16 Vintage Portraits of a Beautiful Mary “Te Ata” Thompson Fisher

Te Ata Thompson Fisher, whose name means “Bearer of the Morning,” was born Dec. 3, 1895, near Emet, Oklahoma. A citizen of the Chickasaw Nation, Te Ata was an accomplished actor and teller of Native American stories.

She received her early education in Tishomingo, and eventually went to the Oklahoma College for Women. While there, it was evident Te Ata had a natural talent for drama.

Her career as an actor and storyteller spanned more than 60 years. She worked as a storyteller to finance her acting career. She would tell Chickasaw legends, myths and chants, including performing rituals in native regalia.

Te Ata attended the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for one year. From there, she moved to New York City, where she met and married Clyde Fisher. During the 1930s she performed at summer camps in New York and New England.

In the prime of her career, she performed in England and Scandinavia, at the White House for President Franklin Roosevelt, for the King and Queen of Great Britain, and on stages across the United States.

Although Te Ata worked as an actor and drama instructor, she is best known for her artistic interpretations of Indian folklore, and for her children's book she co-authored on the subject.

Her world-renown talent has won her several honors including induction into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 1957, being named The Ladies’ Home Journal Woman of the Year in 1976, being named Oklahoma's Official State Treasure in 1987, and having a lake near Bear Mountain in New York named in her honor.

She is also the subject of a video, God’s Drum, the proceeds of which have supported the Te Ata Scholarship Fund for Indian students at her alma mater, the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma in Chickasha, Oklahoma.

Te Ata died Oct. 26, 1995, in Oklahoma City, though her legacy and influence on the Native American storytelling traditions continues to this day.

See more»

35 Fabulous Photos of Barbara Carrera in the 1970s and ’80s

Born 1945 in Bluefields, Nicaraguan-American model and actress Barbara Carrera began a career as a model at the Eileen Ford agency at the age of 17. Her first film role was as a fashion model in Puzzle of a Downfall Child (1970). In 1972, she appeared on the screen in a publicity role for Chiquita bananas. In 1976, she earned her first Golden Globe nomination (“New Star of the Year – Actress”) for her role in The Master Gunfighter.

Carrera later played in such films as The Island of Dr. Moreau, Lone Wolf McQuade, Condorman, Point of Impact, Tryst and Embryo. For her portrayal of the villainess Fatima Blush in the James Bond film Never Say Never Again, she earned a 1984 Golden Globe nomination for “Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture”. She worked opposite Laurence Olivier in Wild Geese II the following year.

On television, she played a part in the soap opera Dallas as Angelica Nero, and more prominently, in the historical miniseries Centennial in 1978 and Masada (opposite Peter O’Toole and Peter Strauss) in 1981. These roles brought her to the mainstream attention of American audiences. She also starred as Emma Forsayth in the miniseries Emma: Queen of the South Seas in 1988. Carrera has appeared on the pages and covers of such magazines as Vogue, Paris Match, Harper’s Bazaar, and twice posed for Playboy.

In 1997, she was appointed Ambassador-at-Large for Nicaragua by then-president Arnoldo Alemán. Since Illusion Infinity (a.k.a. Paradise, 2004), Carrera has not appeared in films or television. Take a look at these fabulous photos to see portraits of a young Barbara Carrera in the 1970s and 1980s.

See more»

Ricky Nelson: One of the Biggest Teen Idols of the Late 1950s and Early ’60s

Born 1940 in Teaneck, New Jersey, American singer, musician, and actor Ricky Nelson began his entertainment career in 1949, playing himself in the radio sitcom series, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. In 1952, he appeared in his first feature film, Here Come the Nelsons. In 1957, he recorded his first single, debuted as a singer on the television version of the sitcom, and released the No. 1 album titled Ricky. In 1958, Nelson released his first #1 single, “Poor Little Fool”, and in 1959 received a Golden Globe nomination for “Most Promising Male Newcomer” after starring in Rio Bravo.

The expression “teen idol” was first coined to describe Nelson, and his fame as both a recording artist and television star also led to a motion picture role co-starring alongside John Wayne, Dean Martin and Angie Dickinson in Howard Hawks’ western feature film Rio Bravo (1959).

Nelson placed 53 songs on the Billboard Hot 100, and its predecessors, between 1957 and 1973, including “Poor Little Fool” in 1958, which was the first number one song on Billboard magazine’s then-newly created Hot 100 chart. He recorded 19 additional top ten hits and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on January 21, 1987.

Nelson died in a plane crash on New Year’s Eve 1985, flying from Guntersville, Alabama, to Dallas, Texas, for a concert. The plane he was on, a Douglas DC-3, had a history of mechanical problems. All seven passengers, including Blair, died. Only the two pilots survived.

