The sixties were a time of great change as Hollywood was in decline as more movies were being shot on location or at other studios, in particular Pinewood in London.
1963 was the worst year for US film production as they produced just 121 releases, the lowest in fifty years. Despite the growth of TV and the influx of overseas movies Hollywood still managed to produce some of cinema's biggest names.
Steve McQueen: was nicknamed the 'King of Cool' and was one of cinema's biggest names throughout the decade.
He kicked off the sixties in great style when he starred alongside Yul Brynner in The Magnificent Seven and this was to be his first major hit.
The first of his iconic roles came in 1963 with The Great Escape, which followed the mass escape by Allied prisoners of war from a German POW camp during World War II.
He was famed for his motorcycle jump near the end of the movie, it still remains one of the greatest cinematic moments.
By 1968 Steve McQueen's career was at it's peak with the release of Bullitt and The Thomas Crown Affair he cemented himself as the King of Cool.
But what Bullitt is most famous for is it's legendary car chase through San Francisco, when everything was done for real and not in a studio with special effects. It still remains the greatest car chase ever committed to film.
Julie Andrews: the sixties was the peak for the British actress with her greatest roles coming in this decade.
Her debut feature came in Mary Poppins in 1964 and it was a great way to kick off a career as she landed the Academy Award for Best Actress.
Next up for the actress was The Sound of Music which saw her take on the role of Maria, which resulted in another OScar nomination.
Throughout the sixties she went on to appear in Torn Curtain and Thoroughly Modern Millie, which went on to be nominated for seven Oscars.
But it wasn't just on the big screen where she was enjoying success she was also a big name in the theatre with My Fair Lady under her belt.
Paul Newman: is an Oscar, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award winning actor in a career that has spanned in excess of fifty years.
Released in 1961 Fast Eddie Felson was one of Newman's early iconic characters and earnt him an Oscar nod. Twenty five years later he reprised the role in The Colour of Money and won his one and only Oscar.
He was back in the Oscar limelight in 1963 when he bagged another nomination for his performance in Hud. A third nod came in 1967 for Cool Hand Luke.
The 1969 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, directed by George Hill encapsulated the very meaning of the Western dramatic chase scenes on horseback to daring robberies of banks and trains all based around a friendship where either would die for the other.
It's success was largely down to the sizzling chemistry of Robert Redford and Paul Newman, with Newman was at his roguish best and Redford mixing sex appeal with danger.
Natalie Wood: earnt her first Oscar nod back in 1955 for Rebel Without A Cause but it was the sixties that brought her a string of successful roles.
She kicked off the decade in fine style with Splendor in the Grass, which tells a story of sexual repression, love, and heartbreak, which resulted in an Oscar nod.
She also starred in popular musical West Side Story the same year. Next up was Gypsy before she was Oscar nominated once again for Love with the Proper Stranger.
Other successful movies that decade were Inside Daisy Clover and This Property Is Condemned, both of which brought her Golden Globe nominations.
Elizabeth Taylor: saw more substantial roles come her way in the sixties after the success of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof and Suddenly Last Summer at the end of the fifties.
By the turn of the decade she was the highest paid actress setting up a $1 million contract to play Cleopatra.
But before Cleopatra hit the big screen Taylor won her first Academy Award for Butterfield 8.
The lavish production of Cleopatra arrived on the big screening 1963 and saw Taylor star alongside Richard Burton, who she would star alongside for six movies throughout the decade.
Despite being a critical failure and struggling to re-coup it's production costs at the box office the movie went on to be nominated for a string of Oscars, including Best Picture.
Her second Oscar came in 1966 for her performance in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, an adaptation of the play by Edward Albee.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
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