While we’re used to seeing them splashed across magazine covers or flickering on film screens, these photos reveal just what it looks like when some of the world’s most iconic celebrities kick back and relax in the comfort of their own homes.
And, for all their wealth and glamour, you may be surprised to see just how domestic life for these celebrated stars can be when the world isn’t watching.
From Marilyn Monroe to Diana Ross, click or scroll to step inside the home lives of some of the most famous faces…
Iconic stage actress and film and TV star Angela Lansbury is known for a career which spanned 80 years. The beloved actress was born in London but fled to the United States during the Blitz in 1940, where she went on to study acting in New York City.
In 1942, Lansbury made the big move out west, settling in Hollywood and contracting with MGM Studios, which would launch her career. It was in Hollywood that Lansbury would acquire her first home, a mid-century modern bungalow in Santa Monica, pictured here.
While owning her own home as a young woman in the 1940s was groundbreaking enough, Lansbury was soon sharing her digs with fellow MGM contractor and expatriate Peter Pullen Shaw, though the pair were not yet married.
It was Lansbury who eventually proposed and they were married back in London in 1949. This photo shows the future star of Disney hits Bedknobs and Broomsticks and Beauty and the Beast directing Shaw as he arranges furniture in their home.
Joan Collins is an English actress and author with a prestigious career spanning nearly eight decades. Once nicknamed “Britain’s bad girl”, Collins starred in numerous hit films in England and America throughout the 1950s and 60s, before transitioning to television in the 1970s.
However, despite her busy professional schedule, Collins still made time for family life and is pictured here in the living room of her Beverly Hills home in 1981 listening to her daughter Katyana practising the piano.
Later in life, Collins took up writing, becoming a regular columnist for numerous newspapers including The Spectator, The Sunday Telegraph and Harper’s Bazar, as well as publishing several best-selling novels and lifestyle books.
She is pictured here in the office of her Beverly Hills home in 1995, working on her latest novel against a backdrop of her own framed magazine covers from around the world.
From his humble beginnings as Archibald Leach in Bristol, England, Cary Grant rose to become the definitive leading man of Hollywood’s Golden Age. And, with his good looks, suave demeanour and charming Mid-Atlantic accent, he was also Hollywood’s hottest bachelor. However, Grant appeared in no rush to end his bachelorhood for many years.
He’s pictured here relaxing with fellow actor Randolph Scott in what became known as 'Bachelor Hall', a Santa Monica home the pair bought and shared for 12 years after striking up a friendship on the set of Hot Saturday in 1932.
Cary Grant went on to marry five times over the course of his life. He is pictured here in a 1943 publicity shot for RKO Radio Pictures on the porch of his home with his second wife, socialite and heiress Barbara Hutton, and their dog.
While the couple appears relaxed enough, we can’t help but notice he looks a lot less happy in this snap than he did back in his bachelor pad…
One of Hollywood’s brightest stars and the biggest bombshell of the 19th century, Marilyn Monroe lived a glamorous life tempered by tragedy. While the actress starred in countless box office juggernauts such as Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Some Like It Hot, she also struggled with addiction, depression and several unhappy marriages, resulting in a fraught home life.
However, the star did still enjoy some peaceful domestic moments, such as this cosy California bedroom scene. Here, Monroe is seen relaxing on her sofa opening her copious fan mail.
Later that same year, Monroe signed a seven-year contract with 20th Century Fox studios which would make her a star. Here she is pictured outside her Los Angeles home in 1956 before she moved to New York to marry her third husband, playwright Arthur Miller.
The star appears relaxed outside the mid-century, ranch-style home, perhaps enjoying her last months of freedom before a return to married domestic life.
Judy Garland became an icon of the silver screen at the tender age of 16 when she won the coveted role of Dorothy Gale in MGM’s The Wizard of Oz. Garland went on to star in countless movie musicals, with hits including Easter Parade and Meet Me in St Louis.
During the filming of the latter production, Garland met and fell in love with director Vincent Minelli and the pair were married in 1945, giving birth to daughter Liza a year later. Captured here with Liza in their family home in 1946, the actress is the picture of domestic bliss.
However, forced to work long hours at the studio and plagued by the constant suggestion that she wasn’t attractive enough to be a star, Judy struggled with addiction and depression her entire life.
Moments of peace at home, like this snap of her smiling while flipping pancakes in her kitchen, were a rarity.