In 1994, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars was dedicated to him. In 1996, Nelson was ranked No. 49 on TV Guide’s 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Nelson #91 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

Take a look at these vintage photos to see portraits of a young and handsome Ricky Nelson in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

See more»

Cover Photos of the Blues & Soul Magazine in the 1970s

John Abbey, a devotee of American R&B music, established a magazine entitled Home of the Blues in 1966. The magazine went on to publish its own musical charts, cover events and clubs and feature reviews, interviews and other musical articles. The publication soon gained further popularity in the UK and Europe covering genres of music such as soul, R&B, Funk, dance, jazz, hip hop, reggae and world music. With issue number 12 the magazine's title was changed to Blues & Soul.

Blues & Soul magazine covers in the 1970s

By 2006, the magazine had published 1000 issues. The magazine returned in printed form in August 2010 with a special vintage edition. In July 2011, Blues & Soul was relaunched permanently in print as a two-monthly magazine alongside its ongoing presence online, helmed by editor Lee Tyler plus assistant editor (and long-time contributor) Pete Lewis.

The Independent has noted Blues & Soul as being the equal of magazines such as NME and Q. Billboard magazine has called Blues & Soul “a respected publication.”

Here below is a collection of cover photos of the Blues & Soul in the 1970s.

Al Green, September 10-23, 1971

Curtis Mayfield, July 9-22, 1971

Diana Ross, August 6-19, 1971

Eddie Kendricks, April 16-29, 1971

Freda Payne, April 30-May 13, 1971

See more»

Portraits of a Young Elizabeth Taylor Taken by Peter Basch on the set of ‘Giant’ in 1955

Giant is an epic Western drama film that follows the family of a Texas cattle rancher over the course of 25 years. Bick Benedict Jr. (Rock Hudson) falls in love and marries socialite Leslie Lynton (Elizabeth Taylor) from Maryland. Leslie struggles with adjusting to Bick’s family and the Texan culture. Meanwhile, Bick’s nemesis Jett Rink (James Dean) falls for Leslie and things take a turn for the worse.

The film was a huge box-office success. Giant earned $35 million in ticket sales during its original studio release in 1956, a record for a Warner Brothers film until that time. This record was not surpassed until the Warner film Superman in the late 1970s.

These fascinating portraits of a young Elizabeth Taylor, aged 23, were taken by Peter Basch on the set of Giant in 1955.

See more»

Gorgeous Photos of American Actress Audrey Totter in the 1940s

Born 1917 in Joliet, Illinois, American actress Audrey Totter began her acting career in radio in the latter 1930s in Chicago. She played in soap operas, including Painted Dreams, Road of Life, Ma Perkins, and Bright Horizon.

Totter made her film debut in Main Street After Dark (1945) and established herself as a popular female lead in the 1940s. By the late 1950s, her film career was in decline, though she continued to work steadily for television.

Although Totter performed in various film genres, she became most widely known to movie audiences for her work in film noir. Looking back, Totter stated in August 1999, “The bad girls were so much fun to play. I would’t have wanted to play Coleen’s good-girl parts.”

Totter played a continuing role from 1972 to 1976, that of Nurse Wilcox, the efficient head nurse, in the CBS television series Medical Center, with James Daly and Chad Everett. Her last acting role was as a nun, Sister Paul, in a 1987 episode (“Old Habits Die Hard”) of CBS’s Murder, She Wrote, with Angela Lansbury.

Totter died of a stroke, eight days before her 96th birthday, in 2013. Take a look at these vintage photos to see the beauty of young Audrey Totter in the 1940s.

See more»

The Only Known Color Photograph of Britain’s King Edward VII

Here is the only known color photograph of Britain’s King Edward VII. Found in April 2009 in a cupboard in Exbury, this informal portrait, which shows the monarch dressed in a kilt and full highland costume, was taken a century earlier in September 1909.

The photographer was Lionel de Rothschild, a banker and Conservative MP, who invited the king to his grouse hunt at Tulchan in Strathspey some 15 miles from the royal estate at Balmoral. The portrait is thought to be one of the last pictures of the king, who died eight months later.

Rothschild was not only an amateur photographer, but also an avid experimenter and inventor who perfected the new process for taking images. The photo above, for instance, is an example of an autochrome, the first color photographic method to be commercially viable. Among the images attributed to Lionel in the Rothschild Archives are 700 non-royal images from the early 1900s. These photos show the Edwardian world in a new light, in a soft and subtle color.

(via Iconic Photos)

20 Fascinating Vintage Portraits of a Young George Harrison

George Harrison formed a band with schoolmates to play clubs around Liverpool and in Hamburg, Germany. The Beatles became the biggest rock band in the world, and Harrison’s diverse musical interests took them in many directions. Post-Beatles, Harrison made acclaimed solo records and started a film production company. He died of cancer in November 2001.

