So when Loren and Mastriano co-starred in the romantic comedy “Marriage Italian Style,” LIFE dispatched photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt—who had already taken so many great photos Loren—to document the moment.

The resulting photo set includes two of the best-selling images in the LIFE print store. The popularity of one is no mystery—it is a full-body shot of the voluptuous Loren in a sheer nightgown. In 1966, when LIFE ran a career tribute to the photography of Eisenstaedt, it placed that racy photo of Loren on the cover of the magazine.

The other popular photo from this shoot is one of Mastroianni, and its appeal is more of the cheeky variety. The photo shows the debonair actor in an unlikely pose— sitting on a bidet, smoking a cigarette.

In Marriage Italian Style, Mastroianni and Loren play a star-crossed couple. When their characters meet, she is a prostitute, and she becomes his longtime mistress—with aspirations to become his wife. The movie takes dramatic turns on its rocky way to happily ever after. LIFE’s review of Marriage Italian Style summed it up thusly: “Sophia turns from a high-spirited whore with girlish dreams into a battler for hollow respectability and finally into some kind of earth mother fighting for her young. Mastroianni meanwhile slips unobtrusively and cleverly from a youthful roué to a wistful one, and what began as a noisy, hokey clash of wills becomes a wry, touching conflict in which the only victor is humanity—which nobody can depict in its fine fallibility quite so well as the Italians.”

The movie received two Oscar nominations: one for Best Foreign Language Film, and the other for Best Actress (Loren lost out to Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins). Loren and Mastroianni, who made many films together, are now regarded as of the great screen pairings in the history of cinema. Meanwhile Eisenstaedt’s winning images from the set continue to delight as they pay tribute to the king and queen of Italian cinema.

Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni on the set of the 1964 film “Marriage Italian Style.”

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni on the set of the 1964 film “Marriage Italian Style.”

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni on the set of the 1964 film “Marriage Italian Style.”

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Marcello Mastroianni on the set of the 1964 film “Marriage Italian Style.”

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Marcello Mastroianni on the set of the 1964 film “Marriage Italian Style.”

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sophia Loren in a brothel scene from the 1964 film ‘Marriage Italian Style,’ directed by Vittorio De Sica.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sophia Loren in a brothel scene from the 1964 film ‘Marriage Italian Style’, directed by Vittorio De Sica.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sophia Loren on the set of the 1964 film ‘Marriage Italian Style’, directed by Vittorio De Sica.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni on the set of the 1964 film “Marriage Italian Style.”

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni on the set of the 1964 film “Marriage Italian Style.”

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni on the set of the 1964 film “Marriage Italian Style.”

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni on the set of the 1964 film “Marriage Italian Style.”

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni on the set of the 1964 film “Marriage Italian Style.”

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sophia Loren on the set of the 1964 film ‘Marriage Italian Style’, directed by Vittorio De Sica.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sophia Loren sitting on director Vittorio de Sica’s lap during the making of the 1964 film Marriage, Italian Style.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sophia Loren on the set of the 1964 film ‘Marriage Italian Style’, directed by Vittorio De Sica.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Sophia Loren on the set of the 1964 film ‘Marriage Italian Style’, directed by Vittorio De Sica.

Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The post Sophia, Marcello and a Movie Set to Remember appeared first on LIFE.

LIFE ran its biggest story on Camus in October 1957, right around the time he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for fictional works such as The Stranger, The Plague and The Fall, and philosophical writings such as “The Myth of Sisyphus.” Camus was a mere 44 years old at the time, and he remains the second-youngest person to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature, after Rudyard Kipling.

LIFE’s 1957 story about Camus carried the headline “Action-Packed Intellectual” and began with the note that he “jealously guards his privacy.” But the author relented enough to allow LIFE staff photographer Loomis Dean a rare window into his life. Dean documented Camus at his publishing office, at home with his family, and preparing to direct a staging of his play Caligula. Camus declared to LIFE, “I consider myself an artist first, almost exclusively. What is an artist? Principally a vital force, and of that, frankly, I think I have almost too much. It wears me out.”

