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We see them on their albums’ covers, old rare pictures, and successful movies, but their passports, this is something we definitely haven’t see. before! It’s interesting how a small -but super important, a piece of paper can remind us that people like Marilyn Monroe were just people who had to travel and needed a passport for it. It’s also interesting how Walt Disney got to smile for his passport picture, while we had to look serious with our hair behind our ears. From James Joyce to Muhammad Ali and Albert Einstein to David Bowie, here’s a list of passports and other official documents of extremely famous, smart, beautiful and talented people of the past century. 1. David Bowie Speaking of tamed, does anyone else wonder how hard it was to get glam rocker David Bowie to look so clean and presentable for his passport photo? passportvintage.com 2. Johnny Cash The “Ring of Fire” singer looks like he means business. passportvintage.com 3. Walt Disney Walt Disney’s passport features the signature—here inscribed over a photo of the mustachioed animator whose imagination we have to thank for Mickey Mouse and all his friends—that inspired his iconic company logo. passportvintage.com 4. James Joyce James Joyce’s passport, which was issued to him by the British Consulate in Zurich after he fled Italy upon its entry into World War I, was valid from 1915 and covers almost the entire 7-year period he spent writing his epic, Ulysses. It also claims his long-term partner Nora, featured in a photo with their children, as his “wife”—a sly untruth, as the two weren’t officially married until 1931, long after Joyce was granted his passport. passportvintage.com 5. Albert Einstein The theoretical physicist’s hair is fairly well tamed for his Swiss passport photo, but other photographs of him prove that wasn’t always the case. passportvintage.com 6. Muhammad Ali Ali has surprisingly dainty handwriting for a boxing powerhouse. However, this World Heavyweight Champion proves that penmanship matters. passportvintage.com 7. Virginia Woolf Unlike Zelda Fitzgerald, who appears to have traveled to Paris and back on her husband’s documents, Virginia Woolf seems to have insisted on a passport of her own. passportvintage.com 8. Marilyn Monroe Dated February 8, 1954, this particular legal document of Marilyn Monroe’s serves as a reminder that she was once—very briefly—married to New York Yankees center fielder Joe DiMaggio. It also notes the color of her hair as blonde and her eyes as blue, not that anyone needed to be reminded of that. passportvintage.com 9. Ernest Hemingway Notable American expatriate Ernest Hemingway was a seasoned traveler from about the 1920s onward. In A Moveable Feast, his memoir of his life in Paris with other illustrious artists like James Joyce, Ezra Pound, and Pablo Picasso, he provides some succinct travel advice after learning his lesson on a long, frustrating car ride with a tipsy F. Scott Fitzgerald: “Never go on trips with someone you do not love.” passportvintage.com 10. F. Scott Fitzgerald F. Scott Fitzgerald’s passport is a three-for-one: In the older tradition of American travel documents, a passport issued to a man would be eligible to cover his wife and children as well, so pictured here are Fitzgerald, his wife Zelda, and their only child, “Scottie,” who would later become a writer and journalist who traveled the country of her own accord. passportvintage.com 11. Janis Joplin The Queen of Rock and Roll is smiling in her passport photo, just less than seven months before she died of a heroin overdose in a Hollywood hotel room. Tragically, she never lived to need her passport renewed in 1974. passportvintage.com 12. Ella Fitzgerald The stamps on this well-traveled blues singer’s passport document her trips to Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Britain, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Switzerland, and Yugoslavia, which makes you wonder even more why Hungary didn’t want to let her in. passportvintage.com 13. John Lennon You might say that John Lennon’s certified United States immigration document was his ticket to ride. passportvintage.com 14. Beyoncé While not technically vintage, Beyoncé’s passport nonetheless gives us a glimpse at the singing superstar before her Super Bowl headliner days. These days, Queen Bey's passport seems capable of allowing her and fellow famous husband Jay-Z entry into Cuba despite the embargo on tourism: royal treatment indeed. passportvintage.com 15. Audrey Hepburn The Breakfast at Tiffany’s star appears to be wearing a white blouse, which disappears against the white background of her passport photo—maybe she should have gone with the little black dress that day instead. passportvintage.com Credits: mentalfloss.com Share this story on Facebook with your friends.