Robert Redford: A Movie Star and American Maverick, 1969

He had the requisite looks, charm and talent, but it wasn’t until 1969, when he was in his mid-30s, that Robert Redford truly broke out as a genuine Hollywood player. That year he starred in two very good films (Downhill Racer and Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here) and one hugely entertaining, honest-to-god classic, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

That was also the year that LIFE photographer John Dominis spent a week with Redford as the legend-in-the-making mixed business and pleasure at his homes in Utah and New York. Dominis set about chronicling the days and nights of an increasingly famous man struggling mightily to maintain control of both his private life and his career.

At the time, Redford was married to first wife, Lola Van Wagenen. With their kids Shauna and Jamie (their youngest daughter, Amy, would arrive in October 1970), the couple lived for several months each year at a three-story A-frame house they had built themselves in Lola’s snowy, mountainous home state of Utah. During that part of the shoot, Dominis spent a few days trying to keep up as Redford traversed his vast property on horseback, skis and snowmobile.

Only a few of Dominis’ photos made it into the February 1970 LIFE cover story. Here, LIFE.com presents a series of outtake photos from the photographer’s time with the Sundance Kid. Redford’s on horseback in the Utah mountains; hailing a cab in Times Square; playing with his kids; and always, always taking care of business.

Dominis’ pictures captured a new kind of movie star, one who carefully managed every aspect of his career, from creative choices to nuts-and-bolts business matters. For Redford, the reasoning behind his decision to take control of his professional life was eminently practical.

“They throw that word ‘star’ at you loosely, and they take it away loosely if your pictures flop,” he told LIFE. “You take responsibility for their crappy movie, that’s all it means. So what I said was, since you say I’m responsible if my name is above the title, then give me responsibility. That’s all.”

Dominis’ unobtrusive, fly-on-the-wall approach to shooting, meanwhile, suited the star just fine, especially in light of how little time Redford really seemed to have to himself. In New York, for example, he was swamped with details connected to the release of his next movie, Downhill Racer. Even in Utah, a place to which he retreated to get away from it all, Redford “engages in endless long-distance discussions with agents, partners and other unfree spirits,” LIFE reported.

There’s no doubt that Redford made an impression on Dominis. “He was a real man,” Dominis told LIFE.com. “A strong person. I liked him a lot. And he was nice to me, even though he didn’t know me.”

One key aspect of Redford’s appeal for Dominis, a sportsman himself, was the actor’s obvious love of, and respect for, the natural world and the dramatic landscape of the American West. (“Other people have analysis; I have Utah,” Redford once quipped.)

By 1975, Redford had amassed about 7,000 acres of land in Utah, including a ranch, a ski resort, a horse-training farm and a large tract in the Wasatch mountain range. “I’d understand it if someone said it was too much for one man and his family,” he told People that year. “But I don’t think I’m just piling up land the way some men pile up money. I’m collecting space, and space has a very deep meaning for me.” In the coming years, of course, Redford would give much of that land in service to his craft, making it the site of the enormously popular and influential Sundance Film Festival and the nonprofit Sundance Institute.

Liz Ronk edited this gallery for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter at @LizabethRonk.

Robert Redford on a horse

Robert Redford, Utah, 1969

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Robert Redford and daughter Shauna, Utah, 1969.

Robert Redford and daughter Shauna

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Robert Redford and son Jamie, Utah, 1969.

Robert Redford and son Jamie, Utah, 1969

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Robert Redford, Utah, 1969.

Robert Redford, Utah, 1969.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Robert Redford, Utah, 1969.

Robert Redford, Utah, 1969.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Robert Redford in Times Square, between meetings, 1969.

Robert Redford in Times Square, between meetings, 1969.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Robert Redford hails a cab in Times Square

Robert Redford hailed a cab in Times Square. Just a few blocks away, at the Biltmore Theater on 47th Street, was where the actor got his first major notices as the star of Neil Simon’s 1963 Broadway play, Barefoot in the Park.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Robert Redford with son Jamie, daughter Shauna and two unidentified companions, New York City 1969.

