45 Rarely Seen Nostalgic Photos From The 1970s

It has to be strange to be the child of a celebrity, even more so when you’re a celebrity yourself. When Jamie Lee Curtis was coming into her own in the 1970s and ‘80s she managed to forge a friendship with her mother, probably because they were both in the very unique position of being super famous for starring in groundbreaking horror movies. Speaking thoughtfully about her mother after she passed away, Jamie Lee Curtis put things succinctly:

Janet Leigh is a made-up person and she did great, but Jeanette Helen is who I knew. I called her Jeanette Helen.

By 1976 Lynda Carter was on the wall of every teenage boy’s bedroom thanks to her starring role in Wonder Woman. Even though she started out as a pageant queen and a singer, Carter easily slipped into the role as the Amazonian princess with a knack for fighting crime. While discussing the character’s clothing choice in the ‘70s Carter explained that there was more than meets the eye. She told the New York Times:

I never really thought of Wonder Woman as a super-racy character. She wasn’t out there being predatory. She was saying: ‘You have a problem with a strong woman? I am who I am, get over it.’ I never played her as mousy. I played her being for women, not against men. For fair play and fair pay.

When she was young, Madonna wanted nothing more than to get in front of millions of people and perform. Initially she wanted to be a dancer but she also acted in her friend’s films. She grew up in a family full of kids, she was the oldest of eight, which made things hard on her as well as her parents. She often took care of her siblings while they her parents were at work, which meant that she cooked, cleaned, and made sure her brothers and sisters had everything they needed to survive. Even though she was taking care of important business she still resented being saddled with such adult responsibilities.

Is there any cooler couple than Charles Bronson and Jill Ireland? This pair of groovy actors were an excellent match for one another both onscreen and off. After the two got together Bronson did everything in his power to make sure that Ireland played his onscreen romantic interest just so he could keep his family together. The two were together from 1968 until she passed away in 1990 in Malibu, California. Even after her passing she stayed with Bronson, she was cremated and her remains were placed in a cane that Bronson kept on him and that he was buried with in 2003.

When Charlie’s Angels premiered in 1976 no one realized that it would be the cultural touchstone that it became. That first trio - Farrah Fawcett, Jaclyn Smith and Kate Jackson - were overnight stars and even through cast changes the women remained close friends. While speaking in a documentary about the show Smith explained that the thing that drove the series is their friendship on and off set. She said:

In my mind, what Charlie's Angels was about was the bond of the girls… That's what's interesting about friendship—once somebody is really in your heart, you can go all these different ways but when you come back together...we came back together really strongly at the end of [Fawcett’s] life.

The iconic Christie Brinkley is one of the few supermodels who turned heads in the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s. During her first decade in the modeling world she have been a fresh faced surfer girl but there was something about her that was impossible to ignore. She says that it was curvy that made her a star. She told CNN:

It was the fact that I wasn't skinny or sophisticated that made my career. I was a California surfer girl. When I first got out on the set, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, nobody here has hips like mine, let me move my hips to the side like this,’ and the photographer was like, ‘Oh my God you move so well.’

Even though Mr. Cavett was mostly known for interviewing artsy luminaries and rock gods one actor who appeared on his show the most was Raquel Welch. Not only was she a break from the Lennons and Bowies of the world but she could hold a fascinating conversation. Her appearance on Cavett’s show in 1972 was booked so she could promote her film Myra Breckinridge, a stylistically different film from the rest of her oeuvre, but she also wanted to meet Janis Joplin. Welch says that she was a huge fan of the singer and that she just wanted to say hey.

Throughout the 1950s and ‘60s Brigitte Bardot was the apple of every eye on the planet. Beginning with her outlandish roles in European cinema and later in her time in America, Bardot created a kind of character trope that actresses are still playing into today. However, in the 1970s she retired from the film industry after acting in 47 films and recorded 60 songs. Following her retirement she moved to St. Tropez and established the Foundation for the Protection of Distressed Animals. She used her iconic status to signal boost her foundation and has been working with animals ever sense.

