The Cannes Festival is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France. Until 2003 the festival was known as International Film Festival. The first festival was planned for 1939, but world war II postponed the festival. Finally, on 20 September 1946, the Festival de Cannes opened its doors, and twenty-one countries presented their films in the first great international cultural event. During the early 1950s, the festival attracted a lot of tourism and press attention, with showbiz scandals and high-profile personalities’ love affairs. These stunning historical photographs capture the Cannes film festivals of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Vote your favorites, and don’t forget to share.
#1 1956, Cannes, France — American actress and dancer, Ginger Rogers, at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival.
#2 Actress Annette Vadim (L), sunbathing on beach at St. Tropez, French Riviera, w. her sister Mirette Stroyberg (R).
#3 #4 FRANCE – CIRCA 1960: Charles Aznavour and Francois Chalais. Cannes festival, 1960.
#4 Cannes, France — Doris Day and her husband Marty Melcher relax in the sun on the beach at Cannes, while in town to attend the 1955 film festival.
#5 Brigitte Bardot et Robert Mitchum au festival de Cannes en 1953 ici sur la plage
#6 TV emcee Ed Sullivan kneeling beside wife Sylvia on beach w. other sunbathers behind them & Carlton Hotel in bkgrd., during vacation.
#7 American actors Natalie Wood (1938 – 1981) and Warren Beatty, who appeared together in ‘Splendor in the Grass,’ pose for photographers on the beach during the Cannes Film Festival, Cannes, France, May 1962.
#8 Photographers crowd onto rocks in the water to photograph Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty during the Cannes Film Festival, Cannes, France, May 1962.
#9 Alain Delon et Bella Darvi faisant dur hors-bord devant la croisette le 5 mai 1958 pendant le festival Cannes — Alain Delon and Bella Darvi boating during Cannes film festival may 05, 1958
#10 Actress Tilda Thamar filming Kirk Douglas pullling faces during the International Cannes Film Festival, 20th April 1953.
#11 FRANCE – CIRCA 1963: Otto Preminger, American film-maker. Festival de Cannes, 1963. HA-1453-21.
#12 FRANCE – 1947: Jean-Paul Sartre ( 1905-1980 ), writer and French philosopher, during the Festival of Cannes (Alpes-Maritimes). On 1947. LIP-5418-022.
#13 1974, Cannes, France — French singer and songwriter Serge Gainsbourg and his partner, British actress and singer Jane Birkin, attend the 1974 Cannes Film Festival.
#14 French actress Brigitte Bardot sits on the beach during the Cannes Film Festival in 1953. The festival was started in 1939 as a response to the way the fascist governments of Italy and Germany interfered with a film festival in Venice.
#15 Arnold Schwarzenegger finds a unique way to promote “Pumping Iron” on May 19, 1977 at the 38th Cannes Film Festival.
#16 Grace Kelly poses dockside during the Cannes Film Festival on May 6, 1955. The first film festival was planned for September 1939. A little inconvenience called World War II nixed that idea.
#17 Dennis Hopper, Peter Fonda, and Jack Nicholson form up a kick line at the Cannes Film Festival to promote “Easy Rider” in 1969. Six years later, the Palm d’Or would finally be reintroduced.
#18 Sophia Loren poses with flowers on the balcony of her Cannes hotel on May 13, 1959.
#19 Otto Preminger, Liza Minnelli, and Ken Howard enjoy a repast in between promoting “Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon” at Cannes on May 12, 1970.
#20 Alain Delon and Bella Darvi go boating during the Cannes Film Festival on May 5, 1958. The festival was launched for real in 1946, and made a secret agreement to take alternate years off so as not to compete with the film festival in Venice.
#21 Jane Birkin takes up photography at Cannes in 1975. Twenty years earlier, the festival had introduced the Palm d’Or award for the first time.
#22 Talk-show host Merv Griffin interviews John Lennon at Cannes for his show in May 1965.
#23 Natlie Wood smiles upward at the Cannes film festival in 1962. That was the first year of the International Critics’ Week sidebar.
#24 Warren Beatty and Natalie Wood are caught by the paparazzi at the Cannes Film Festival in 1962.
#25 Yves Montand regards his passengers on board his yacht at Cannes during a holiday on the Cote d’Azur on July 28, 1965.
#26 Alfred Hitchcock stages a suicidal pose on May 27, 1972 at Cannes. The master of suspense never won the Palm d’Or.
#27 Brigitte Bardot runs barefoot on the sands at Cannes in 1956. That year she appeared in the film that launched her to international stardom, “And God Created Woman.”
#28 Gina Lollobrigida arrives in a dress that kind of matches her three dogs on May 17, 1972. She was there to promote “King, Queen, Knave,” the film adaptation of the Vladimir Nabokov novel.
