Cannes’ Midcentury Glory Years: Cary Grant, Brigitte Bardot and More Grace the Croisette (Photo Gallery)

Palais Intrigue

Warren Beatty and his Splendor in the Grass co-star (and then girlfriend) Natalie Wood on the steps of the Palais du Festival, 1962.

Queen Elizabeth

A bejeweled and becrowned Liz Taylor grabs a seat, and all the attention, at the 1957 edition of the festival.

Bonjour, BB!

French actress Brigitte Bardot at the Ninth Cannes Film Festival in 1956, the year Roger Vadim’s And God Created Woman made her a star. 

Stars Aligning

Cary Grant and Kim Novak at the 12th edition of the festival, perhaps discussing their recent work for Alfred Hitchcock.

Belle Journée

French singer Marie Laforêt in a dreamy moment at the Cannes Festival in 1960.

Moment of Reflection

Grace Kelly in the Carlton Hotel in 1955, the year she appeared with Grant in Hitchcock’s To Catch a Thief, about a cat burglar who stalks wealthy estates on the Côte d’Azur.

Balancing Act

Dorothy Dandridge, who had starred in Carmen Jones a year earlier, frolicked at the Hotel du Cap during the 1955 Cannes Film Festival.

Playtime

From left: French actor and comedian Bourvil, Jayne Mansfield and her husband, Mickey Hargitay, at a screening of Jacques Tati’s My Uncle in 1958.

This story first appeared in the May 8 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.