Once again, football season is upon us, and once again, the occasion brings with it all the marketing mayhem, fan frenzy and trash-talking that sports are so often heir to. Pro football is unique among American sports due to its sheer, outsized spectacle. It’s louder than baseball, brasher than basketball, and more routinely violent than the phenomenally physical sport of NHL hockey and the high-speed lunacy of NASCAR. In fact, of all the major sports in North America, football is arguably the one that brings out whatever vestiges of machismo might be lurking in even the most seemingly mild of fans.
Football, after all, is for manly men. But there are many types of toughness. Mental toughness (Jackie Robinson); quiet toughness (Gregory Peck, Gary Cooper); gritty toughness (a weary, determined American Marine); crazy, spasmodic toughness (Cagney’s sociopath, Cody Jarrett, in White Heat); run-right-over-you toughness (Jim Brown); and on and on.
Here, LIFE.com offers a look back at some of the iconic faces and personalities that, in their own time and in their own chosen pursuit, were tough enough to answer that age-old question: Who’s the man?
Actor John Garfield studies the script for the movie They Made Me a Criminal.Alfred Eisenstaedt—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesAn American Marine peers over his shoulder during the final days of fighting to wrest the island of Saipan from Japanese troops, 1944.W. Eugene Smith—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesDecorated WWII veteran -- and Oscar winner -- James Stewart, home from the war, 1945.Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesKirk Douglas, 1949.Allan Grant—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesTexas cowboy Clarence Hailey "C.H." Long, Jr., 1949.Leonard McCombe—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesGary Cooper, 1949.Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesJames Cagney in the famous climactic scene from White Heat.Allan Grant—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesMarlon Brando on the set of The Men, 1949.Ed Clark—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesJackie Robinson during filming of his own biopic in 1950.J.R. Eyerman—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesGregory Peck, 1950.W. Eugene Smith—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesHumphrey Bogart of the set of The African Queen, 1951.Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesRocky Marciano, the only heavyweight champ to retire undefeated, 1951.Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesErnest Hemingway, Cuba, 1952.Alfred Eisenstaedt—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesSpencer Tracy, 1955.J.R. Eyerman—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesMickey Mantle, 1956.Ralph Morse—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesProject Mercury astronauts at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia: (top, left to right) Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, Gordon Cooper; (bottom left to right) Wally Schirra, Deke Slayton, John Glenn and Scott Carpenter, 1959.Ralph Morse—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesBurt Lancaster at Dodger Stadium during Game 3 of the 1959 World Series in Los Angeles.Grey Villet—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesFrank Sinatra, 1961.Leonard McCombe—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesSteve McQueen rests in the midst of a long-distance motorcycle race, 1963.John Dominis—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesMuhammad Ali after defeating Cleveland Williams in Houston, Texas, to retain the heavyweight crown, November 1966.Bob Gomel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesJohn Wayne in 1969.John Dominis—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesFormer pro football great and actor Jim Brown in 1969.Henry Groskinsky—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesJohnny Cash in 1969.MIchael Rougier—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesJack Nicholson relaxing at home in Los Angeles, 1969.Arthur Schatz—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesClint Eastwood on the set of Dirty Harry, 1971.Bill Eppridge—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
