26 Wonderfully Old Photos of Famous People From Back in the Day

John Summers • Contributor

Sep 26, 2024 12:00 AM EDT

Time stops for no one, not even for the rich and famous. One day you are a teenager goofing around in front of the camera in your parents living room, and the next moment you are one of the richest people on earth. One second you are nervous about taking your yearbook photo and the next you have become a rock and roll legend. It's fun to look back at old pictures of famous people and see them as they were before their life had become something else entirely.

A young Harrison Ford working as a carpenter, not aware of the crazy twists and turns his life is going to have in the next couple of years or a 10 year old Anthony Hopkins posing for a school photo, oblivious to the exciting journey his life is about to take him on. We just wonder what brought Kurt Cobain and Ru Paul to pose for the same picture.

01
Young and sassy Gillian Anderson.

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02
A very wee Anthony Hopkins.

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03
That is Ann-Margret

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04
Young Carrie Fisher and her mom, Debbie Reynolds

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05
Jason Bateman, Justine Bateman and Ted Danson

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06
Stephen King, 4 years old.

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07
Janis Joplin's high school yearbook photo, 1960.

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08
Dave Grohl, Ru Paul, tiny Frances Bean, and Kurt Cobain

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09
Back in his earlier body building days, Arnold Schwarzenegger worked for a bricklaying company

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10
A very atypical photo of Judy Garland

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11
Ian McKellen, Back in his "You shall not pants" phase

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12
Chaka Khan waits for the bus

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13
Stephen Colbert and David Schwimmer with their improv group

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14
Dave Grohl high school yearbook photo, not sure what the performance is.

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15
Chris Farley

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16
That is Harrison Ford working as a carpenter

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17
17 year old Susan Sarandon.

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18
Alfred Hitchcock in drag

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19
Kurt Cobain playing drums at Montesano High School.

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20
Tiny, innocent wee Johnny Knoxville.

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21
Michael Jackson "in disguise" out on the town with Tatum O'Neal.

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22
MIchael Keaton working as a stagehand on Mr. Rogers Neighborhood in the early 70s.

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23
Motley Crue's Tommy Lee never looked so normal

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24
Tom Cruise, Emilio Estevez, C. Thomas Howell, Ralph Macchio, Rob Lowe, Patrick Swayze, and Matt Dillon, 1983.

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25
Young, hip Bela Lugosi.

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26
Young Rue McClanahan (Blanche Devereaux on The Golden Girls)

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