A Danish postcard featuring a publicity still of Klaus Kinski from the film ‘And God Said to Cain,’ 1970.
The images in this post were culled from a large collection I found online at a site called Filmstar Postcards—and once I started digging through the site’s massive alphabetical list, I couldn’t tear myself away. Historically, postcards have been used as promotional vehicles for everything and everyone. The vintage postcards in this post are of European origin with most hailing from Germany, France or Italy.
Of the astounding array of postcards cataloged by the site, I was most taken with images that captured the faces of the famous before they were well known. For instance, in the “B” section I found a rather astonishing Hungarian postcard of Bela Lugosi that shows a young, dashing looking future Dracula in a white suit staring stoically into the camera with a cigarette between his lips. While most of the celebrity postcards are of the stars of yesteryear, there were a few of more contemporary actors/performers such as Asia Argento, Grace Jones and Serge Gainsbourg. Check them all out below!
British postcard of Grace Jones.
French postcard of Marianne Faithfull.
Belgian promotion card by Taschen Gallery for the exhibition ‘Taxi Driver - unseen photographs from Scorsese’s Masterpiece.’ The image was a publicity still for the 1976 film ‘Taxi Driver.’
Italian postcard of Asia Argento used to promote the 1998 filmd ‘Viola Kisses Everybody.’
Another Italian poscard of a nearly unreconizable Tom Jones.
British postcard of a young Yvonne de Carlo, the future Lily Munster.
A Hungarian postcard of a young Bela Lugosi.
German postcard of Brigitte Bardot.
A funky German postcard of Ursula Andress.
British postcard of a youg Peter Lorre.
French postcard of Serge Gainsbourg.
German postcard of a young Anthony Perkins featuring a still from the 1959 film, ‘Green Mansions.’
An Italian postcard with a still of an intimidating Robert Mitchum from the 1955 film, ‘The Night of the Hunter.’
German postcard of Sophia Loren photographed in Rome, Italy.
A Canadian fan club postcard of a young Joan Collins.
A German postcard of a young Angie Dickinson.
A Belgian postcard of the great Rita Hayworth.
A wild French postcard of The Rolling Stones.
Previously on Dangerous Minds:
‘Scanners’ head-explosion ‘magic-motion’ lenticular postcards!
Absurd propaganda postcards warning men about the dangers of women’s rights, early 1900s
Early-Black Sabbath ephemera including postcards from a young Ozzy Osbourne head to auction
Morbid and grotesque Italian anti-German propaganda postcards from WWI
Postcards from J G Ballard