#29 Anita Pallenberg and Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones attend a party in Cannes on May 6, 1967. That year, Pallenberg left Jones for bandmate Keith Richards while on holiday in Morocco.
#30 Jayne Mansfield strolls on the beach with her chihuahua on May 11, 1964. The year before, Mansfield had become the first mainstream American actress to appear nude in a film, in “Promises! Promises!”
#31 Geraldine Chaplin smokes a cigar at the Cannes Film Festival on May 2, 1967. Two years earlier, she was at Cannes to promote “Dr. Zhivago.”
#32 Michael Caine poses with models while promoting “Alfie” in 1966.
#33 Kirk Douglas lets his feet do the talking on May 9, 1966. The word “ciao” (“hello” or “goodbye” in Italian) is written on the sole of his shoe.
#34 Alfred Hitchcock casts a spell at the Cannes Film Festival with his wife, Alma Reville, and actress Tippi Hedren to promote “The Birds” on May 11, 1963.
#35 Esther Williams, famous for her swimming movies, throws autographs off a balcony to her fans during the Cannes Film Festival on April 27, 1955.
#36 Kim Novak looks like she could use a break from the height of fame at the Cannes Film Festival on April 24, 1956.
#37 Ingrid Bergman adjusts an earring as she sits at a cocktail table at the Cannes Film Festival in 1956. Jacques Cousteau’s “The Silent World” won the Palm d’Or that year, the only documentary to do so until 2004, when Michael Moore won for “Fahrenheit 9/11.”
#38 Brigitte Bardot arrives at the Cannes Film Festival amid a flurry of admiring men in 1956. A few years later, tired of the scrutiny that her celebrity brought her, Bardot moved to southern France and became a recluse.
#39 Elizabeth Taylor at Cannes, 1950.
#40 Kirk Douglas on the beach at Cannes with a young actress Brigitte Bardot during the 6th International Cannes Film Festival, 1953.
#41 French actress Brigitte Bardot sitting on the beach during the Cannes Film Festival, 1953.
#42 Young Brigitte Bardot making her debut in a bathing suit during the 6th International Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France on April 1, 1953.
#43 Hollywood royalty Sophia Loren at Cannes Film Festival, France, 1954.
#44 Starlets at Cannes Film Festival, Cannes, France, 1955.
#45 “Belle de Jour” star Francoise Fabian at the 9th Cannes International Film Festival, France, 1956.
#46 George Baker runs through the surf at Cannes with Bella Darvi and another young friend, 1956.
#47 Actress Brigitte Bardot watching Pablo Picasso at work in his studio in Vallauris during the 1956 International Cannes Film Festival.
#48 During Cannes film festival, the Irish starlet Didi Sullivan posed on the edge of the Mediterrannean for photographers, who had to wear bathing suits for the shoot, 1959.
#49 Women dressed in swimming costumes show off their bodies during a beauty contest. The 13th Cannes International Film Festival, France, 1960.
#50 Actress Elke Sommer sunbathing on the beach of Cannes during the Cannes film festival, 1961.
#51 Actors Burt Lancaster and Claudia Cardinale with a real leopard in the Croisette for the presentation of Luchino Visconti’s movie “The Leopard” at the XVIth Cannes Film Festival, in Cannes, France, on May 21, 1963.
#52 John Lennon flies out to the Cannes Film Festival with his first wife Cynthia Lennon allegedly icognito wearing dark glasses and a green velour hat, 1965.
#53 Michael Caine during the promotion for his movie “Alfie”. Cannes Film Festival, Cannes, France, 1966.
#54 A scene from Cannes during the International Film Festival, 1962.
#55 A Dutch actress, her name lost to history, poses for photographers at Cannes in 1962.
#56 Photographers, Cannes Film Festival, 1962.
#57 Natalie Wood relaxes on a sailboat during the 1962 Cannes Film Festival.
#58 An American serviceman admires passersby on the street in Cannes, 1962.
#59 Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty, Cannes, 1962.
#60 Photographers, Cannes, 1962.
#61 Waiting for a glimpse of movie stars, Cannes, 1962.
#62 Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty, Cannes, 1962.
#63 German actress Elke Sommer at Cannes, 1962.
#64 Faces in the crowd, Cannes Film Festival, 1962.
#65 Orchestra, Cannes Film Festival, 1962.
#66 Elke Sommer at Cannes, 1962.
#67 Starlet posing for photographers at the 1979 Cannes Film Festival
#68 Arnold Schwarzenegger, the film actor who first became famous as Mr Universe for his magnificent physique, on Cannes beach during the Film Festival with the girls from the Folies Bergere.
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