75th Anniversary Paramount - Life

Limousines swarmed, extra policemen bolstered security, and usually blasé movieland employees cheered from windows. Parading through Paramount's Hollywood headquarters was an array of stars who for decades have delighted audiences and accountants alike. Our slogan proclaimed, 'If it's a Paramount picture, it's the best show in town,' recalled the studio's chairman, Frank Mancuso, 53. Seeing this gathering, I know why.

The film company founded in 1912 by Hungarian immigrant furrier Adolph Zukor is today the major of majors, with a $658 million gross and a 22 percent share of North American box office receipts last year. But these days it's easier for a mogul to line up hits than a talent turnout like this one inside the famous 1926 gate.

In 1943, when LIFE magazine wanted a similar photograph from MGM, Louis B. Mayer put out the word and everybody came -it was in their contracts, a grateful Mancuso told his players. But you all came because you wanted to be here.

The 62 actors took their lottery-assigned places. "You better hurry, Debra Winger is about to have her baby any second," co-median Robin Williams warned photographers. All laugh. Click. And another bit of celluloid history was made. On the following pages we move in for a few close-ups.

Attending the Paramount party were: (seated, from left) Martha Raye, Dana Andrews, Elizabeth Taylor, Frances Dee, Joel McCrea, Harry Dean Stanton, Harrison Ford, Jennifer Beals, Marlee Matlin, Danny de Vito.
(Second row) Olivia de Havilland, Kevin Costner, Cornel Wilde, Don Ameche, Deforest Kelley, Tom Cruise, Charlton Heston, Penny Marshall, Bob Hope, Victor Mature, Elizabeth McGovern, Robert de Niro.
(Third row) Andrew McCarthy, Henry Winkler, Anthony Perkins, Robert Stack, Mark Harmon, Faye Dunaway, Buddy Rogers, Gregory Peck, Debra Winger, Timothy Hutton.
(Fourth row) Jane Russell, Mike Connors, John Travolta, Janet Leigh, Charles Bronson, Ted Danson, Lou Gossett Jnr, Ryan O'Neal, Rhonda Fleming, Leonard Nimoy.
(Fifth row) William Shatner, Peter Graves, Molly Ringwald, Dorothy Lamour, Olivia Newton-John, Cindy Williams, Matthew Broderick, Gene Hackman, Walter Matthau, Robin Williams.
(Back row) Ali MacGraw, Burt Lancaster, Scott Baio, Rhea Perlman, Bruce Dern, James Caan, Glenn Ford, Fred MacMurray, Shelley Long, James Stewart.
Photo by Terry O'Neill.