The most famous photo from Dean’s shoot—which is also one of the most popular images in LIFE’s online print store—is of Camus standing on the balcony of his Paris publishing offices. Camus looks like an avatar of 1950s intellectual cool. He even takes a drag on a cigarette, a throwback to the days when smoking was less taboo.

In the original story the image of Camus on the balcony ran with this quote from him: “I don’t like to work sitting down. I like to stand up—even at my desk. I probably need to wear myself out.”

It’s the kind of intellectual who could become popular—one who doesn’t take anything sitting down.

French author Albert Camus at the office of his Paris publishing house, 1957.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

French author and philosopher Albert Camus stands with an unidentified woman and reads one of a number of letters on a balcony outside his publishing office, Paris, 1957.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Albert Camus leaned against a radiator in his office, Paris, 1957.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

French author Albert Camus, on the set of his play Caligula, 1957.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Albert Camus directed a rehearsal of his play Caligula, Paris 1957.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Albert Camus directed actors during a rehearsal of his play ‘Caligula.’ Paris, 1957.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Albert Camus smoked a cigarette outside Theatre des Mathurins, where the rehearsals of his play Caligula were taking place, 1957.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Albert Camus kissed actress Dominique Blanchar after a rehearsal of his play Caligula, 1957.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Albert Camus and actress Dominique Blanchar after a rehearsal of his play Caligula, 1957.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Albert Camus (center) rehearsed with actors for his play Caligula at an outdoor Shakespeare theater in Paris, 1957.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Albert Camus (center, next to woman in glasses) dined with a group at a Paris restaurant, 1957.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

French author Albert Camus sitting in the garden of his Paris home with his 11-year-old twins Jean and Catherine, 1957.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

French author Albert Camus poised at home with his 11-year-old twins Jean and Catherine, 1957.

Loomis Dean/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The post Albert Camus: Intellectual Titan appeared first on LIFE.

Indeed, Floret’s subjects look like they are posing before someone who they believe appreciates them and will take care of them. 

Floret may have been able to connect with her subjects, most of whom are creative types, because she is an artist herself. In addition to being a photographer, she practices other visual arts, most notably sculpture. She says her interest in sculpture was an outgrowth of her portrait photography .

And Floret came to photography with a rich life experience. She was born in Paris in 1936, and four years later she and her parents had to flee that city when Germany invaded France. After moving from town to town for a year, she and her family sailed from Portugal to the United States, settling in St. Louis in 1941. Her nationality remained in important part of her identity. During World War II her family would host weekly brunches for French soldiers stationed at nearby Scott Air Force Base, where radio operators and technicians were trained. After Floret graduated college, her first professional work was teaching French. It tells you much about her convivial personality that, all these decades later, she is still in touch with some of her former students.

Floret, deciding she wanted an artistic life, later moved to New York. She briefly attempted to become an actress before finding her calling in photography. A couple LIFE photographers played key roles along the way. One of her formative experiences was taking a class at the New School with Phillipe Halsman. and it was John Dominis who helped pave her entry into the magazine world while he was working at PEOPLE.

Soon she was shooting photos of all sorts of artists, from Lynda Carter to Margaret Atwood.

In more than a few of Floret’s photos, she had the stars pose with their pets. For example, actress Nancy Marchand, who at the time was on the television show Lou Grant and would go on to play Olivia Soprano in The Sopranos, held her dog up close to her face. “The animals brought the pictures to life because the people loved them so much,” Floret said. “That was the case with Nancy Marchand.”

Floret has been reflecting on her career lately because she is currently in the process of completing a book that compiles her favorite photographs from her years with the magazine. Looking at all the portraits she shot of such talented and accomplished people has filled her with appreciation and wonder. 

“I just treasure the people that I photographed,” she says. “I am reliving the joy of the result of the experiences, and I feel appreciation for the generosity of the editors who gave the assignments, and the people who allowed me into their private lives to take these very personal photographs.”

Enjoy this selection of images from Floret that highight both the range of people she photographed and also the quality of her artistry.

