15 Vintage Drivers' Licenses of Celebrities from 1960s to 1970s
By | August 26, 2022
Johnny Cash
We don't often think of celebrities as the kind of people who need a driver's license. Sure, they may own a slew of cars but don't they have drivers? Or someone who carts them around while they do whatever it is that famous people do?
In some cases, the folks on here with surprising IDs are more notorious than famous, which still makes us curious about why one of the most well known criminals in the world would need a license. Maybe everyone on here just likes to have their photo taken.
These vintage driver's licenses of celebrities show us that whoever you are, you still need the right papers to drive your own cars.
As a country music icon it makes sense that the man in black would want a driver's license. Aside from needing to keep his papers straight in order to speed around late at night on a bender, he was famous for the solid black RV that he drove around throughout the Groovy era.
In 1965, Cash accidentally burnt down 508 acres of Los Padres National Forest in California with his RV. Maybe he didn't need to ID after all. When a judge questioned him about the fire, Cash explained:
I didn’t do it, my truck did, and it’s dead, so you can’t question it.
Robert De Niro
Before starring in Taxi Driver a young Robert De Niro decided to research the role by actually becoming a New York City taxi driver. He earned his license and then spent a month behind the wheel carting people around he city. Supposedly, De Niro even picked up a few fares while he was on set. That's a dedication to your craft.
Charles Manson
It's honestly so strange that Charles Manson has a driver's license. And the fact that he received this ID card in 1969, the same year that he orchestrated one of the most notorious crimes of the decade is all the more odd. This is clearly an old picture of Manson, so we're not sure what's going on there, maybe he was able to smooth talk his way into getting some identification. We're not sure why he'd need it while going crazy out on Spahn Ranch but there's no use getting into the mind of a madman.
Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock is still known for his tense films about everything from insane motel owners to insane birds, but the thing he's less known for is his fear of driving. He often said that he didn't want to drive because he was afraid of being pulled over, but that's not really the truth. He was actually terrified of losing control of the vehicle and causing pure mayhem. Hitchcock felt that automobiles were one of the most terrifying things in the modern world, and he's honestly correct. That makes it all the more curious as to why he'd actually get a driver's license. Maybe he just liked being in control.
Dean Martin
Leave it to a member of the Rat Pack to look cool as a cucumber in his driver's license photo. It's a rare feat when someone actually looks good under the bright lights and bad angles of the DMV, but Deano actually pulled it off. Now our only question is if he was actually every sober enough to get behind the wheel.
James Brown
It's interesting to think about the Godfather of Soul driving a car. He just seems like a guy who would have a chauffeur for his legion of automobiles.
While speaking with Spin in the 1980s, James was open about how he likes to be in control when he's behind the wheel. He noted that he liked to drive his gal pal to the covered bridges of Georgia, and that even though they were both keen on putting their feet to the floor he felt better about being in control:
I drive a lot and she drives too. I feel safer when I drive, just like she feels safer when she drives.
Janis Joplin
Janis Joplin was famous for her soul shattering voice, but she was also a major car lover. Specifically, she was really into her 1964 Porsche 356 SC, a car on which she spent a whopping $3,500 before forking over some more cash to have it painted to portray the "history of the universe."
The car is seriously cool looking, which is one of the many reasons that it's a shame that Joplin is no longer with us. Anyone would look seriously cool tooling around in this car, but she would be especially amazing to see flying down the road with her hair whipping all around her.
Davy Jones
Davy Jones always looked young, but he looks like a baby in this driver's license photo from 1967. Issued a year after the premiere of The Monkees, it's crazy to think about Jones actually finding time to go to the DMV, let alone needing to drive himself around. Maybe he just wanted to feel a little bit more American, or maybe he longed for the freedom that was kept from him while he was a member of one of the most popular bands in the world.
Steven Tyler
In an interview with the BBC, Deadmau5 explained what it's like to ride around with Steven Tyler, and maybe why he shouldn't have a driver's license:
The Venom GT is a loud, really low car. We're driving it down La Cienega by the Beverly Center, where there's a hill. And it's just a terrible intersection. It sucks. So we're stuck in traffic there and he decides to do a U-turn, and the car stalls. And he can't get it started again.
It's actually a real pain to start that car. You have to wait for the pneumatic shifter to charge and all of this. So the traffic lights start going green, and we're in the middle of the intersection blocking traffic. And first, people start with the anger honk.
Then, people start to notice that it's Steven Tyler. Then everyone is hanging out of their cars taking pictures. And we're totally exposed in that car—it's just the roll bar, there's no roof. I totally have my face down.
Michael Jackson
It makes sense that the King of Pop wouldn't have a normal driver's license, but who knew that you needed a specific license for racing? Maybe that's a known act on the black top, but it's not the kind of information that we keep in our noggins. ANYWAY, it must have been incredible to see Michael Jackson tearing it up in a Formula 1 car, or even drag racing. Do you think he wore both driving gloves, or just one?
Rue McClanahan
It's honestly kind of exciting to see that Rue McClanahan, the coolest Golden Girl, had a driver's license. Sure, she could have hired a chauffeur to take her around Los Angeles, but she was a woman of the people who got stuck in traffic on the 101 just like the rest of us.
Liberace
There's no way that Liberace drove himself around, right? He definitely had a collection of chauffeurs and assistants who helped him out, but that's not what were focused on. Look at that signature. If you had any doubt about whether or not this ID belonged to the real Liberace then ignore the photo - all you have to do is take in those swooping letters and you know you're dealing with the real thing.
Frank Sinatra
This driver's license that belonged to Frank Sinatra is fascinating for so many reasons. First of all, it belonged to Sinatra so that's very cool, but it's also incredibly interesting that early IDs didn't even have a photo attached, just an address and some info about what you look like.
By the late '30s Sinatra was already making a name for himself in the clubs of New York and New Jersey, so it's likely that any officer who wanted to see his ID would know what he looked like. Still, it would be cool to see Ol' Blue Eyes standing in line at the DMV.
John Wayne
It must have been intimidating to pull up to a red light, look over and see that The Duke is idling next to you. An even worse fate would be making him mad in traffic. Maureen O'Hara explains what it was like to drive around with John Wayne during his heyday:
One day [Wayne] was driving a big red truck, which we borrowed for him because he won’t fit in an automobile you know — he has to drive a truck. He was driving down to Christiansted, and he was going slowly because he was looking on both sides of the street and ogling everything he could see. And suddenly there’s a big truck behind him and they blow the horn ‘beep, beep, beep, beep,’ and [tell] him, ‘get out of the way’ … . And they pull up beside him and say, ‘Hey,’ and he says, ‘Yah,’ and that was the end of it. They didn’t challenge Duke anymore!
Jim Morrison
Jim Morrison may have been a purely American poet, but he also had a problem with alcohol which is exactly why he shouldn't have been given a driver's license.
Gerry McLain, a fellow student at FSU with Morrison remembers a scary moment on the road with the singer:
At FSU, he had a girlfriend, Mary Werbelow. Jim brought her to a party. Some guy was bending over to talk to her and Jim got jealous. He grabbed the guy by the belt and threw him across the room. Jim got very drunk when he drank. I realized drinking made him crazy. Another time, Morrison grabbed the wheel of my car and wanted to drive to Georgia to this carnival where girls danced.
