“The very rich,” F. Scott Fitzgerald famously wrote, “are different from you and me.” And along those lines, we sometimes assume that, like the very rich, the very famous are another species entirely. Movie stars, for example, can sometimes seem to exist in a more rarefied world than the rest of us—as if worries cease and cares are a memory once one in touched by fame.
It’s a silly notion, of course. Most actors and actresses, no matter how rich or well-known, share the same elemental concerns as the rest of us—especially when it comes to their families. They want their kids to be healthy; to feel safe and feel loved; to learn and to grow and (as near as possible) to be happy.
Over the years, LIFE magazine made a point of featuring actors, actresses, musicians, and other pop culture icons with their families—in short, living their lives the same way that “normal” people do. A noble aim, no doubt. But even when LIFE’s photographers did manage to capture an unguarded moment between, say, a Steve McQueen clowning with his son, or Sophia Loren lovingly tossing her baby in the air, there’s no getting around the fact that, even if they share the same hopes and fears as parents everywhere, some of these stars seem incapable of looking unattractive or awkward.
Okay. So maybe they’re different from the rest of us after all. . . .
Hard-boiled action star Steve McQueen kisses his daughter Terry goodnight at their home in Hollywood, CA in 1963. John Dominis—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesSammy Davis Jr. plays with his son, Mark Davis, in 1964. Leonard McCombe—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesScreen icons Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh play with their daughters, future TV actress Kelly Curtis, left, and future movie star Jamie Lee Curtis in their Beverly Hills Home in 1959. Allan Grant—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesJohn Wayne at home with kids Ethan, Marissa, and Aissa and wife Pilar in 1969. John Dominis—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesLiz Taylor plays with Liza, her daughter by Mike Todd, while filming Cleopatra in Rome in April 1962. On the set, Taylor famously fell for co-star Richard Burton, who married her and adopted Liza.Paul Schutzer—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesFuture pop star/actor Dean-Paul Martin shows off his muscles to papa Dean and brothers Ricci and Craig at home in Beverly Hills in 1958.Allan Grant—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesShirley MacLaine and daughter Sachi Parker pose with pearl necklaces in 1959.Allan Grant—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesDean Martin watches daughter Gina Caroline Martin walking in his shoes at their Beverly Hills home in 1958. Allan Grant—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesRobert Walker rides a tricycle with Michael, top, and Robert Jr., his sons by actress Jennifer Jones, in 1942.John Florea—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesRita Hayworth and Orson Welles hold newborn daughter Rebecca Welles at home in Hollywood, California, in December 1944. She is the only child of their five-year marriage.Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesMichael Redgrave, wife Rachel Kempson, and children Corin, Lynn, and Vanessa pose for a portrait on the banks of the Thames near their London home in 1946. Ian Smith—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesSophia Loren plays with her son, Carlo Ponti Jr., at her home in Rome in 1969. He'll grow up to be an orchestra conductor.Alfred Eisenstaedt—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesJoan Crawford spends a happy moment with her daughter in Monterey, California in 1945. Decades later, in her controversial memoir Mommie Dearest, Christina will accuse her mother of abuse.Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesHenry Fonda is flanked by future stars Peter and Jane Fonda, his children by wife Frances, left, at home in Connecticut in 1948. Henry's stepdaughter Frances Brokaw is seated second from left.Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesSachi Parker play-screams with mom Shirley MacLaine in 1959. Exorcist author William Peter Blatty refuted MacLaine's claim that her daughter was the inspiration for the possessed Regan, or that he used her face on the book cover.Allan Grant—Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesSteve McQueen, so often cool and stoic onscreen, laughs while playing with his son, future B-movie actor Chad McQueen, at home in Hollywood in 1963.John Dominis—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
