Xan Brooks April 17, 2009

Stubbed out: smoking in the movies

So French anti-smoking advertising laws have robbed M Hulot of his trademark pipe. Here are a few other iconic smokers of the silver screen

Smoking in the movies: Mon Oncle - Jacques Tati smoking — Comedy like they used to make it. Here is Jacques Tati, puffing hilariously on a pipe in his 1958 classic Mon Oncle. Later he will cough, fall over and quite possibly throw up Photograph: The Kobal Collection/Kobal

Smoking in the movies: In a Lonely Place — The golden age of motion pictures revolved exclusively around smoking fags and driving cars. In somehow managing to combine the two, Humphrey Bogart electrified the industry and was duly crowned the "King of Hollywood" Photograph: The Kobal Collection/Kobal

Smoking in the movies: Cary Grant smoking — If you didn't smoke in 30s and 40s Hollywood, you were - quite simply - not a man. Here Cary Grant proves his macho credentials by lighting a cigarette while concealing three more packs beneath his hat Photograph: The Kobal Collection/Kobal

Smoking in the movies: At the Circus — In that happier time, there was only one thing better than lighting up a cigarette - it was having it lit for you by your own beaming manservant Photograph: The Kobal Collection/Kobal

Smoking in the movies: Dark Victory — If you couldn't find a servant to light your cigarette, a suitor would do just as well. Bette Davis would reputedly refuse to submit to a screen kiss unless her co-star had first licked out an ashtray Photograph: The Kobal Collection/Kobal

Smoking in the movies: Breakfast at Tiffany's — Changing attitudes in the 50s and 60s were spearheaded by the likes of Audrey Hepburn. This gamine health freak was so militantly anti-smoking that she would only hold a cigarette that had first been inserted into a fluted holder Photograph: The Kobal Collection/Kobal

Smoking in the movies: Sophia Loren smoking — As Hepburn's campaign gained traction, other stars clung defiantly to their favourite prop. Who says smoking doesn't make you sexy? Sophia Loren strikes a blow for the old guard of nicotine queens Photograph: The Kobal Collection/Kobal

Smoking in the movies: George Burns — And who says it ages the skin? Here's George Burns, nursing a cigar at the tender age of 23 Photograph: The Kobal Collection/Kobal

Smoking in the movies: Laurel and Hardy smoking — But the times they were a-changing. Today we can only look back and wonder at a time when everybody smoked in the movies. This was the era when Laurel and Hardy lit up our lives .... Photograph: The Kobal Collection/Kobal

Smoking in the movies: Frankenstein (1931) — ... when Frankenstein credited his good looks to a rigorous 40-a-day habit ... Photograph: The Kobal Collection/Kobal

Smoking in the movies: Expresso Bongo — .... when Cliff Richard would not be seen dead without a stogie between his knuckles .... Photograph: The Kobal Collection/Kobal

Smoking in the movies: Children — ... and child actors were typically paid in bushels of tobacco. It was a golden age of yellow fingers and syrupy lungs, before the final credits rolled Photograph: The Kobal Collection/Kobal

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