10 Vintage Photos That Demonstrate The Unrivalled Glamour Of Cannes

Some things don’t change – fans still turn out en masse to get close to their favourite star, but perhaps not this close! 1930s film star Ginger Rogers is pictured here with Diana Dors, described by many as the UK’s Marilyn Munroe. Ginger appears to be enjoying every minute, while Diana isn’t quite so sure about the level of attention.

At Getty Images we are proud to be guardian of the largest commercial archive in the world, which includes iconic images such as this treasure – taken of the golden couple Kim Novak and Cary Grant. Said to be inseparable since they arrived in Cannes, here they share a tender moment at a party thrown by the Russian delegation to the International Film Festival. They danced until dawn amid all the caviar they could eat before agreeing to go to Moscow together. It doesn’t get much more old school glamour than that.

It’s 1964 and Jayne Mansfield is turning up the heat at Cannes Film Festival in a small bikini while holding her pet chihuahua. Considered by many to be the poor man’s Marilyn Munroe, Jayne is said to have had real talent but played up to the blonde bombshell stereotype and unfortunately never shook it off. Nonetheless, she looks like she was having a pretty good time.

An earlier shot of Elizabeth Taylor, this time with her husband, producer Mike Todd. This was taken in 1957 after an inaugural screening of his Oscar-winning film Around the World in Eighty Days and, despite the party being organised to celebrate his success, it’s clear that Elizabeth stole the show. Tragically, Todd died a year later in a plane crash, and was unable to live out the success of his film.

One of Europe’s most famous screen icons, Sophia Loren grabbed the world’s attention at the 1955 Cannes Film Festival. The actress, referred to as "Sofia Lazzaro" because people joked her beauty could raise Lazzarus from the dead, went on to enjoy a very successful global film career, starring opposite leading men including Marlon Brando, Paul Newman and Cary Grant and winning awards at the Oscars, Golden Globes and Cannes Film Festival where she took home Best Actress for her role in Two Women (1960). Here she indulges photographers with a casual photo shoot at the beach.

I love this shot of Paul McCartney and his wife Linda at the festival in 1980. The hair! The clothes! The cameras! It has that gorgeous vintage grain to it that only shooting on film can achieve. I love the way the photographer here has captured the scene of the photo call rather than just shot the glamorous couple, this is a fabulous angle which is still popular with Getty’s photographers who employ it to capture the iconic images of tomorrow.

Dame Elizabeth Taylor, DBE attended the famous amfAR party with fashion designer Gianfranco Ferre. She was one of the first and most outspoken voices on the issue of AIDS and went on to found the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation to raise awareness and to provide support services for people with HIV/AIDS, paying for its overhead costs herself. One of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 1950s, hers is a lasting legacy, both as a screen icon and dedicated philanthropist. Pictured here in 1999, ever beautiful, she must have been eager to enjoy the party after a day of red carpet premieres.

This image shows (left to right) actors Van Johnson, Isa Miranda, Jean Pierre Aumont, Brigitte Bardot, Marcel Pagnol, Nadia Gray and Olivia de Havilland arriving at the festival in 1955. These playful, less staged moments were easier to capture back in their time and I love the exuberance with which they turn up – that is one thing which time has not changed, the excitement and anticipation of the world’s largest film festival.