Famous people really are just like us! And they always have been. Whether vintage actors or athletes or poets: They love their dogs.

Celebrities and Dogs

Natalie Wood and her silver poodle Morningstar, at home in Beverly Hills in 1960.

Photo by Allan Grant/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation.

Celebrities and Dogs

Gertrude Stein, right, and Alice B. Toklas walked their poodle, Baskets, in the French village of Culoz after the end of German occupation, 1945.

Photo by Carl Mydans/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation.

Celebrities and Dogs

Baseball star Willie Mays walked with his poodle at the San Francisco airport, after his Giants left New York and moved west in 1958.

Photo by Nat Farbman/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation.

Celebrities and Dogs

In 1956, Jayne Mansfield pondered the eternal question: why not just play with your dog?

Photo by Peter Stackpole/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation.

Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock, at home with his Sealyham terrier Mr. Jenkins in 1939, offered a title for this photo: “A Dislike of American Fireplaces.”

Photo by Peter Stackpole/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation.

Steve McQueen

Steve McQueen was woken by his malamute during a hunting trip in the Sierra Madre Mountains, 1963.

Photo by John Dominis/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation

Frank Sinatra checked in on Ringo in Palm Springs, 1965.

Photo by John Dominis/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation

Jimmy Stewart once read a poem about his dog on The Tonight Show.

Photo by Rex Hardy/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation

Celebrities and Dogs

Actress Bette Davis and her dog were wheeled about in her Beverly Hills backyard, 1939.

Photo by Alfred Eisenstaedt/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation

Robert Frost

On this journey on a less-traveled road, poet Robert Frost chose not to walk alone.

Photo by Eric Schaal/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation

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