LIFE intimately chronicled the lives of Hollywood’s biggest stars — and that's shown in this lavish new two-volume ode to the golden age of film. Plus:

• Redefining the bourbon industry: It starts with heirloom corn.
• Ambergris Cay: Our new favorite private island in Turks & Caicos.

Marilyn, Brando, McQueen: Inside the Star-Studded Archives of “LIFE”

During the golden age of Hollywood, stars like Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando and Elizabeth Taylor shone so bright that their visages are still etched into our minds, and plastered throughout our streaming queues, decades later. But it’s not just directors who are responsible for bringing these actors into the homes and hearts of Americans; from 1936 to 1972, LIFE magazine, a household staple, not only featured over 200 Hollywood covers, but intimately chronicled the lives of the industry’s biggest names, photographing their glamorous goings-on from the set to the afterparties to their own bedrooms.

In LIFE. Hollywood, a lavish new two-volume photobook from Taschen, over 600 of these images — more than half previously unpublished — are brought together in brilliant fashion alongside illuminating stories. Here are 10 of our favorites, from Marilyn to Steve McQueen.

Heirloom Corn Is Going to Redefine the Bourbon Industry

As someone who used to work in restaurants, coffee roasting and bakery goods, Scott Blackwell came to making bourbon — which he concedes he knew next to nothing about at the time — through the eyes of a foodie. “You can get a white mushroom or a shiitake or a portobello, and they all have their own flavor profile,” Blackwell, who is the co-founder of South Carolina’s High Wire Distilling Co, says. “In coffee, we’re used to thinking about ingredients from the grower onwards. But the same thinking doesn’t typically seem to be applied to bourbon, [like asking] what sort of corn is used?”

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A Stay at This Private Island Resort in Turks & Caicos Is Just What the Doctor Ordered

Located 600 miles south of Miami, Ambergris Cay opened as an all-inclusive, private island resort in 2019. Originally established as a community for private homeowners, it comprises 1,100-acres, 17 beachfront bungalows — up from 10 originally — and nine villas, the largest of which has six bedrooms. It’s stunning for a number of reasons, the signature crystal-clear waters of Turks and Caicos that swaddle it not least of all. Everywhere you look, you’re met with an impossible shade of turquoise.