40 Candid Photos of Vintage Stars Playing Sports

When most people think of James Dean, they probably think of the cooler-than-cool hero from Rebel Without a Cause. What they definitely wouldn’t think of is a bespectacled amateur sports ace who dominated high school in basketball, track, and baseball. But then, people contain multitudes, don’t they?

This spectacular shot was taken when Frank Sinatra went out to bat at an “Out of This World” celebrity baseball series in 1948. Other photos from the event revealed Ol’ Blue Eyes lounging around with his team, The Sinatra Swooners. Another sees him showing a woman how to swing… a bat, that is!

In 1977 TV producers sought to answer the question that had apparently been on everybody’s lips: who would win a sports match between a man and a woman? And so the show Celebrity Challenge of the Sexes was born. Farrah Fawcett played a tennis match, and other head-to-heads included Robert Conrad and Penny Marshall traversing an obstacle course and Elliott Gould playing Brenda Vaccaro in basketball.

Did you know Sylvester Stallone’s late father Frank had been a professional polo player back in the day? And it seems like he passed his passion for horses onto his actor son. In fact, this shot from 1990 could’ve been taken at an exhibition match that father and son played together.

Audrey Hepburn is known for her incredible elegance in movies that have become ingrained in popular culture. That classiness could arguably be because she has a background in dancing and even spent the first part of her career on the stage. Here she is polishing up her moves in a dance studio in the 1950s.

Self-proclaimed “golf nut” Sammy Davis Jr. is seen here teeing off at a pro-am golf tournament in 1962. And as these events usually team three celebrities golfers with a professional, you might notice a couple of other stars in the background. Yep, that’s Henry Cooper and Lionel Blair behind him.

Joan Crawford reportedly said, “Exercise that makes perfect men will also make perfect women.” Perhaps that’s why in college she could run 100 yards in 11.1 seconds. She also tried her hand at jumping training and road work. And on top of all that, she was a dab hand at boxing.

That’s Paul McCartney steering the toboggan, with bandmates John Lennon and George Harrison sitting right behind him. So that means poor Ringo Starr is the guy who’s apparently tumbled into the snow. It certainly looks like The Beatles certainly enjoyed their vacation in Austria all the way back in 1965.

Kenny Rogers used to hold annual celebrity softball games throughout the 1970s to support the Nevada Special Olympics. Massive stars as wide-ranging as Steve Martin, Dionne Warwick, and — as pictured here — Alice Cooper all attended. This event, which took place in 1977, was watched by 5,000 people at the Earl Wilson Stadium.

The caption to this 1949 image has it that superstar Rita Hayworth was in Murren, Switzerland, on a winter vacation. This leaves out the vital context that she was probably staying with Prince Aly Khan, her soon-to-be husband. The pair married in May 1949 and had a child together that December.

Getty Images claims this photo was taken in 1958 — but we think it might have actually been taken at the 1960 Winter Olympics. Certainly, a different photo of Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh wearing the same outfits puts the couple in Squaw Valley, California, at that time. The couple also popped up in the documentary People, Hopes, Medals about the event.

Henry Fonda and James Stewart were dear friends behind the scenes and remained pals for the rest of their lives. This 1948 image of the pair would have been taken around the time that their first film together, On Our Merry Way, was released. The duo featured together in three more movies throughout their storied careers, too.

Forest Hills Stadium in New York was once home to the U.S. Open tennis championships — but Gene Hackman never played that prestigious event. Even though he looks the part, Hackman is here actually competing in a pro-celebrity tournament in aid of charity. That ’tache is really quite something, huh?

Judy Garland looks happy and rested in this pic taken on August 11, 1950, around Sun Valley, Idaho. Yet the troubled star was actually involved in a minor traffic accident on that same day. She wasn’t seriously injured, fortunately, but she did decide to leave Lake Tahoe for New York shortly afterward.

Bing Crosby and Bob Hope lit up the big screen in seven Road to … movies, and they were buddies off-screen, too. Here you can see Crosby doing his best to put Hope off his swing during a 1943 round of golf for charity. Yet Crosby was actually very serious about the game and belonged to 75 golf clubs during his lifetime.

Did you know Ginger Rogers actually competed in the U.S. Open tennis tournament? It’s true: she played mixed doubles with Frank Shields in 1950. Unfortunately for the Hollywood icon, though, the pair lost in the first round. Still, Rogers was a keen tennis player and reportedly had a clay court in her home.

Getty Images lists this picture simply as “Doris Day playing golf, circa 1950.” Yet a very similar picture over on Alamy was taken on the set of the 1964 movie Send Me No Flowers. And as Day appears on the golf course in a very funny scene in that movie, we’re betting the second description is more accurate.

John Wayne may have been a football player in his early days at the University of Southern California, but here he is showing off his pitching skills on the baseball field. This was part of the 1977 celebrity baseball game that coincided with Wayne being given the USC Alumni Association’s highest award. Jack Lemmon was also on the field that day.

Clint Eastwood loves golf. Don’t believe us? The man co-owns a golf course in Pebble Beach, California, and he was still competing in charity tournaments at the age of 91. Eastwood told Global Golf Post in 2019 that he began playing the game as a teenager — and clearly hasn’t looked back. These shots come from some time in the 1970s and 1982.

Golden Age couple Clark Gable and Carole Lombard loved horses so much they bought themselves a ranch in Los Angeles. The pair also enjoyed time at the race track, and Gable even owned a racehorse called Beverly Hills. This jaw-dropping shot of the star came during his early acting days in 1931.