Robert Redford with son Jamie, daughter Shauna and two unidentified companions, New York City, 1969.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Robert Redford grins in his agent's office in New York 1969

Robert Redford in his agent’s office in New York, 1969.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Robert Redford, Utah, 1969

Robert Redford, Utah, 1969.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Robert Redford looks over promotional photos and ads for "Downhill Racer"

Robert Redford looked over promotional material for his film, Downhill Racer , New York City, 1969.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Robert Redford with his son, Jamie, in New York City, 1969.

Robert Redford with his son, Jamie, in New York City, 1969.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Robert Redford with his son, Jamie, in New York City, 1969.

Robert Redford with son, Jamie, New York City, 1969.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Robert Redford with daughter, Shauna, New York City, 1969

Robert Redford with his daughter, Shauna, in New York City, 1969.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Robert Redford and his family (his first wife, Lola van Wagenen; son, Jamie; and daughter, Shauna), Utah, 1969.

Robert Redford; his first wife, Lola van Wagenen; son, Jamie; and daughter, Shauna, Utah, 1969.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Robert Redford ("the Sundance Kid") with a cardboard cut-out of Paul Newman ("Butch Cassidy"), Utah, 1969.

Robert Redford (“the Sundance Kid”) with a cardboard cut-out of Paul Newman (“Butch Cassidy”), Utah, 1969.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Robert Redford hard at work, Utah, 1969

Robert Redford, Utah, 1969.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Robert Redford, Utah, 1969.

Robert Redford, Utah, 1969.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Robert Redford takes a break from reading a script

Robert Redford took a break from reading a script.

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Robert Redford, LIFE Magazine, February 6, 1970

Robert Redford, LIFE Magazine, February 6, 1970

Page spreads from the February 6, 1970, issue of LIFE magazine.

Robert Redford, LIFE Magazine, February 6, 1970

Page spreads from the February 6, 1970, issue of LIFE magazine.

Robert Redford, LIFE Magazine, February 6, 1970

Page spreads from the February 6, 1970, issue of LIFE magazine.

Robert Redford, LIFE Magazine, February 6, 1970

Page spreads from the February 6, 1970, issue of LIFE magazine.

Robert Redford, LIFE Magazine, February 6, 1970

A Savage Season in Mississippi: The Murder of Emmett Till

In the summer of 1955, two men, both of them white, abducted a 14-year-old African-American boy named Emmett Till from his great-uncle’s house in Money, Miss. Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam beat Till almost to death, gouged out one of his eyes, shot him in the head and then dumped his body, weighted by an enormous cotton-gin fan tied with barbed wire, into the Tallahatchie River.

Their motive: Till, visiting from his native Chicago, had reportedly flirted with or, according to some accounts, spoken “disrespectfully” to Bryant’s wife a few days before.

When an all-white, all-male jury acquitted Bryant and Milam of kidnapping and murder in September, the verdict shocked observers across the country and around the world. And when, mere months later, the men openly admitted to Look magazine that they had, in fact, mutilated and murdered Till, the outcry was so intense and the reaction of Till’s devastated family so dignified that it lit a spark that helped ignite the modern civil rights movement.

Liz Ronk edited this gallery for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter @lizabethronk.

The site of Emmett Till's kidnapping, Money, Miss., 1955.

The site of Emmett Till’s kidnapping, Money, Miss., 1955.

Ed Clark; Life Pictures/Shutterstock

J.W. Milam's brother Leslie owned this barn near Drew, Miss. Before his murder, Emmett Till was pistol-whipped in the barn.

J.W. Milam’s brother Leslie owned this barn near Drew, Miss. Before his murder, Emmett Till was pistol-whipped in the barn.

Ed Clark; Life Pictures/Shutterstock

The store in Money, Miss., where Emmett Till allegedly flirted with Roy Bryant's wife Carolyn.

The store in Money, Miss., where Emmett Till allegedly flirted with Roy Bryant’s wife Carolyn.

Ed Clark; Life Pictures/Shutterstock

A ring found on Emmett Till's body, which his great-uncle, the Rev. Mose Wright, used to identify his body. The ring belonged to Till's father.

A ring found on Emmett Till’s body, which his great-uncle, the Rev. Mose Wright, used to identify his body. The ring belonged to Till’s father.

