Surfs Up & Summer is Here: Golden Age Stars in Vintage Swimwear
Swimsuit pictures were a big part of the Hollywood studio publicity machine during its golden age. Pictures of stars in scanty suits were published endlessly in fan magazines and as pinups for the boys serving overseas. We love the look of vintage swimwear found in this bounty of stars dressed for pool and beach.
GALS
Everett Collection
World War II pinup favorite Betty Grable in a pin-up pose taken by Frank Powolny a white one-piece swimsuit in a studio portrait from 1943.
Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Another pinup favorite of World War II was Rita Hayworth. Here the star of Gilda swims with an inflatable horse on a break between filming in 1940.
Screen Archives/Getty Images
Ava Gardner was photographed in beachwear perhaps more than any golden age Hollywood actress. Here she is at a studio “beach” in 1945.
Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images
Yvonne De Carlo struts in a white swimsuit, circa 1955. Hard to see how the sultry star of Salome, Where She Danced (1945) would end up as Lily Munster in the 1960s sitcom The Munsters. Maybe she stopped getting all that sun.
Sheedy-Long /TV Guide /Courtesy Everett Collection
Sally Field played the surf-loving, boy-crazy teenager in the TV version of Gidget (1965-66).
John Springer Collection/Corbis via Getty Images
Jane Russell is dressed for poolside fun in this black-and-white two-piece and generous straw hat. (1940)
©20th Century-Fox Film Corporation/Courtesy Everett Collection
Marilyn Monroe stuns in pink in the 1953 film, How to Marry a Millionaire
Everett Collection
Before we all knew her as Ginger on Gilligan’s Island, Tina Louise was a model and aspiring actress. Here she fashions a colorful two-piece on set around mid 1960’s.
Bettmann/Getty
Ann-Margret lit up the screen with her torrid routines in Bye Bye Birdie (1963) and Viva Las Vegas (1964). Here she is on the set of Murderer’s Row (1966) in a silk-and-rubber candy-striped wetsuit. Somehow Ann-Margret could make all that fabric plenty revealing.
Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images
Natalie Wood hangs out poolside in a luxurious one-piece, 1965.
Everett Collection
Coffy star Pam Grier lounges poolside in a white mesh bikini, circa 1973.
Everett Collection
Farrah Fawcett rocks a wetsuit on the set of Sunburn (1979).
Aaron Rapoport/Corbis via Getty Images
Carrie Fisher sports a futuristic bronze bikini with some of her beach pals from Star Wars: Episode VI — Return of the Jedi for a 1983 Rolling Stone cover shoot.
GUYS
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Swashbuckler Errol Flynn swaggers in this swimsuit, mid 1930s.
Everett Collection
For all his elegance in a tuxedo, Cary Grant knew his way around a swimsuit, too. Here he is by the beach with costar Grace Kelly in the 1955 Hitchcock film To Catch a Thief.
Keystone-France/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images
A young Tony Curtis strides out of the surf in this undated photo from the early 1950s. He would go on to star in films like Some Like It Hot (1959) with Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe and Spartacus (1960) with Kirk Douglas.
Everett Collection
Elvis Presley in this promotional photo for Blue Hawaii, 1961. (Can we get a “hubba, hubba” from the peanut gallery?)
Everett Collection
Sea Hunt star Lloyd Bridges checks his watch while preparing for his next scuba dive. The underwater adventure aired from 1958 to 1961.
Eddie Sanderson/Getty Images
Thunderball theme singer Tom Jones takes a call on the phone at his home in Beverly Hills, California,
in 1980.
Swimsuit Parade
July 2021
Enjoy a trip to the beach with our swimsuit parade down the decades by your favorite Hollywood stars
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