If there’s someone who had a better go of it in the 1970s then we don’t know who they are. In this groovy decade Hefner was running his own magazine, hosting Saturday Night Live, and traveling the world with a bevy of bunnies. This guy knew how to live. In the 1970s he purchased a Gothic Tudor Revival–style property where he lived, worked and partied until he passed away in 2017. Hefner definitely knew how to do things right, don’t you wish you were hanging out in a silk robe right now before taking a dip in your grotto? Maybe we should all try to be a little more Hef.

Cheryl Tiegs was omnipresent in the 1970s. She was looked out at us from Sports Illustrated covers, posters, and even the television. She says that she wanted to be a librarian, but after she was featured in a layout in Seventeen Magazine she was jolted to super-stardom almost overnight. She told Naples News: 

Glamour magazine called and said, ‘We want that girl on a plane to St. Thomas.’ I did my own hair and makeup then. Today’s it’s all different…

From there on out she went on to become one of the most desired cover models of this groovy era.

Gilligan’s Island star Dawn Wells stole the hearts of millions as Mary Ann, but in the 1970s she appeared in a series of genre films that are absolutely iconic. The Town That Dreaded Sundown and Return to Boggy Creek are must-see films for anyone who loves ‘70s b-horror and of course she returned to the island on Rescue from Gilligan’s Island and Rescue from Gilligan’s Island. While speaking about the show that made her famous Wells said that there’s no way Gilligan’s Island would be as wholesome as it was in the ‘60s. She said:

They couldn’t even show my navel. We’ve come a long way. If we were doing the show today, we’d all be living in the same hut.

Jamie Lee Curtis was a fresh face in the late ‘70s. She appeared Quincy, M.E. and Columbo in ’77 and in 1978 she appeared in her breakout role John Carpenter’s Halloween. Following her starring role in one of the most important horror movies of all time she popped up all over television - it was hard to miss this young starlette. Curtis later said that living in the 1970s was tough because she felt like it was a glum time in America. She told the Chicago Tribune: 

Growing up in the `70s was tough. Our role models were pictures like Saturday Night Fever. It was really a lethargic time in fashion and music and movies. It was all so unfocused. There was no protest. So maybe in that kind of environment all you have is your own body to develop. It`s sort of sad.

Madonna is a ubiquitous star and even when she was a young woman she was a performer and willing to do anything for the camera. In high school she “starred” in the student film Egg as a human frying pan. The short film saw her lying on the hot sidewalk as an egg is cracked over her stomach. Thanks to some smart editing it looks like the egg cooks on her skin. It’s definitely one of the weirder things she’s ever done - and Madonna is famous for doing a lot of weird stuff. This proves that she’s been going out of her way to shock people since she was a girl.

Whether you know her from Live and Let Die or the Hammer Horror classic Taste the Blood of Dracula you definitely remember Madeline Smith. As a young actress she appeared in a series of b-movies but she doesn’t look back on that time as something to be embarrassed about, but rather a time when she learned from the people around her. She told the Irish Examiner: 

I did learn so much working with icons like Chris and Peter, and while horror was clearly good for my career, I actually preferred comedy. Horror movie sets are, by their nature, very serious, rather grim places, not a lot of fun going on behind the scenes.

After getting her start as a model Maren Jensen made a pivot to television where she appeared on Battlestar Gallactica as Athena before making appearances on The Love Boat. At the time she was in the early stages of Epstein Barr Syndrome - an illness that completely drains a person’s energy. At the time she was also taking acting lessons and doing her best to fit in on set. Unfortunately her illness increased as the decade pressed, and while she stopped acting she worked with fellow ‘70s legend Don Henley of The Eagles on his solo albums. His first album "I Can't Stand Still" was dedicated to her.