Ed Clark; Life Pictures/Shutterstock

A scene in Mississippi around the time of the trial of Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam for the kidnapping and murder of Emmett Till, 1955.

A scene in Mississippi around the time of the trial of Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam for the kidnapping and murder of Emmett Till, 1955.

Ed Clark; Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Emmett Till's mother Mamie Bradley speaks to the press after her son's kidnapping and murder.

Emmett Till’s mother Mamie Bradley spoke to the press after her son’s kidnapping and murder.

Ed Clark; Life Pictures/Shutterstock

From left: Emmett Till's great-uncle, the Rev. Mose Wright; his mother Mamie Bradley; and his cousin Simeon Wright.

From left: Emmett Till’s great-uncle, the Rev. Mose Wright; his mother Mamie Bradley; and his cousin Simeon Wright.

Ed Clark; Life Pictures/Shutterstock

A crowd outside the Sumner, Miss., courthouse during the trial of Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam for the kidnapping and murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till.

A crowd gathered outside the Sumner, Miss., courthouse during the trial of Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam for the kidnapping and murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till.

Ed Clark; Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Defendant J.W. Milam arrives at his trial in Sumner, Miss., where he is charged with the kidnapping and murder of Emmett Till.

Defendant J.W. Milam arrived at his trial for the kidnapping and murder of Emmett Till.

Ed Clark; Life Pictures/Shutterstock

A scene in Sumner, Miss., during the trial of Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam for the kidnapping and murder of Emmett Till.

A scene outside the courthouse during the trial of Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam for the kidnapping and murder of Emmett Till.

Ed Clark; Life Pictures/Shutterstock

A scene during the trial of Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam for the kidnapping and murder of Emmett Till.

The trial of Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam for the kidnapping and murder of Emmett Till.

Ed Clark; Life Pictures/Shutterstock

A scene during the trial of Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam for the kidnapping and murder of Emmett Till.

The trial of Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam for the kidnapping and murder of Emmett Till.

Ed Clark; Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Defendants Roy Bryant, left, and J.W. Milam during their trial for the kidnapping and murder of Emmett Till.

Defendants Roy Bryant, left, and J.W. Milam, right, during their trial for the kidnapping and murder of Emmett Till.

Ed Clark; Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Defendant Roy Bryant sits with his wife Carolyn and their children during his trial for the kidnapping and murder of Emmett Till.

Defendant Roy Bryant sat with his wife Carolyn and their children during his trial for the kidnapping and murder of Emmett Till.

Ed Clark; Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Defendants J.W. Milam (left) and Roy Bryant (right)sit during their trial for the kidnapping and murder of Emmett Till.

Defendants J.W. Milam, left, and Roy Bryant, right, during their trial for the kidnapping and murder of Emmett Till.

Ed Clark; Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Defendant J.W. Milam kisses his wife Juanita during his trial for the kidnapping and murder of Emmett Till.

Defendant J.W. Milam kisses his wife Juanita during his trial for the kidnapping and murder of Emmett Till.

Ed Clark; Life Pictures/Shutterstock

A sign in Sumner, Miss., site of the trial of Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam for the August 1955 kidnapping and murder of Emmett Till.

A sign in Sumner, Miss., site of the trial of Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam for the August 1955 kidnapping and murder of Emmett Till.

Ed Clark; Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Actresses on the Brink of Fame

There’s nothing quite like being there at the earliest emergence of a new Hollywood star, and as the premier pictorial weekly of its era, LIFE magazine was uniquely positioned to feature more than a few famous faces at the start of their careers, well before they became bona fide legends.

Here, LIFE.com offers a gallery of some of moviedom’s most celebrated (and gorgeous) young talents on the very brink of life-altering fame, from Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn to Kim Novak, Ann-Margret, Liz Taylor, Rita Moreno, Barbra Streisand, Catherine Deneuve and others who would go on to dazzle audiences for years. 


Marilyn Monroe poses in 1947

Marilyn Monroe posed in 1947. The next year, she’d get a six-month Columbia Pictures contract.

J. R. Eyerman/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Seen here in a 1954 photo that ended up on the cover of LIFE, Moreno debuted on Broadway at 13 before making it big years later in the film version of West Side Story.

Seen here in a 1954 photo that ended up on the cover of LIFE, Rita Moreno debuted on Broadway at 13 before making it big years later in the film version of West Side Story.

