Dennis and Carl. While their home appeared to be a typical middle-class suburban setting, it was marked by significant turmoil. Their father, Murry Wilson, was an aspiring but largely unsuccessful songwriter, and by many accounts, was physically and mentally abusive towards his sons. Their mother, Audree Wilson, reportedly struggled with alcoholism. Brian himself recalled his childhood with mixed feelings, stating he “had a good childhood—except for my dad beating me up all the time.” He attributed his partial deafness in one ear to a childhood beating.

Despite this difficult backdrop, music was a constant presence in the Wilson home. Murry and Audree both played piano, and the brothers would often sing along, developing an early ability to harmonize. This musical upbringing became a crucial escape for Brian from his painful home life. He exhibited an early aptitude for music, learning by ear and teaching himself to play piano by spending hours mastering his favorite songs. He was captivated by diverse artists, from the classical compositions of George Gershwin (whose “Rhapsody in Blue” was one of the first pieces of music to “blow his mind”) and Tchaikovsky, to the intricate harmonies of vocal groups like The Four Freshmen, and the rock and roll rhythms of Chuck Berry. Rosemary Clooney also influenced his understanding of phrasing and gentle singing.

A pivotal moment came on his 16th birthday in 1958 when Brian received a reel-to-reel tape recorder. This allowed him to experiment with overdubbing, recording his vocals and those of Carl and their mother, a technique that would become a hallmark of his later production style. He and Carl avidly listened to Johnny Otis’s R&B radio show, absorbing its sounds and inspiring Brian to change his piano-playing style and begin writing his own songs.

By the late 1950s, Brian was already performing with his brothers and cousin Mike Love at parties and small gatherings. He taught his family members harmonies, dissecting songs to understand their structure. In high school, he was already focused on a career in music, stating in an essay that his ambition was to “make a name for myself... in music.”

The groundwork for The Beach Boys was laid in these years. Brian, Carl, Dennis, Mike Love, and a high school friend, Al Jardine, began practicing together. Inspired by his brother Dennis’s passion for surfing and the burgeoning surf culture of Southern California, Brian started writing songs that romanticized the beach lifestyle. By the very end of the decade, as the 1950s transitioned into the 1960s, this group would officially form as “The Pendletones” (later renamed “The Beach Boys”), with Brian as the primary songwriter, producer, and musical visionary. His challenging childhood, coupled with his innate musical genius and diverse influences, propelled him towards a future that would revolutionize popular music.

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