From struggling vaudevillian to Hollywood’s most iconic comic star, Charlie Chaplin’s life was a true tale of rags to riches. Chaplin began life in poverty in London’s workhouses before transferring to the music hall stages, where he was scouted by an agent who took him to the US to launch his film career.
Chaplin’s star continued to rise throughout the 1920s, 30s and 40s but came to an abrupt halt in the 1950s when he was accused of Communist sympathies and relocated to a home in Switzerland, pictured here second from the left.
Chaplain’s Swiss abode, the Manoir de Ban, was an elegant chateau on the banks of Lake Geneva where the exiled actor moved with his wife, Oona O’Niell, pictured here holding their newborn daughter Jane. Around them are the couple’s other five children.
Often surrounded by family, Chaplin lived comfortably at Manoir de Ban for 25 years, from 1952 until his death in 1977. Today, the house serves as a museum dedicated to the life and works of its previous owner.
As a member of the world-famous rock group the Beatles, John Lennon was a controversial but beloved figure in the world of music. Lennon met artist Yoko Ono in 1966 at her exhibition at London's Indica Gallery and the pair were married three years later. The Beatles split the following year and many fans unfairly attributed the breakup to that fateful pairing.
Ono was a multimedia artist who collaborated extensively with Lennon on performance art, music and peace protests. When Ono gave birth to the couple’s son Sean, Lennon stepped back from the spotlight to be a full-time parent, as can be seen in this cute snap in his son’s bedroom in their Liverpool home.
Lennon and Ono settled in Tittenhurst Park, near Ascot, Berkshire, which they bought for £150,000 ($198k). The Grade II-listed early Georgian stately home included extensive gardens, servants’ quarters and Tudor cottages, all extensively renovated to suit the couple’s tastes.
It was even updated to include a recording studio, Ascot Sound Studios, where the pair collaborated on several pieces. When he settled permanently in the US, Lennon sold Tittenhurst Park to former bandmate Ringo Starr, who renamed the studio Startling Studios.
The Jackson 5 may be best known for producing chart-topping solo musician Michael Jackson but this boy band formed by the five Jackson brothers was a musical powerhouse in its own right for over 20 years. The band was founded in 1964 by the boys’ father, Joe Jackson who went on to manage the band’s climb to the top.
While the Jackson family had humble origins in Gary, Indiana, with the band’s first commercial success in 1971, Joe Jackson moved the family to Hayvenhurst, a two-acre (0.8ha) compound in California’s San Fernando Valley, which he bought for $250,000 (£189k), roughly $1.8 million (£1.4m) today.
While the Jackson boys may not have had a normal childhood, their Hayvenhurst digs made up for the loss in many ways. In addition to the five-bedroom, seven-bathroom main building, the compound also included a movie theatre, koi pond, ice cream parlour, candy store, puppet shop and a Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs diorama.
Michael Jackson remained at Hayvenhurst until he bought his own Neverland Ranch in 1987, but as far as public record shows, Hayvenhurst remains in the Jackson family to this day.
For all his high-flying professional commitments, Elvis Presley was really a homebody and family man at heart, with close ties to his mother in particular. He’s pictured here sprawled on the bed beside his mother, Gladys in the one-storey ranch on Audubon Drive where he moved with his parents in March of 1956.
At the time, Elvis was already a star and police were often called to the property to corral the mob of fans hoping for a glimpse of the heartthrob.
Elvis travelled a long way over the course of his life and career, from a two-room shack in Tupelo, Mississippi, to his spectacular Graceland mansion where he ended his life. Before his tragic death, however, the singer certainly enjoyed happy moments in his iconic Memphis home, which he purchased for $102,500 (£77.7k) in March of 1957.
Here he is pictured with his wife Priscilla, daughter Lisa Marie and the family dog playing in the backyard in 1968. Set on 13.8 acres (5.6ha), the Colonial Revival-style mansion offered plenty of room not only for Elvis’s young family but also his parents, his grandmother and even his aunt.
Known as the smouldering star of Golden Age Hollywood’s Western and war films, John Wayne began acting in the 1920s silent film era, with a career that would go on to span more than 50 years.
Wayne spent much of his life out in California but is pictured here relaxing in his Texas home in 1975, four years before his death.
The star’s home was as ruggedly masculine as his on-screen personas, with dark wooden furnishings, spacious floorplans and equine art. Wayne is seen here playing chess, a favourite pastime of his during downtime on set.