Loomis Dean/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Actress Rita Moreno demonstrates the "sexy-sophisticated" type, 1954.

Rita Moreno, 1954.

Loomis Dean/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Kim Novak Lounges in Bed, 1954

.Kim Novak, 1954

J. R. Eyerman/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Kim Novak, 1954

Kim Novak, 21, posed with crystal figurines in 1954. The Chicagoan started off as Miss Deep Freeze for a local refrigerator company, and was recruited by Columbia Pictures to be a more manageable replacement for Rita Hayworth.

J. R. Eyerman/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Elizabeth Taylor in 1947, age 15

Elizabeth Taylor in 1947, at age 15.

J.R. Eyerman/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Sophia Loren poses in 1957, the year she began to make a name for herself in America in such movies as Boy on a Dolphin (her U.S. debut) and Legend of the Lost.

Sophia Loren posed in 1957, the year she began to make a name for herself in America in such movies as Boy on a Dolphin (her U.S. debut) and Legend of the Lost.

Loomis Dean/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Audrey Hepburn in 1951   two years before her film breakthrough in Roman Holiday   posing under a theater marquee for the stage version of Gigi.

Audrey Hepburn in 1951—two years before her film breakthrough in Roman Holiday—posing under a theater marquee for the stage version of Gigi.

Time Life Pictures/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Catherine Deneuve, 1961

Catherine Deneuve in 1961, at age 18.

Loomis Dean/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Margarita Carmen Cansino, soon to be Rita Hayworth, models tennis fashions in 1939.

Margarita Carmen Cansino, soon to be Rita Hayworth, modeled tennis fashions in 1939. After her small turn in Only Angels Have Wings that year, fan mail started pouring in. She was soon a major star.

Peter Stackpole/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Wisely abandoning the name Tula Ellice Finklea, Cyd Charisse, seen here in 1945, was best known for her dancing roles opposite Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly.

Cyd Charisse, seen here in 1945, was best known for her dancing roles opposite Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly.

Peter Stackpole/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Ann-Margret, 1961

Nineteen-year-old Ann-Margret belted out a tune during a screen test for the movie State Fair in 1961.

Grey Villet/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Esther Williams, 1943

Esther Williams, the famed synchronized swimmer (seen here in 1943), got her start in movies when MGM wanted a female sports star to rival Fox’s figure skater, Sonja Henie.

Peter Stackpole/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Eva Marie Saint opens a prop door during a TV shoot at NBC studios in 1947. The Newark, N.J.-born actress started her career as an NBC page.

Eva Marie Saint opened a prop door during a TV shoot at NBC studios in 1947. The Newark, N.J.-born actress started her career as an NBC page.

Andreas Feininger/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Eva Marie Saint, 1949

Eva Marie Saint (in 1949) got her film break in 1954’s Oscar-winning On the Waterfront.

Nina Leen/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Jeanne Crain 1946

Actress Jeanne Crain took a bubble bath for her role in the movie Margie in 1946.

Peter Stackpole/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Jane Fonda was a well-regarded actress by the time this shot was taken in 1959, when she was 22, but it took the screwball Western Cat Ballou (1965) to turn her into a movie star.

Jane Fonda was a well-regarded actress by the time this shot was taken in 1959, when she was 22, but it took the screwball Western Cat Ballou (1965) to turn her into a movie star.

Allan Grant/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Jane Fonda, 1959.

Jane Fonda, 1959.

Allan Grant/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Gene Tierney, 1941

The actress Gene Tierney posed in 1941. Best remembered for 1944’s Laura, Tierney left New York’s socialite life to be an actress.

Grey Villet/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Judy Garland, 1939

Mickey Rooney kissed co-star Judy Garland at the premiere of Babes in Arms in 1939. The two starred in nine movies together, among them the popular Andy Hardy series.

Peter Stackpole/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Barbra Streisand, 1962

Barbra Streisand sang in the musical that was her Broadway debut, I Can Get It for You Wholesale, in 1962.

George Silk/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Shirley MacLaine, 1955

Shirley MacLaine sang on the TV program Shower of Stars in 1955.