Author Alex Haley writing as he sits in rocking chair on porch of house on his farm. Floret described Haley as “a treasure’ and said that she loved his quote, “If i knew what success would bring, I would have been typing faster.”

Courtesy of Evelyn Floret

Actress Nancy Marchand with her dog in 1982, when she was a regular on the television show “Lou Grant.”

Courtesy of Evelyn Floret

Gloria Vanderbilt in 1979. After trying shots with the models facing forward, photographer Evelyn Floret asked the models to turn around. “She was like a little flower with that pink satin blouse in the center of it all,” Floret said. “I knew i had the picture when i saw that.”

Courtesy of Evelyn Floret

Lynda Carter of Wonder Woman fame and Robert Altman enjoyed a picnic on the banks of the Potomac in 1983. They married in 1984, and remained together until his death in 2021. Floret says, “They were very much in love. It was a joy to be around them.”

Courtesy of Evelyn Floret

For a story on George Way, an expert antiques collector who also worked at a deli counter, Floret photographed him in the bed in which he sleeps, an Elizabeth I from 1571. At the time of the shoot, in 1991, the bed was valued at $400,000.

Courtesy of Evelyn Floret

Martha Stewart posed outside of her Connecticut home in 1987, when she had just come out with a book on wedding cakes.

Courtesy of Evelyn Floret

Martha Stewart in 1987. Floret described Stewart as “delightful, compassionate, appreciative, kind, soft-spoken, and humble.”

Courtesy of Evelyn Floret

Author Margaret Atwood in her Toronto home with her cat Fluffy, 1989. “She was dazzling to me,” Floret said. “But I never felt intimidated by anyone I photographed. I just had this desire to do the best I could by them.”

Courtesy of Evelyn Floret

Harvey Fierstein with cast members of La Cage aux Folles, a show that he wrote, in 1984. He brought cast members to a studio at 18th and Broadway to be photographed. “That’s an example of the effort people made to give me a great photo,” Floret said.

Courtesy of Evelyn Floret

George Shearing, the blind jazz pianist, rode with his wife Ellie in Central Park, 1979. After the photo shoot Shearing sent Floret a thank you note written in Braille.

Courtesy of Evelyn Floret

Attorney Roy Cohn, 1984. For Evelyn Floret this was the rare case of her photographing an individual with a notorious reputation, and that influenced the resulting photo. “Having him in that setting seemed appropriate,” she said. “It was just like a mixed message. You could draw your own conclusions. Live animal and stuffed animal, animal that was made out of china.”

Courtesy of Evelyn Floret

Midori in 1981, at age 11. Later that year, at a New Year’s Eve concert, she would perform a solo with the New York Philharmonic. She went on to become a great performer and advocate for music education.

Courtesy of Evelyn Floret

Hugues de Montalembert was a painter who lost his sight after being attacked during a burglary in his New York apartment. He then turned to writing. Floret captured his spirit by photographing him riding a horse on a Long Island beach. Another horseman rode just out of view to guide De Montalambert along. Floret says, “I was nearly in tears while capturing this photo.”

Courtesy of Evelyn Floret

The post The Work of Evelyn Floret, a Master of Intimate Portraits appeared first on LIFE.

In 1955 LIFE’s Eliot Elisofon photographed Fitzgerald for a story on the top jazz stars of the day, and she was the only woman included in the group. LIFE wrote of her, “Ella Fitzgerald, who sings love ballads daintily, can roar on like a trombone through a jazz classic. Her most famous number is “A-Tisket, A-Tasket,” but it is her many hotter songs that keep her the first lady of jazz year after year.”

In 1958 LIFE staff photographer Yale Joel took his turn shooting Fitzgerald. He caught her performing at Mister Kelly’s, a renowned jazz club in Chicago. The photo places the viewer in a front row seat. Fitzgerald, elegantly dressed, sings with her eyes closed and hand to heart on a low stage that has her nearly at level with the audience. That photo is one of the most popular images in LIFE’s print store, which is a tribute to both Joel’s skill and Fitzgerald’s enduring popularity—several of her songs have more than 100 million plays on Spotify.

Included here are several other of Joel’s shots from Mister Kelly’s, and also other instances in which LIFE’s photographers documented this great artist.

