A Visual History of Hollywood and the Hamburger

By Food & Wine
Updated: July 19, 2017
"There is something about a hamburger that stirs echoes in all of us,” writes David Michaels, ruminating on the iconic fast food's role in popular culture. The author of The World is Your Hamburger: A Cultural History dedicates a hefty chapter of his well-researched tome to dissecting the unfolding impact of this humble sandwich—one of the weightiest, most recognizable cultural symbols of the last century. One enduring trend in Michaels' research is the glut of hamburger imagery in film and television—where a simple patty on a sesame seed bun can help develop a character, set a scene or establish an underlying metaphor. Burgers are about Americana and opportunity, says Michaels, and the same could be said for Hollywood itself. Celebrity photographers and Hollywood cinematographers have captured shots of America’s favorite stars eating America’s favorite sandwich for as long as there have been celebrity photographers and Hollywood cinematographers. And for good reason—there’s something compelling about seeing a larger-than-life figure eating like the little people. “This, ultimately, is the fate of the hamburger in popular culture,” writes Michaels, “to be ever-present and evocative.” —Hannah Walhout The following is excerpted with permission from The World is Your Hamburger: A Cultural History by David Michaels, Phaidon 2017.
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1945

Getty Images/Gene Lester

Actor Humphrey Bogart, at the racetrack in Santa Anita, California, c. 1945.
 

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1955

Shutterstock.com/Sipa Press/REX

Singer and film star Elvis Presley, during the BBC documentary The Burger and the King: The Life and Cuisine of Elvis Presley, c. 1955.

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1964

Getty Images//Joseph Klipple

Actress Goldie Hawn, Washington, D.C., 1964.
 

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1973

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Actress Farrah Fawcett, c. 1973.

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1981

Image courtesy of the Advertising Archives/© Birds Eye

Boxer Muhammad Ali appearing in a UK television advertisement for Birds Eye’s Quarter Pounder, 1981.

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1994

Visual Icon/Quentin Tarantino/Miramax Films

Actor Samuel L. Jackson, eating a Big Kahuna burger, in the Quentin Tarantino film Pulp Fiction, 1994. 

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2007

Getty Images//Eric Charbonneau/WireImage for Vanity Fair Magazine

Helen Mirren eating an In-N-Out Cheeseburger at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party, 2007.

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2014

Getty Images//Richard Corkery/NY Daily News Archive

Mariah Carey at McDonald's, Times Square, New York City, 2014.

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Courtesy of Phaidon

The World is Your Burger: A Cultural History by David Michaels, $39.95 at phaidon.com. 

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