Even though she had a storied film career with a number of dramatic roles, Welch was mostly known as a beauty icon for much of her career. She’s said that looking back on the ‘60s and ‘70s she didn’t realize that she was going to be marketed for her looks. She told GQ: 

I didn’t know I was going to "burst on the scene as a sex symbol. I mean the first part that I played under my contract at 20th Century Fox was Fantastic Voyage where I played a scientist! I was going to be reduced to microscopic size and injected in the human bloodstream traveling in inner-space to examine how the body really works, what happens with antibodies, blood cells and so forth. And then to jump from that to a dinosaur movie [One Million Years B.C.] I thought, my gosh, I’m getting whiplash here.

Sally Field was a genuine star in the 1960s but she didn’t feel like she was being taken seriously by the acting community. With roles in Gidget and The Flying Nun Fields was essentially seen as a goofy gal who wasn’t ready for the big time. She proved everyone wrong in the 1970s. In the early ‘70s she studied with Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio and started trying to move past her girl next door image.In 1976 she starred the television film Sybil, about a woman dealing with multiple personality disorder. Field’s portrayal was so affecting that she won a best dramatic actress Emmy Award in 1977. From there on she was taken seriously.

Audiences know Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman, but she got her start in acting in the world of Beaty pageants. Before that she trying to get into the music industry. She sang with touring bands but nothing really came of it. When she stopped touring she didn’t know what she was going to do, and according to Carter the pageant world just kind of popped up:

I had stopped singing on the road and gone back to Arizona to regroup. I didn’t want be a singer in a group on the road, and I was going to go study acting. And then this Miss World contest fell in my lap. I’d never been in a beauty contest, but three weeks later, I was walking down the runway at the Hampton Coliseum.

This young pageant queen took the 1970s by storm after appearing in a series of ads for Murie where she sang about the joys of their product.

After these ads made her a star Anton appeared on variety shows throughout the era and even scored hits on the country music charts. The 1970s were definitely her decade, and she capped things off with a starring role in Cannonball Run II. Anton's career didn't end in the 1970s - she's since transitioned to singing in her own show in Las Vegas.

In 1978 Suzanne Somers was one of the most beloved actresses on the planet. She was starring in Three’s Company for which she earned a People's Choice Award for "favorite female performer." One year later she earned a Golden Globe nomination for best TV actress in a comedy, but her career slowed down in 1980 when she was fired from the show after asking ABC for a raise that put her on par with John Ritter. Rather than explain her exit ABC replaced the Somers’ character “Chrissy Snow” with her cousin “Cindy Snow” and the show was never the same.

Diamonds Are Forever and so is our love for Jill St John. She began her career as a child actor on the radio at the age of six and by the time she was 16 she signed a contract with Universal in 1958 and appeared in a series of comedic roles where she was able to shine as a femme-fatale with a goofy streak. In 1971 she became the first American to play a Bond girl in Diamonds Are Forever, opposite of Sean Connery. She was initially offered the role of Plenty O’Toole, but ended up with the much meatier part as the diamond smuggler Tiffany Case. 

This Partridge Family beauty started her long career in the 1970s as Laurie Partridge at the age of 17 shortly after working as a model. Even though the show was a massive hit Dey didn’t love her role and according to her costars she was hurt by co-star David Cassidy after he didn’t return her romantic feelings. Her mother on the show, Shirley Jones wrote of Dey’s disdain for the series:

She and David had grown apart, and nowadays they are completely out of touch, which hurts David tremendously… I was also hurt that out of everyone on the show, only Susan consistently refuses to take part in any TV reunions of The Partridge Family.

Coming from North Dakota Angie Dickinson didn’t have a clear cut path to stardom, but in the 1970s she broke ground as the star of Police Woman - Pepper Anderson. Before that she appeared in classic TV hits and even Rio Bravo alongside John Wayne. Even though her role may have seemed like a bit of an outlier at the time she ended up inspiring a lot of young women to join the police force. When asked if there were more female applicants than usual after her time on the series she said, “Yes, there was a surge. And a lot of fan letters with that – I became a cop because of you.”