Prolific actress and activist Jane Fonda has won two Academy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, seven Golden Globe Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award over the course of a career which has spanned nearly six decades.
The daughter of respected stage and screen actor Henry Fonda, Jane was raised with a love for performing. She is pictured here with her dad in his home, presenting him with the Oscar he received for best actor in the 54th Annual Academy Awards.
Surrounded by a cacophony of Indian print pillows, bedspreads and wall hangings, Jane looks relaxed as she takes a phone call from her publication-strewn bed at home in Beverly Hills in 1970.
At the time, she was married to French screenwriter and director Roger Vadim, with whom she had a daughter Vanessa, named after fellow actress and activist Vanessa Redgrave.
American actress and singer Doris Day began life as a Big Band chanteuse in 1939, but her numerous No. 1 recordings soon led her to Hollywood. Constantly on tour with the Les Brown band during the early phase of her career, Day found it difficult to establish a proper home base.
However, after her breakthrough role in Romance on the High Seas, it finally made sense for her to set up shop out west. Here she is pictured on the front lawn of her home in 1949, playing with her dogs by the pool.
Day went on to star in countless box office blowouts including Pillow Talk, The Man Who Knew Too Much and Calamity Jane, but still managed to find time for cosy moments at home. Here she is in her dining room, enjoying some family time with her mother and son.
Lead singer of one of the most successful Motown and girl groups of all time, Diana Ross had numerous chart-topping songs both as a member of the Supremes and as a solo artist.
Ross also pursued a film career, famously portraying Billie Holiday in Lady Sings the Blues in 1972. Based out in Tinsel Town while working on the film, Ross is pictured here posing glamorously on the balcony of her Hollywood home in March of 1971.
With such a spectacular view of the Hollywood skyline, it’s hard to imagine why Ross would ever want to leave this glamorous residence behind.
However, the property was one of a large portfolio the star enjoyed during her lifetime, including multimillion-dollar homes in Miami Beach, Beverly Hills and an upscale Connecticut suburb.
American pop and entertainment duo Sonny & Cher dominated the 1960s and 70s with R&B classics like 'I Got You Babe' and 'Baby Don’t Go'. In addition to their musical partnership, the pair were also a married couple, enabling them to pair business with pleasure in their glamorous Mediterranean-style home in Encino, California.
The couple bought the six-bedroom property (pictured here) in 1967 from actor Tony Curtis for $250,000 (£190k) as reported by UK magazine Closer.
With 1930s craftsmanship, wide open spaces and vaulted ceilings, the airy home was the perfect space for the artists to collaborate. The house included a breakfast room, home theatre, billiards room, wood-panelled library, grandly proportioned dining room and supersized swimming pool.
The couple lived there happily until their comedy debut in 1971 with The Sonny & Cher Show, at which point they were convinced to move yet again by – you guessed it – Tony Curtis!
Impresario of the silver screen and gatekeeper to the realms of fantasy and imagination long after his passing, Walt Disney was a visionary across numerous industries.
While he had a shrewd eye for business, Disney also knew how to keep the magic alive in his personal life, from his California home full of whimsical touches to his private apartment above the town square fire station on Main Street, USA in Disneyland, pictured here.
Disney’s focus shifted to his theme park as soon as it opened in 1955 and he spent as much time there as possible. The apartment also made a convenient home base for Disney, who spent long hours commuting between Anaheim and the studios.
Disney hired Academy Award-winning set designer Emile Kuri to decorate and furnish the space, packing it with carefully selected antiques, china and bric-a-brac to turn it into Walt’s vision of a “little Victorian masterpiece,” Disney’s daughter Diane recalled on the website Walt Disney.org blog.
English-American icon Elizabeth Taylor began her career as a child actress, appearing in hit films including Lassie and National Velvet. Taylor is pictured here in her childhood bedroom in the 1940s, relaxing with a magazine.
Surrounded by soft toys, family photos and stacks of books and records, Taylor has yet to graduate into the Golden Age Hollywood opulence which would colour her later life.
As an adult, Taylor’s career reached dizzying heights, earning her countless accolades including two Academy Awards, a Golden Globe and a DBE. She also developed an infamous taste for decadent jewellery, high fashion and husbands, seven in all (including Richard Burton twice over).
She is pictured here wearing a dreamy negligée posing on a bed with floral bedding which resembles her childhood duvet. Perhaps some things didn’t change too much after all!
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