On Set, Off Camera #15 – All-Smoking Edition

Previous editions of this series consist mainly of shots of actors and directors caught in off-camera moments during the making of a movie, sometimes off-set, at home and elsewhere. This special edition focuses on filmmakers and actors smoking. Some shots are candid, while some are obviously posed for promotional purposes.These come from a time when smoking was endemic in our culture. I grew up in the 1950s when it seemed like everybody smoked — my parents, their friends, people in movies and on TV. No-smoking bans were years in the future. Health concerns about smoking  got little if any attention. Cigarettes were props, a way of shaping an image. Being photographed holding a cigarette or having one hanging out of the mouth could add a sense of glamor, sexiness, or mystery. I think that’s at work in many of these photographs, though in the more candid shots, the person just happened to be smoking at the time.

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David Lynch and Jean-Luc Godard.

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Stanley Kubrick, shooting Dr. Strangelove (1964).

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Jacqueline Bisset

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Natalie Wood blowing smoke with Michael Caine.

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Bette Davis, photo by Ron Galella.

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Brigitte Bardot, photo by Terry O’Neill.

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François Truffaut, shooting Fahrenheit 451 (1966).

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Akira Kurosawa, elegant as ever.

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Marcello Mastroianni, photo by Bert Stern 1963.

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Jeanne Moreau and Catherine Deneuve.

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James Dean at a lunch counter. Lonely photo.

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Jacques Tati, Paris 1955.

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Romy Schneider

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Romy Schneider and Alain Delon, who looks like he just went a few rounds.

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Anouk Aimée

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Ingrid Bergman

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Catharine Deneuve and Luis Buñuel.

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Federico Fellini

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Jean-Pierre Léaud

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Julie Delphy and Charlotte Gainsbourg, maybe not so glamorous in these shots.

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Sophia Loren

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Shelley Duvall

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Peter O’Toole

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Gena Rowlands. I don’t know, this might be from a film, which would bend the rules, but I really like the shot for this post. Besides, it’s a great shot, isn’t it?

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Jack Nicholson and Sean Penn, photo by Annie Leibovitz.

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Okay, I think that’s enough smoking for now. See you next time. — Ted Hicks

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About Ted Hicks

Iowa farm boy; have lived in NYC for 40 years; worked in motion picture labs, film/video distribution, subtitling, media-awards program; obsessive film-goer all my life.
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2 Responses to On Set, Off Camera #15 – All-Smoking Edition

  1. lobstershmate's avatar lobstershmate says:

    WOW!  Sure am glad I never was a cigarette smoker! Smoked a pipe for a few years but that was it.  Yes, back in those olden days everyone smoked. I remember going to the movies with my parents and most of the audience would be smoking! Crazy time! D

  2. tainui's avatar tainui says:

    Deneuve and Bardot aren’t actually smoking (oddly enough). Great compilation, though.

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