Singer Ella Fitzgerald holding a basket of flowers as she sings A-Tisket, A-Tasket in front of backdrop, 1946.

Eliot Eilsofon/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald performed at Mister Kelly’s nightclub in Chicago, 1958.

Yale Joel/Life PIcture Collection/Shutterstock

Bathed in red light, American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald performed her eyes closed, at Mister Kelly’s nightclub, Chicago, 1958.

Yale Joel/Life PIcture Collection/Shutterstock

Ella Fitzgerald performed at Mister Kelly’s nightclub in Chicago, 1958.

Yale Joel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Ella Fitzgerald performing at Mister Kelly’s nightclub in Chicago, 1958.

Yale Joel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Ella Fitzgerald mingled with people who had come to hear her perform at the opening night of the Bop City nightclub in New York City, April 1949.

.Martha Holmes/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Songbird Ella Fitzgerald sang at opening at the Bop City nightclub in New York City, 1949.

Martha Holmes/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Ella Fitzgerald sang during opening night of Bop City nightclub in New York City, April 1949.

Martha Holmes/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Ella Fitzgerald at the old Madison Square Garden in New York on the night Marilyn sang to John F. Kennedy, May 1962.

Bill Ray/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Ella Fitzgerald, the Queen of Jazz, 1954.

Eliot Elisofon/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

The post Ella Fitzgerald: The First Lady of Song appeared first on LIFE.

But none of these stars skyrocketed as high or as fast as Eddie Murphy. He debuted on Saturday Night Live in 1980, at the remarkable age of 19, and quickly caught fire behind the strength of such characters as Mr. Robinson, Buckwheat and Gumby. He then capitalized on that popularity with a string of hit movies that included 48 Hours, Trading Places and Beverly Hills Cop. Not to mention his wildly popular 1983 standup special Delirious.

Photos in the LIFE archive capture the public life of a young man taking flight. He is photographed in the company of such luminaries as Jerry Lewis, Liza Minelli, Michael Jackson, Sylvester Stallone, Rick James, Luther Vandross, Jamie Lee Curtis and Arsenio Hall.

The paparazzi shots are telling, and so are the images in this collection that were shot for LIFE by Ted Thai. For those photos Murphy posed shirtless, with track pants and a ball cap. If you saw those pictures without knowing why Murphy was famous, you might guess that he was an athlete—and that comparison is appropriate. He was the comedy equivalent of another 1980s contemporary, Michael Jordan, a young man electrifying the stage with his prodigal talent.

Cast members Eddie Murphy (left) and Joe Piscopo (right) appearing with guest Jerry Lewis on Saturday Night Live, 1984.

DMI/Shutterstock

Comedian Eddie Murphy, 1983

Ted Thai/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Eddie Murphy

Ted Thai/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Comedian Eddie Murphy (left) and singer Rick James following Murphy’s performance at Madison Square Garden, 1986.

David Mcgough/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Eddie Murphy and singer Luther Vandross after Vandross’ performance at Radio City Music Hall, 1985.

DAVID MCGOUGH/DMI

Singer Michael Jackson and actor Eddie Murphy in Press Room at American Music Awards, 1989.

Kevin Winter/DMI

Sylvester Stallone and Eddie Murphy, 1991.

DMI

Eddie Murphy with Liza Minelli, 1990.

DMI

Eddie Murphy posed with the poster of his hit comedy Beverly Hills Cop.

DMI

Eddie Murphy, 1987.

DMI

Jamie Lee Curtis and Eddie Murphy, co-stars of the film Trading Places, in 1993.

DMI

Eddie Murphy with Vanessa Williams.

DMI

Eddie Murphy with talk show host Arsenio Hall, 1990.

DMI

Eddie Murphy, 1990.

DMI

Eddie Murphy, 1990.

DMI

Eddie Murphy

DMI

The post Eddie Murphy: Images of a Star Taking Flight appeared first on LIFE.

