Now five decades into her career, Meryl Streep has more than cemented her status as one of the greatest Hollywood actresses ever. The three-time Oscar winner has more total Academy Award nominations (21) than any other actor in history, her resume stacked with one iconic performance after another. There’s a Meryl for every mood, really, whether you prefer your Streep spiky (as in The Devil Wears Prada—and, it would appear, its forthcoming sequel), buoyant and carefree (Florence Foster Jenkins; Mamma Mia!), understated and vulnerable (The Hours; The Bridges of Madison County), or glamorously wacky (Julie and Julia; Death Becomes Her).
Here, we’ve dug through the archives to assemble a photographic tribute to a singular performer—and Vogue’s May 2026 cover star. And so, without further ado, here are 23 striking vintage pictures of the great Meryl Streep.
Photo: ©20thCentFox/Courtesy Everett Collection1/23Making her film debut in Fred Zinnemann’s Julia )1977), starring Vanessa Redgrave and Jane Fonda.
- Photo: Getty Images2/23
A penitent Streep as Inga Helms Weiss on the set of the 1978 miniseries Holocaust.
Photo: Getty Images3/23Rehearsing for Shakespeare in the Park’s 1978 production of The Taming of the Shrew, which she starred in with Raul Julia.
- Archive Photos/Getty Images4/23
With Robert DeNiro in The Deer Hunter (1978), for which Streep earned her first Oscar nomination, for best supporting actress.
- Ron Galella/Getty Images5/23
With her mother, Mary, at the New York premiere of The Seduction of Joe Tynan in 1979.
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- Photo: Getty Images6/23
Whisking her baby son Henry—Streep’s eldest child with Don Gummer—through John F. Kennedy Airport in 1980.
- Photo: Getty Images7/23
Posing with her Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) co-stars Dustin Hoffman and Justin Henry in London. The film earned Streep her first Academy Award, for best supporting actress.
- Photo: Getty Images8/23
Backstage at the Public Theater during her run in Alice in Concert, c. 1980.
- Photo: Getty Images9/23
With Jeremy Irons, her co-star in The French Lieutenant’s Woman, c. 1981.
Photo: Getty Images10/23Streep and Diane Keaton at a benefit in support of nuclear disarmament in 1982.
Photo: Getty Images11/23With Kevin Kline and Peter MacNichol on the New York set of Sophie’s Choice.
- Photo: Getty Images12/23
Streep at the 55th Annual Academy Awards, where she won her second Oscar, for Sophie’s Choice (1982).
- Photo: Getty Images13/23
Doing press for 1983’s Silkwood in Los Angeles.
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Again with Robert DeNiro, now filming the romantic drama Falling in Love, c. 1984.
- Photo: Getty Images15/23
With Robert Redford on the set of Sydney Pollack’s Out of Africa (1985).
Photo: Getty Images16/23At the Governor’s Ball after the 1989 Academy Awards, where Streep was nominated for her performance in A Cry in the Dark.
Photo: Courtesy Everett Collection17/23With Ed Begley in 1989’s She-Devil.
- Photo: Getty Images18/23
Streep and Shirley MacLaine on the set of Postcards From the Edge (1990), based on Carrie Fisher’s semi-autobiographical novel of the same name.
Photo: ©Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection19/23In the 1994 thriller The River Wild.
Photo: Getty Images20/23Streep with Clint Eastwood on the set of his 1995 film The Bridges of Madison County.
- Photo: Getty Images21/23
With Mike Nichols and Carly Simon at the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s gala tribute to Nichols in 1999.
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Photo: Getty Images22/23Streep wielding a bouquet of flowers while shooting The Hours (2002) in New York in 2001.
Photo: ©Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection23/23Recumbent in Spike Jonze’s Adaptation (2002).