Harrison was born on February 25, 1943, in Liverpool, England. The youngest of Harold and Louise French Harrison’s four children.

Like his future bandmates, Harrison was not born into wealth. Louise was largely a stay-at-home mom (who also taught ballroom dancing), while her husband Harold drove a school bus for the Liverpool Institute, an acclaimed grammar school that Harrison attended and where he first met Paul McCartney. By his own admission, Harrison was not much of a student, and what little interest he did have in his studies washed away with his discovery of the electric guitar and American rock and roll.

Impressed with his younger friend's talents, McCartney, who had recently joined up with another Liverpool teenager, John Lennon, in a skiffle group known as the Quarrymen, invited Harrison to see the band perform. Harrison and Lennon actually shared some common history. Both had attended Dovedale Primary School but had never met. Their paths finally crossed in early 1958. McCartney had been pushing the 17-year-old Lennon to let the 14-year-old Harrison join the band, but Lennon was reluctant to let the youngster team up with them. As legend has it, after seeing McCartney and Lennon perform, Harrison was finally granted an audition on the upper deck of a bus, where he wowed Lennon with his rendition of popular American rock riffs.

By 1960 Harrison’s music career was in full swing. Lennon had renamed the band the Beatles, and the young group began cutting their rock teeth in the small clubs and bars around Liverpool and Hamburg, Germany. Within two years, the group had a new drummer, Ringo Starr, and a manager, Brian Epstein, a young record-store owner who eventually landed the Beatles a contract with EMI’s Parlophone label.

Before the end of 1962, Harrison and the Beatles recorded a top 20 U.K. hit, “Love Me Do.” Early that following year, another hit, “Please Please Me,” was churned out, followed by an album of the same name. Beatlemania was in full swing across England, and by early 1964, with the release of their album in the United States and an American tour, it had swept across the Atlantic as well.

See more»

Beautiful Photos of English Actress Shirley Anne Field in the 1960s

Born 1936 in Forest Gate, London, English actress Shirley Anne Field had her first appearance in a film as an extra in Simon and Laura (1955). Her first sizeable film role was in Horrors of the Black Museum (1959), and a larger role in the controversial Peeping Tom (1960). She also appeared on stage in The Lily White Boys with Albert Finney.

Field’s breakthrough came in 1960 when she was chosen by Tony Richardson to play the role of model Tina Lapford in The Entertainer (1960). She appeared in probably her best known role as Doreen, the would-be girlfriend of rebellious Arthur Seaton (played by Albert Finney), in the New Wave film for Bryanston, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960). Director, Karel Reisz, described her as “difficult to play with”. The film was a huge hit. She starred alongside Kenneth More in Man in the Moon (1960). With those three big film starring roles in 1960, she became one of the very few actors ever to have their name above the titles in all the major cinemas around Leicester Square simultaneously.

By the late 1970s, Field was more commonly seen on TV, in shows such as Centre Play, Shoestring, Buccaneer, Never the Twain and a long run on Santa Barbara as well as TV movies like Two by Forsyth. She had a notable role in films like My Beautiful Laundrette (1985), Shag (1989), Getting It Right (1989), The Rachel Papers (1989), Hear My Song (1991), UFO (1993), Taking Liberty (1993), Loving Deadly (1994), and At Risk (1994).

Take a look at these vintage photos to see the beauty of young Shirley Anne Field in the 1960s.

See more»

Photos of Clark Gable and Jean Harlow During the Filming of ‘Red Dust’ (1932)

Red Dust is a 1932 American pre-Code romantic drama film directed by Victor Fleming, and starring Clark Gable, Jean Harlow and Mary Astor. It is based on the 1928 play of the same name by Wilson Collison, and was adapted for the screen by John Mahin.

Red Dust is the second of six movies Gable and Harlow made together. More than 20 years later, Gable starred in a remake, Mogambo (1953), with Ava Gardner starring in a variation on the role Harlow played and Grace Kelly playing a part similar to one portrayed by Astor in Red Dust.

The film, set on a rubber plantation in French Indochina (present-day Vietnam), provides a view into the French colonial rubber business. It includes scenes of rubber trees being tapped for sap, the process of coagulating the rubber with acid, native workers being rousted, gales that can blow the roof off a hut and are difficult to walk in, the spartan living quarters, the supply boat that arrives periodically, a rainy spell that lasts weeks, and tigers prowling the jungle. The film’s title is derived from the large quantities of dust stirred up by storms.

In 2006, Red Dust was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.

These vintage photos captured portraits of Clark Gable and Jean Harlow together during the filming of Red Dust in 1932.

See more»