Barbi Benton was a television mainstay in the 1970s with multiple appearances on Hee Haw and Fantasy Island, the latter of which she appeared in 16 times. Like any good star in the ‘70s she also made guest appearances on The Love Boat. For a time she was married to Hugh Hefner, who oversaw her musical career with his personal record label. Three of her albums charted in the top 50 on the country charts in the mid ‘70s and she had a number five single with “Brass Buckles.” Even though she never broke out of her cult status she definitely made a fun go of it in the 1970s.

In the 1970s Blondie was a part of a New York City scene made up of art kids, punks, and rockers looking for a good time. Deborah Harry was the coolest of them all, fronting this poppy group of punks and scoring hits while she knocked down barriers. With songs like “Heart of Glass,” “Dreaming,” and “Hanging On The Telephone” the band shouted out anthems that you can pogo to while you sing along. Even though she was everywhere at the time, Harry always had a bit of a mystique. No matter if she was dressed up or in a t-shirt and jeans she could cast a spell over everyone in the audience.

Cinephile and Anglophiles alike know this saucy young upstart as Jessica 6 from Logan’s Run, but her BAFTA award winning role came in 1977 when she appeared in the film adaptation of Equus. While speaking to The Guardian, Agutter explained that she never thought there was anything strange about appearing in science fiction and cultured art:

One of the things about acting that I love is that if you end up doing really low-budget stuff where you have no money, you appreciate how funny it is to have that much of a budget. For me, it just delights me going from one extreme to the other. It’s like being allowed to have fish and chips one night and caviar the next. Fish and chips is really good but so is caviar.

This ‘70s folk rock goddess crafted some of the most memorable hits of the 20th century. During the most groovy decade she and her then husband James Taylor lived in a tiny shack on plot of lan with no bathroom door and tools hanging from the wall. Even though the two divorced in 1983 she still looks back on her time as one of the coolest singer-songwriter couples with fondness. She told the LA Times: 

I think of that time a lot. It’s part of my blood, my bones, all the liquid in my body. I’ve just taken him in so he’s in my core.

In the 1970s you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who was as famous as Catherine Bach. Thanks to her time on The Dukes of Hazzard she was on posters all over the walls of teenage boys. However, Bach almost turned down the part of the short short wearing cousin of the Duke Boys. She explained:

My husband at the time was very connected with show business and worked with Bob Clark, who was writing with the show’s creator, Gy Waldron. He must have told him my stories because Bob called me and said, ‘I’m working on this project and I’ve been thinking about you. I bring you up about your stories. I would love for you to try out for this role, Daisy Duke.’ I went, ‘No, no, no.’ They went to New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Georgia and California. Nothing. So I said, ‘That’s very nice of you to think of me, and I know you’re doing this as a favor to my husband, but you don’t have to.’ I just didn't think I had a chance. But he goes, ‘I really want you to come in.’

This English icon was a mainstay of the swinging ‘60s who appeared in some of the most fascinating arthouse films of the groovy era. One of her most interesting films was John Boorman’s Zardoz, a dystopian science fiction film starring Sean Connery star was released in 1974. Her chilly look and droll English voice has made her one of the rare female heavies in the cinema. At the time she was all over the cinema and living life as a wild child. She told Interview Magazine:

I mean, we could park anywhere. I just dropped the car off anywhere, nobody hassled you. We did what we wanted, we were vaguely rebellious, but nobody really took much notice of us. 

Cher has been giving the American people her all since the 1960s when she performed with Sonny and Cher. By the 1970s she was deep into her solo career but no one took her seriously because of high cheekbones and ageless look. She knew the way that people thought about her and tried her best to keep from letting the negative press get her down. She explained:

It’s been hard for me. I’ve been made a joke all my career life. I’ve been one of the most popular women in America and a joke and somehow inside of me. And then my private life got to be so much bigger than anything that I could do as a career thing that everybody just thought I was a total idiot. I am an idiot, but I’m not a total one. 

