Peter Stackpole

As one of the four original Life photographers, Peter Stackpole captured decades of a Hollywood enchanted with its own creation, the movies. A native Californian, Stackpole trained a fresh and curious eye on stars and would-be stars, directors, producers and the rest of the coast's elite, capturing such disparate characters as William Randolph Hearst, Elizabeth Taylor, Gary Cooper, Vivien Leigh, Alfred Hitchcock, Judy Garland and Jane Russell. He recorded epics, scandals, publicity stunts and a dream society's response to a very real World War II. Containing more than 350 images, and annotated with Stackpole's often humorous accounts of picture-taking sessions, Life in Hollywood is a revealing and witty look at a golden American dream and the changing face of Southern California from 1936 to 1952.