Loomis Dean/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

Debbie Reynolds, circa 1950

Debbie Reynolds, circa 1950. She’d won a film contract just two years earlier, after winning the Miss Burbank pageant at age 16.

Loomis Dean/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Julie Andrews, 1956

Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews ran lines in My Fair Lady rehearsals, 1956. Though the stage musical helped launch Andrews’ career, she was replaced in the big-screen version by Audrey Hepburn.

Leonard McCombe/LIFE Pictures/Shutterstock

The Duck’s Alive. The Dog’s Embarrassed. The Photo’s a Classic

You know those times when you glimpse a photograph and you think you know what’s happening in the picture, but then something indefinable about the shot plants a seed of doubt, and you look again, and you find that your first impression was absolutely, utterly wrong?

For a lot of people, this 1949 Loomis Dean picture is one of those photographs. At first glance, it looks pretty straightforward: a hunting dog, soaking wet after going into the water to retrieve a duck blasted from the air by its master, sits with the dead or perhaps mortally wounded, but certainly doomed waterfowl in its jaws.

But wait a second. That duck doesn’t look injured. In fact, judging by its still (apparently) vibrant eye and, especially, its rapidly fluttering right leg, the duck is most definitely, emphatically alive.

The priceless look on the dog’s face, meanwhile, is hardly that of a ghoul. In fact, if anything, the dog looks downright embarrassed as if it would rather be anywhere but there, with a live duck in its mouth.

What is going on here?

We’ll let the caption that accompanied this picture in the unputdownable 2008 LIFE book, The Classic Collection, clear up any lingering confusion.

“Don’t worry!” wrote the book’s editors. “The duck’s fine!”

And that is why this photo is funny, and not tragic. Here’s the story: One day in 1947 the Olson family in Yakima, Wash., brought home a duckling named Donald (of course). Donald instantly became friends with the family dog, to the extent that Donald emulated everything the dog did, including chasing children and other dogs from the yard. Donald actually became quite a nuisance in the neighborhood, so the Olsons gave him to a rancher a dozen miles away. There he became pals with a Chesapeake Bay retriever named Trigger. Now, whenever the rancher tossed Donald into the pond so that he could be with the other ducks in other words, his own kind Trigger would immediately dash in and retrieve him. Trigger was as gentle as possible, as we can clearly see here, but ultimately it was decided that Donald would be best back with the Olsons.

Mystery solved. That’s one lucky duck.

Donald the dog-loving duck plays with his friend Trigger, a Chesapeake Bay Retriever, Yakima, Wash., 1949.

Donald the Duck and Trigger the Dog

Loomis Dean Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Peace, Love, Music and Mud: LIFE at Woodstock

The original plan was for an outdoor rock festival, “three days of peace and music” in the Catskill village of Woodstock. What the young promoters got was the third largest city in New York state, population 400,000 (give or take 100,000), location Max Yasgur’s dairy farm near the town of White Lake.

So began LIFE magazine’s description, in its August 29, 1969 issue, of what has come to be seen as one of the defining events of the 1960s. Here LIFE.com presents a gallery of pictures many of which never ran in the magazine from those heady, rain-soaked days and nights.

Lured by music [the story in LIFE continued] and some strange kind of magic (“Woodstock? Doesn’t Bob Dylan live in Woodstock?”), young people from all over the U.S. descended on the rented 600-acre farm.

It was a real city, with life and death and babies—two were born during the gathering—and all the urban problems of water supply, food, sanitation and health. Drugs, too, certainly, because so many of its inhabitants belong to the drug culture. Counting on only 50,000 customers a day, the organizer had set up a fragile, unauthoritarian system to deal with them. Overrun, strained to its limits, the system somehow, amazingly, didn’t break. For three days nearly half a million people lived elbow to elbow in the most exposed, crowded, rain-drenched, uncomfortable kind of community and there wasn’t so much as a fist fight.

For those who passed through it, Woodstock was less a music festival than a total experience, a phenomenon, a happening, high adventure, a near disaster and, in a small way, a struggle for survival. Casting an apprehensive eye over the huge throng on opening day, Friday afternoon, a festival official announced, “There are a hell of a lot of us here. If we are going to make it, you had better remember that the guy next to you is your brother.” Everybody remembered. Woodstock made it.