As Kris Munroe on Charlie’s Angels Cheryl Ladd had the unenviable task of replacing Farrah Fawcett on one of the most popular shows on the big three. Initially she didn’t want to do it because, duh, but after Aaron Spelling begged her she signed on. She told Closer:

I had worked for Aaron Spelling on a couple of things, so when Farrah was leaving, he called me and said, ‘Cheryl, I want you to replace Farrah. I want you to come in and be on the show,’ And I said, ‘Oh, thank you, but no thank you. I appreciate it, but, no.’ I’m sure he was quite upset with me, because he had given me work before and just didn’t understand. So he went off and looked at hundreds of girls and finally called me back and said, ‘I can’t find the girl I want. I want you, Cheryl. Just come in and talk to me?’ So I did.

Deidre Hall has been playing Dr. Marlena Evans as a series regular on and off since 1976, she’s one of the most long running characters on the show. Even though Hall’s given so much of her life to Days of Our Lives she spent the ‘70s popping up all over television. Whether you prefer Kung Fu, Electra Woman and Dyna Girl, or Columbo she’s been there. It’s rare that an actor is able to find such solid work throughout their career, she must be a solid person to work with and just a cool person to be around. It’s a shame that she didn’t get to do Electra Woman and Dyna Girl for another 30 years.

As the first woman to work as a sportscaster for the NFL Jayne Kennedy broke barriers and became an icon to women everywhere. This former Miss Ohio wanted to get into the entertainment industry from a young age, and even though she was nervous about getting into the world of sports she jumped at the chance to work for the NFL when the called. She said:

When I found out The NFL Today had an opportunity, I was excited. First of all, I’d always loved football… Sports had always been a huge part of my life. I knew I could do the job, and I knew it would have been a passion project for me: to be able to work with all of these sports figures who had been my heroes. I managed to convince the head of sports talent for CBS out of New York to give me an audition. When I walked in, there were 15 girls there with blond hair and blue eyes, and then there was me. I said ‘Here we go again. I’m never going to get this job, I’m not what they’re looking for.’

Oh how wrong she was…

As the only original actress to stick around on Charlie’s Angels throughout the entire run of the series Jaclyn Smith is in rarified air. As Kelly Garrett, Smith appeared on posters, bubblegum cards, and even lunch boxes. After she cemented herself as one of the most popular character actresses on television throughout the ‘70s she got into design and fashion and began marketing her own line of clothing and bedding products at K Mart. She was initially seen as taking a step down from acting, but little did anyone know that she was creating the blueprint for today’s modern celebrity branding.

After fronting the Stone Poneys in the late ‘60s Linda Rondstadt finally struck out on her own as singer. Really, what else could she do? According to Rondstadt that’s the only thing she ever wanted to do. She said:

I never knew, one way or the other, if I could sing or not sing or be a professional singer. I just sang. There’s a real difference between that, and I don’t know how to explain it. I just couldn’t stop singing. I knew that I was a singer. I didn’t know that I was a star or that I was successful or that I was a professional. When I was 6 years old, or even 3 years old, I knew I was a singer.

WKRP In Cincinnati did two things: it made everyone want to get into radio and it made Loni Anderson into a bonafide star. She played secretary Jennifer Marlowe, a character who looked like the classic blonde stereotype but who secretly made sure her boss didn’t look like a fool. Anderson says that what made the show so great is that all of the actors were so close to one another. She told AJC: 

[In 1978] nobody was a big star. We all started at the same level. There was a real camaraderie and closeness, kind of like a first kiss. It was special.