When it dropped in the mid-’90s, the 30-second spot felt like just another quick and clever Nike ad, though if you go back now and watch “The Hundred-Foot Hoop,” it seems to speak to us on several levels. At the fade-in, we see a basket hanging mercilessly high in a dimly lit warehouse. The storyline, at least initially, is simple: Michael Jordan enters, dribbling, then, looking grim but confident, drives in and up (and up) for the unmakeable but of course inevitable jam. The spoonful of message—that the man inside those supercool shoes can perform superhuman feats—went down without question back then, when Jordan was still in his Chicago Bulls prime and on a nightly basis redefining what was possible in the game of basketball. But the commercial doesn’t stop there. 

In a spasm of celebratory ecstasy, our hero, we see, has grabbed onto the rim, as slam-dunkers do, and now finds himself swinging slowly above the hardwood at an unsafe altitude. The moment of triumph has passed. Jordan first looks down, then at us, the audience that he always wanted to impress. He does not speak, but his big brown eyes pose an excellent question: “Where do I go from here?”

Michael Jeffrey Jordan was a skinny middle-class kid from Wilmington, North Carolina, who put aside the doubters—no, who used the doubters who appeared at every stage—to have himself a storybook career. His breakthrough came in the spring of 1982, when, in a game played in the Louisiana Superdome against Patrick Ewing and the Georgetown Hoyas,
he hit an electrifying jumper with 15 seconds left to give his Carolina Tar Heels the National Championship. “Your life will never be the same after that shot, son,” his father, James, told him soon afterward.

A few years later, Jordan revitalized the Bulls, a motley bunch that played in a dreary, half-empty arena, a team that according to its owner was regarded by Chicagoans as “somewhere between mud wrestling and tractor pulling,” eventually leading them to six NBA championships. Along the way, Jordan took the excitement generated by Larry Bird and Magic Johnson—stars a few years ahead of him—and brought it to a new level, helping shake the NBA out of its 1970s doldrums and usher its players and franchises onto an international stage. In Jordan’s spare time, he revolutionized the sneaker business. 

Jordan broke into the league exactly 40 years ago, in the fall of 1984, and he left it for good in the spring of 2003. Over a 15-season playing career, he won 10 scoring titles, five MVP awards, and six Finals MVP awards, and he was named to the All-Defensive first team nine times. He played in 14 NBA All-Star Games and, competing against Bird, Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shaquille O’Neal, and others in the pantheon of basketball gods, won three All-Star MVP trophies. He has the highest regular-season career scoring average and career playoff scoring average of all time (30.1 and 33.4 points per game, respectively). Numb yet? After a point, even such incomparable statistics don’t capture all of the player Jordan was. They say nothing about the way he did what he did, the rampaging love of the game he always demonstrated, or the role he played in the larger popular culture—the very things that made him the man and the brand we know and love.

Here is a selection of images from LIFE’s new special issue Michael Jordan: The Greatest of All Time.

Cover photo by Jerry Wachter/NBAE/Getty

Michael Jordan in his freshman year at North Carolina, January 1982.

Bettmann Archive

Michael Jordan, with Chicago Bulls general manager Rod Thorn, signed his first NBA contract in 1984.

Bettmann Archive

Michael Jordan in 1989 took on the Detroit Pistons, a team that served as an early foil on his way to the top.

Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images

Michael Jordan celebrated winning his first NBA title in 1991.

Richard Mackson/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images

Michael Jordan led the Dream Team to a gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.

Richard Mackson/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images

Michael Jordan in 1994, when he took time off from the NBA and tried his hand at minor-league baseball with the Birmingham Barons.

Photo by Focus On Sport/Getty Images

Michael Jordan, when he returned to the NBA following his time in minor league baseball, briefly wore No. 45 before returning to his familiar No. 23.

NBAE via Getty Images

Michael Jordan in 2003, his final season.

Simon Bruty/Anychance/Getty Images

Michael Jordan waved farewell after playing his final NBA game in April 2003, when he was a member of the Washington Wizards.

Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images

Michael Jordan, representing his Jordan Brand, visited Paris in 2015 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of his signature Air Jordan shoe.

Jordan Brand via Getty Images

The post Michael Jordan: The One and Only appeared first on LIFE.