Fred Astaire was known for his quick feet on the dance floor, but the star was also a big golfer. He apparently had a handicap of ten and once said his proudest moment was “a four-wood [he] hit” in 1945. That might not come as a surprise to anyone who’s seen his silky moves on the driving range in Carefree.

In 1957 Michael Ansara was the star of Broken Arrow, and Betty White was the star of Date with the Angels. But it seems the pair were friends off-screen, with one publication calling them “golfing partners.” This is supposedly a candid shot of the actors in Griffith Park — but there are loads of other pictures from this day showing the actors doing archery, playing golf, and even enjoying drinks.

It might look like Gary Cooper is playing polo in this 1954 photo… but that’s actually a golf club in his hand. In fact, the Western star is obviously having a great time as he sits atop a policeman’s horse and tries to tee off at the Congressional Country Club. Believe it or not, though, there were proper golfers there hoping to win a $40,000 tournament.

It seems that star Lana Turner was looking for a change of pace after starring in 1953’s Latin Lovers. According to one caption of a photo of her Aspen-based adventure, Turner was trying out the slopes for the first time. Although, apparently, she didn’t get the knack for it at first and spent a lot of time on her bottom.

It must have been hot on the day in 1977 when a celebrity tennis tournament rolled up to the Forest Hills Stadium. Why else would most of the photos of Arnold Schwarzenegger competing in the event picture him without a shirt? Still, Maria Shriver must have been impressed, because she met Arnie the night before the tournament — and the pair went on to marry.

At the 29th annual Bing Crosby National Pro-Amateur Golf Tournament in 1970, Dean Martin ran the gamut of emotions. You can see the agony on his face right here! Apparently, he’d tried to sink a putt on the 15th hole — and watched the ball roll away and past the cup. We’re sure Deano got over it pretty quickly, though.

We think this is a publicity photo of actor Claudette Colbert. Still, we know Colbert used to play the game. In fact, a 1938 newspaper article revealed that Colbert — along with stars such as Errol Flynn and Charlie Chaplin — was a tennis student under Eleanor Tennant at the Beverly Hills Tennis Club.

You might not recognize this guy putting his speed-skating skills to the test… because he’s fully dressed. After all, Johnny Weissmuller made an international name for himself as Tarzan in a dozen hit movies. But he earned that perfect bod during the days when he was a five-time Olympic champion swimmer.

Dick Cavett managed to get Katharine Hepburn to open up about her love of tennis when she appeared on his talk show in 1973. The legendary actor confessed that she was “not good” at the game but that she thought it was “great” and “sensational” all the same. “Perfection is a thrill,” she said. “And you practically never achieve it.”

Incredibly, Cary Grant and Randolph Scott shared a home in Malibu for 11 years. And fortunately for us, their time there was documented in a run of photos that have gone down in history. The pics — showing the pair golfing, boxing, swimming, and goofing around — were apparently part of a Paramount Pictures publicity campaign.

In 2015 GQ claimed that August 27, 1977, could be “the most stylish day ever.” Why? Because of the fashionable celebrities on display at a charitable tennis tournament. “Even Diana Ross ditched her customary glittery gowns for the day in favor of tennis whites, though her earrings were a nod to her usual diva self,” they wrote.

Skiing seems to be a big part of royal life — and Princess Diana certainly appeared to love the slopes. She visited the resort in Lech, Austria, every year from 1991 to 1994 and brought her kids along for the ride, too. As for her ski style? No one did it better, surely.

When Elton John appeared at a celebrity tennis tournament in 1975, he had the good fortune to be paired with Billie Jean King. The doubles team advanced to the quarter-finals with John displaying, according to The New York Times, “a fair forehand and quick reactions.” John and King were the showcase couple for the 16,000-strong crowd, too.

We couldn’t find any interesting background details about this particular image of The Girl Can’t Help It star Jayne Mansfield. All we know is that it was taken at some point around 1960 — and that it is Jayne Mansfield… playing ice hockey. But then, what more do you want from an old photo?

In 1952’s Pat and Mike, Katharine Hepburn plays a competitive sportswoman and her off-screen beau Spencer Tracy is her manager. But between takes of this classic rom-com, Tracy evidently played a game of tennis for real. We’re not entirely sure if he’s enjoying himself, though! Doesn’t seem like it, does it?

Getty Images lists this image simply as “Debbie Reynolds playing tennis.” But seeing as how a series of images of Reynolds playing the sport in the exact same outfit featured in a spread in a 1954 issue of Modern Screen magazine, we think this pic may be posed. After all, who looks that good when they play tennis for real?

What’s better than a picture of a movie star playing sports? A picture of all the movie stars playing sports! From left to right here, we’ve got Veronica Balfe, Jack Hemingway, Ingrid Bergman, Gary Cooper, and Clark Gable. They’re enjoying a spot of skiing at the Sun Valley resort in Idaho in March 1946.

What is it with Golden Age Hollywood stars and tennis? It seems as if you simply had to be an ace player — or at least look like you were — in order to break into the business. So while we don’t know how much of a player Ava Gardner actually was, we can tell she enjoyed skipping over the net in this 1940s pic.

It’ll come as no surprise to learn that Paul Newman was quite the sportsman in real life. In fact, his plan had initially been to become a professional football player. But he was booted off his college football team after getting arrested and that forced him to shift his focus to acting. Here, he’s trying his hand at tennis in the 1960s.

No list of classic movie stars would be complete without Marilyn Monroe. She was famously married to the Yankees’ Joe DiMaggio, of course, but she evidently had a swing of her own. Fortunately, this wasn’t a real game. Instead, this classy pic was taken at a 1952 game for 20th Century Fox — and the people behind her are the movie studio’s staff.