One of the LIFE photographers on scene during the festival, John Dominis, summed up his own recollections of Woodstock this way:

“I really had a great time.,” Dominis told LIFE.com, decades after the fact. “I was much older than those kids, but I felt like I was their age. They smiled at me, offered me pot. . . . You didn’t expect to see a bunch of kids so nice; you’d think they’d be uninviting to an older person. But no they were just great!

“I worked at LIFE for 25 years,” Dominis said, “and worked everywhere and saw everything, and I’ve told people every year since Woodstock happened that it was one of the greatest events I ever covered.”

Liz Ronk edited this gallery for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter @lizabethronk.

Woodstock Music & Art Fair, August 1969.

Woodstock, August 1969.

John Dominis/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Woodstock Music & Art Fair, August 1969.

“I’m quite fond of this picture,” photographer John Dominis said. “You can’t plan this sort of thing; one moment during those three days when there’s no giggling, no laughing. They’re just uncomfortable and that somehow makes it work.”

John Dominis/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Woodstock Music & Art Fair, August 1969.

“I like this shot of a handsome young hippie couple,” photographer John Dominis said. “They seem so comfortable with each other. A very endearing image, I think.”

John Dominis/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Woodstock Music & Art Fair, August 1969.

Woodstock Music & Art Fair, August 1969.

John Dominis/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Woodstock Music & Art Fair, August 1969.

Woodstock Music & Art Fair, August 1969.

John Dominis/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Woodstock Music & Art Fair, August 1969.

Robin Hallock attended the Woodstock Music & Art Fair, August 1969.

Bill Eppridge/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Woodstock Music & Art Fair, August 1969.

Woodstock Music & Art Fair, August 1969.

Bill Eppridge/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Woodstock Music & Art Fair, August 1969.

Woodstock Music & Art Fair, August 1969.

Bill Eppridge/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Woodstock Music & Art Fair, August 1969.

Woodstock Music & Art Fair, August 1969.

Bill Eppridge/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Woodstock Music & Art Fair, August 1969.

Woodstock Music & Art Fair, August 1969.

Bill Eppridge/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Woodstock Music & Art Fair, August 1969.

Woodstock Music & Art Fair, August 1969.

John Dominis/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Woodstock Music & Art Fair, August 1969.

Woodstock Music & Art Fair, August 1969.

Bill Eppridge/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Woodstock Music & Art Fair, August 1969.

Woodstock Music & Art Fair, August 1969.

Bill Eppridge/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Woodstock Music & Art Fair, August 1969.

Woodstock Music & Art Fair, August 1969.

Bill Eppridge/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Woodstock Music & Art Fair, August 1969.

Overcome by the driving rhythm, a flutist abandoned herself to dance during an impromptu amateur performance in the woods at Woodstock, 1969.

Bill Eppridge/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Woodstock Music & Art Fair, August 1969.

Woodstock Music & Art Fair, August 1969.

John Dominis/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Woodstock Music & Art Fair, August 1969.

Woodstock Music & Art Fair, August 1969.

John Dominis/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Woodstock Music & Art Fair, August 1969.

Woodstock, August 1969.

Bill Eppridge/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Woodstock Music & Art Fair, August 1969.

Woodstock Music & Art Fair, August 1969.

Bill Eppridge/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Woodstock Music & Art Fair, August 1969.

Woodstock Music & Art Fair, August 1969.

John Dominis/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Woodstock Music & Art Fair, August 1969.

Max and Miriam Yasgur on their land after the Woodstock Music & Art Fair, August 1969.

Bill Eppridge/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

The First Post-WWII Olympics: London, 1948

Taking place just three short years after the end of the Second World War, when much of London and indeed, much of Europe was still rebuilding after the devastation of the 20th century’s most cataclysmic conflict, the 1948 London summer Olympics were the first since the 1936 Berlin Games.

While the war was over, however, it was hardly forgotten. Neither Japan nor Germany was allowed to compete. (The third Axis power, Italy, sent more than 200 athletes to London, having wisely joined the Allies in the middle of the war after Mussolini was deposed and executed.) The Soviet Union, meanwhile, as LIFE told its readers in August 1945, “snubbed the whole show” hardly surprising, as the USSR had not sent athletes to an Olympiad since 1922, and would not do so until 1952.

