--- title: Mother's Day: A Celebration of (Famous) Moms description: Portraits of famous moms with their kids, and famous kids with their moms, and (in a few instances) famous kids with their famous moms. canonical: https://time.com/3845263/mothers-day-special-life-with-famous-moms/ author: Ben Cosgrove article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2012-05-10T14:16:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:04:11.764Z og:title: Mother's Day: A Celebration of (Famous) Moms og:description: Portraits of famous moms with their kids, and famous kids with their moms, and (in a few instances) famous kids with their famous moms. og:url: https://time.com/3845263/mothers-day-special-life-with-famous-moms/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt84d7176303f0961a/6987ee2d0b72e3415b6e1ddc/150504-mothers-day-05.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Shirley MacLaine and daughter in 1959 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Mother's Day: A Celebration of (Famous) Moms twitter:description: Portraits of famous moms with their kids, and famous kids with their moms, and (in a few instances) famous kids with their famous moms. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt84d7176303f0961a/6987ee2d0b72e3415b6e1ddc/150504-mothers-day-05.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Mother's Day Special: LIFE With Famous Moms by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove May 10, 2012 2:16 PM UTC  Shirley MacLaine and her daughter, Sachi Parker, in 1959. Shirley MacLaine and her daughter, Sachi Parker, in 1959.Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove May 10, 2012 2:16 PM UTC _Madre. Maman. Mãe. Oma. Inay. Mutter. Mum. Mor. Mama._ However you say it, in whatever language, the word for “mother” has a thousand and one subtle variations, most of which usually translate, at one time or another, into something like: “Thanks for everything, mom.” Here, on Mother’s Day weekend, LIFE.com offers a selection of portraits of famous moms (Jackie Kennedy, Shirley MacLaine) with their kids, famous kids (Liz Taylor, Sophia Loren) with their moms and, in a few instances, famous kids with their famous moms. [\[See TIME.com’s “Top 10 Movie Moms We Wish Were Ours.”\]](http://entertainment.time.com/2012/05/11/love-always-top-10-movie-moms-we-wish-were-ours/#elaine-miller-almost-famous) The focus of the gallery, however, is most decidedly _not_ meant to suggest that famous moms are any more worthy of notice than any other mothers anywhere in the world who feed, clothe, encourage, protect, challenge and, ultimately, unconditionally love their children. Rather, this gallery is, quite frankly, a simple acknowledgement that, like most everybody else, we’re more or less fascinated by fame. “Let me tell you about the very rich,” F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote. “They are different from you and me.” An observation to which he might well have added: “And the famous? They’re a whole lot stranger.” But whether rich or famous (or neither); whether strange or perfectly, unpretentiously, refreshingly _normal_, moms deserve recognition simply because — as all of us will readily admit in our more brutally honest moments — moms rule the world. And while devoting one measly day a year to celebrating and honoring mothers everywhere might be a rather feeble way to express our gratitude and love . . . not to worry. They’re moms. They understand. Still, would it kill you to pick up the phone once in a while? _Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter at_ [_@LizabethRonk_](https://twitter.com/LizabethRonk)_._  Jackie Kennedy reads to her daughter, Caroline, in Hyannis Port, Mass., in 1960. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Judy Garland holds her daughter, Liza, at home in Hollywood in 1946. Martha Holmes—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Elizabeth Taylor on the set of Cleopatra with her daughter, Elizabeth Frances, in Rome in 1962. Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Elizabeth Taylor and her mother, Sara, in 1948. Mark Kauffman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Shirley MacLaine and her daughter, Sachi Parker, in 1959. Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  The great American contralto Marian Anderson kisses her mother after a concert in Philadelphia in 1937. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Burlesque star Gypsy Rose Lee holds her 4-year-old son, Erik Lee Kirkland, during a stopover in her traveling carnival show, Memphis, Tenn., 1949. George Skadding—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Shirley Temple with her daughter, Lori, in Atherton, California, in 1957. Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Ingrid Bergman and her daughter, Pia Lindstrom, in 1959. Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Sophia Loren with her son, Carlo Ponti, Jr., in 1969. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Sophia Loren (right) poses with her mother (center) and her sister, Maria, in 1957. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Zsa Zsa Gabor and her daughter, Francesca, at home in Bel Air, 1951. Ed Clark—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Joan Crawford and two of her children, Christina and Christopher, on the beach, Monterey, California, 1945. Peter Stackpole—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Mrs. Robert F. Kennedy with her children, 1961. Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Jane Fonda and her daughter, Vanessa, in California, 1971. Bill Ray—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Nancy Reagan with Ron Reagan in Pacific Palisades, Calif., in 1965. Bill Ray—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Natalie Wood and her mother at home, 1945. Martha Holmes—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Peggy Lee gets a goodnight kiss from her 4-year-old daughter Nicki, 1948. Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Mia Farrow reads to her children on Martha's Vineyard in 1974. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3845263/mothers-day-special-life-with-famous-moms/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3845263/mothers-day-special-life-with-famous-moms/"},"headline":"Mother's Day Special: LIFE With Famous Moms","datePublished":"2012-05-10T14:16:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:04:11.764Z","description":"On Mother's Day weekend, LIFE.com offers a selection of portraits of famous moms with their kids, and famous kids with their moms, and (in a few instances) famous kids with their famous moms.","url":"https://time.com/3845263/mothers-day-special-life-with-famous-moms/","keywords":["photography","Holidays","LIFE Magazine","Mother's Day","Icons"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt84d7176303f0961a/6987ee2d0b72e3415b6e1ddc/150504-mothers-day-05.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ben Cosgrove","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt84d7176303f0961a/6987ee2d0b72e3415b6e1ddc/150504-mothers-day-05.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Shirley MacLaine and daughter in 1959","caption":"Shirley MacLaine and her daughter, Sachi Parker, in 1959.","creditText":"Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3845263/mothers-day-special-life-with-famous-moms/","name":"Mother's Day Special: LIFE With Famous Moms"}}]}] ```