Taschen’s ‘Life: Hollywood’ Book Chronicles the Golden Age of Celebrity Photojournalism
variety.comVariety praised its “unassuming warmth and natural-ness…The story has a documentary feel without any of the detachment usually noted in that particular technique.” Photo: Eliot Elisofon, Congo, Africa, 1951.Monroe and Russell between takes of the “Two Little Girls from Little Rock” number in “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.” This was relatively early in Monroe’s stardom, and Life rather condescendingly noted that “she sings and dances with surprising technical competence.” In her final Life interview in 1962, Monroe recalled Russell being “quite wonderful to me,” but Fox treated her disdainfully.
Photo: Ed Clark, Twentieth Century-Fox Studios, 1953.After finishing her whirlwind Manhattan shopping spree, Life wrote of Kelly, “With Grace’s dead pan poodle, Oliver, sitting this one out, bride-to-be packs and packs.” Photo: Lisa Larsen, New York, 1956.After becoming an international sex symbol in French films like”…And God Created Woman,” Life remarked on her phenomenal impact: Not since the Statue of Liberty has a French girl let such fires in America.” Photo: Ralph Crane, Mexico, 1965.Longtime friends Poitier and Belafonte were active in the Civil Rights movement and steadfastly supported Martin Luther King, Jr.
When Life profiled Poitier in 1959, he expressed acute awareness of what he symbolized for Black Americans: “My best statement is my work as an artist,” he said.
Life’s Miller photographed Poitier and Belafonte together at King’s March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Photo: Francis Miller, Washington, D.C., 1963.Curtis had a contract with Universal Studios when he announced his engagement to Leigh.
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