But whatever ideological fault lines existed around the globe in the immediate aftermath of the war, the obvious and overriding emphasis in London in 1948 was the athletes, and the generally friendly, intense competition on display.

As LIFE put it in an article shortly after the ’48 Games ended:

For 17 days except for one night when there was trouble with the gas line the torch flamed brightly at Wembley, England.

The ceremonial dignity of the London Olympiad was no match for the neopagan histrionics which characterized Adolf Hitler’s 1936 spectacle in Berlin. But by athletic standards the show was superb, despite the fact that the weather was the worst in Olympic history (the sun shone only three days). The general decorum of competing athletes was admirable, and only a very slight international tension followed a disputed U.S. victory in the 400-meter relay.

The U.S. won 38 golds in 1948, followed by Sweden (16), France and Hungary (10 apiece). The United Kingdom won three gold medals.

Torchbearer Henry Allen Bishop, 1948 London Olympics.

Mark Kauffman/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

As 5,000 athletes massed on the infield of Wembley Stadium before a crowd of 82,000, the Olympic torch flared up for the first time on July 29, a few minutes after XIV Olympiad has been officially opened by King George VI. The huge delegations in front are the British and U.S. teams.

Ed Clark/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

After years of cancelled Olympics due to World War II, the Games were back on at Wembley Stadium, London, 1948.

William Sumits/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Distance champion Emil Zatopek of Czechoslovakia, running with his characteristic agonized expression, started the last lap in the 10,000 meters, where he set a new Olympic record in London, 1948. He received a gold medal and promotion from second to first lieutenant in Czech army.

Frank Scherschel/Life Picture Collection//Shutterstock

Swedish Henry Eriksson received congratulations after winning the 1500 meters in the driving rain at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London.

Ed Clark/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Netherlands’ Fanny Blankers-Koen (foreground), who won four golds in at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, competed in a sprint heat.

William Summits/Life Picture Collection//Shutterstock

Hurdles champion Fanny Blankers-Koen (right) of Holland skimmed over last barrier in the 80-meter race inches ahead of Great Britain’s Maureen Gardner. Mrs. Blankers-Koen, 30-year-old mother of two children who cooks, knits, darns socks and does her training in between, also won the women’s 100-meter and 200-meter sprints and picked up a fourth medal by running on a victorious relay team, Summer Olympics, London, 1948.

Mark Kauffman/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Jamaican athlete Herb McKenley, Summer Olympics, London, 1948.

William Sumits/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

American pole vaulter Guinn Smith attempted (unsuccessfully) a world record jump at the summer Olympics, London, 1948.

Frank Scherschel/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Guinn Smith of U.S. won at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London the hard way— in a driving rain which caused vaulters’ hands to slip from bamboo poles and made Olympic record impossible. This photo shows Smith’s body is draped over bar as he fails on first try at winning height. Next time he made it.

Mark Kauffman/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Eventual decathlon winner, 17-year-old American Bob Mathias, waited for his turn at the pole vault, Summer Olympics, London, 1948.

Ed Clark/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Javelin throw winner Herma Baumer of Austria, London Olympics, 1948.

Frank Scherschel/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

American diver Zoe Ann Olsen prepared for a springboard dive. She won silver in at the Olympics in London, 1948.

Ed Clark/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Swimming at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London.

Ed Clark/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

American springboard dive winners Zoe Ann Olsen (left), Vicki Manolo Draves (center) and Patty Elsener displayed their medals at the Summer Olympics in London, 1948.

Ed Clark/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Fanny Blankers-Koen (right) of the Netherlands after winning the 200-meter dash, Summer Olympics, London, 1948.

William Sumits/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Gaston Reiff of Belgium stands on the winner's block after the 5,000 meters, London Summer Olympics, 1948.

Gaston Reiff of Belgium stood on the winner’s block after the 5,000 meters at the Summer Olympics in London, 1948.

Mark Kauffman/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Members of the winning American crew (from UC-Berkeley) carried coach Ky Ebright on their shoulders, Summer Olympics, London, 1948.

Mark Kauffman/Life Pictures/Shutterstock

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