Henner said that working on Taxi was like hanging out with her family. The writers were happy to take suggestions and the cast was a lot of fun, but that when it came to working with Danny Devito she had to train herself to anticipate his comedic whims. She told The Hollywood Reporter:

My negotiation scene with Louie in ‘Shut It Down, Part 1’ was my favorite. I couldn’t get through it all week without laughing because Danny was the devil. When I’d finally get used to what he was doing, he’d add something else. Eventually he was leaning forward on the word ‘stallion,’ flaring his nostrils and stomping his foot. I wore painful boots in that scene to give myself a stomach ache so that I wouldn’t laugh.

Jerry Hall is one the party girl icons of the 1970s. Photos of her taking in the nightlife showed up in London and across the pond in New York City. She was so popular for her antics that she became a thing of more than passing interest for the public and it wasn’t long before she started modeling. She thought about being an actress for a while, but she told The Guardian that modeling just offered more money:

I'd always wanted to act. I did go to drama school in New York, Los Angeles and London, and I did small parts here and there, but I never really had the time. Modeling was always paying more.

One of the greatest moments of the 1970s was Olivia Newton John’s transformation into a Pink Lady at the end of Grease. Of course, her version of a Pink Lady is dressed completely in black. The ha cha cha look is Russ Meyer meets Broadway and it’s legitimately jaw dropping. This outfit was so popular with fans that it ended up selling at an auction in Beverly Hills for $405,700, more than double the expected price. According to John, the pants John was wearing in the scene were so tight that she had to be sewn into them before filming.

Goldie Hawn has been maligned as a actress throughout her career because of all the over the top goofy and giggly characters. Even so, she knows that in order to be good at something you’ve got to practice, you can’t just want to be good. She told her daughter as much in 2017:

I believe you have to start with a craft; you don’t just start with a dream. You’ve got to put a lot of work in. If you want to pursue acting, then you go to acting class. If you want to be a dancer, then you learn to dance, which is what I did. If you want to be a ventriloquist or join the circus.

Jacqueline Bisset is truly the face of 1970s glamour. When she appeared onscreen with Steve McQueen in Bullitt it was like lighting struck the audience, but most audiences from the ‘70s remember Bissett emerging from the water in a t-shirt during The Deep. Really, how could you forget? Bisset isn’t the kind of actress that appeared in every other movie, she says because she only wanted to work on things that she loved. She told Roger Ebert:

I'm doing only the roles I really want to do. I'm looking for good roles. That's why I produced Rich and Famous myself . . . I read the script, and I thought it should be made, and it was a good role. In the last few years, I've only made that, and an Italian film named Together, and Inchon.

When Raquel Welch was at the peak of her fame she was one of the most photographed stars in Hollywood and Europe. She and her barely clothed frame were constantly all over magazines and on posters. Her role as a very saucy nun in Bluebeard was just the cherry on top of her iconic sundae. At the time of filming she actually had a broken arm from her time on the set of Kansas City Bomber. Even though her outfit leaves little to the imagination it does cover her arms so it’s not as if anyone would see her cast. When asked about the broken arm she noted that the producers didn’t really care.

If you can’t tell, Jayne Seymour has heterochromia which means that she has two different colored eyes. Her eyes make her all the more mystifying, and that’s got to be one of the reasons why she was all over the place in the 1970s. Growing up she and her sisters were all alike save for the eyes and what they wanted to do with their lives. Seymour told The Guardian: 

We wore the same clothes and went to the same places. The only difference was that I was obsessed with ballet and they weren't. So I went to professional ballet school, and they went to a different school. We're very, very close.

Throughout the 1970s Stevie Nicks had her shares of ups and downs. Even when she had major highs with Fleetwood Macs she was dealing with heartbreak. She went through a series of relationships with members of her group and a couple of guys from The Eagles, although she doesn’t think that she made many mistakes at the time. She told Rolling Stone:

I understood men pretty well in my twenties. Lindsey [Buckingham] and I lived together like married people. I had one girlfriend in Los Angeles in those years, so I really had a lot of different types of men in my life that I really got to know and respect.