LIFE’s Most Memorable Kisses

LIFE’s Best Kisses

Grey Villet The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Written By: Lily Rothman, Liz Ronk

Sometimes you need a reason to give another person a kiss. And, as was the case in probably the most famous kissing photo of all time, that reason can be a big one (victory in World War II). But, other times, a kiss is its own reason to celebrate.

Whatever you want to call it a peck, a smooch, a snog a kiss communicates love in a way that few other acts can match. How people started kissing is a mystery and why we do it is complicated, but, from a child’s sweet kiss to a lover’s sexy kiss (or a walrus’ whiskery one, as the case may be), the act is a language of its own. And a photograph of a kiss, it follows, captures that feeling.

Here, with a look back at 40 years of kisses from LIFE Magazine’s archives of iconic 20th century photography, that fact is as clear as ever.

Shadows on the ground of kissing figures with camera on tripod between, 1930.

LIFE’s Best Kisses

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Two walruses kissing as they eat from a hand between them at the Brookfield zoo, 1938.

LIFE’s Best Kisses

William Vandivert The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

A man and woman kissing while geared to a lie detector machine to measure the emotional reaction,1939.

LIFE’s Best Kisses

Herbert Gehr The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images

Couple kissing in front of the Delta Tau Delta mummy at the University of the South. Girls are told: "Kiss mummy or kiss me." 1940.

LIFE’s Best Kisses

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Actress Marilyn Hare being kiss by soldiers as repayment, 1942.

LIFE’s Best Kisses

John Florea The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Multiple exposure of Deanna Durbin and Edmond O'Brien walking toward each other and kissing; from motion picture "Tonight and Forever." 1942.

LIFE’s Best Kisses

Gjon Mili The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Couple in Penn Station sharing farewell kiss before he ships off to war during WWII. 1943.

LIFE’s Best Kisses

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Mrs. Martini, wife of the Bronx Zoo lion keeper, kissing a tiger cub. 1944.

LIFE’s Best Kisses

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

A jubilant American sailor clutching a nurse in a back-bending, passionate kiss as he vents his joy while thousands jam the Times Square area to celebrate the long awaited victory over Japan. 1945.

LIFE’s Best Kisses

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

A little boy dressed as Uncle Sam, kissing a little girl on the cheek.1945.

LIFE’s Best Kisses

Frank Scherschel The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Newly wed couple Marshall Jacobs and wife Yolanda kiss after being married atop a flagpole. 1946.

LIFE’s Best Kisses

Allan Grant The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images

Peggy Lee getting a goodnight kiss on the nose from her 4-year-old daughter Nicki at home. 1948.

LIFE’s Best Kisses

Allan Grant The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Baseball player Yogi Berra getting kiss from his wife, Carmen, before he leaves for clubhouse. 1949.

LIFE’s Best Kisses

George Silk The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Gallant tiger bowing to kiss hand of flapper Barbara Pettit. 1949.

LIFE’s Best Kisses

Martha Holmes The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Christina Goldsmith tenderly kissing a Weimaraner puppy, which she took from a new litter of her father's stock since he is a top breeder of Weimaraner hunting dogs. 1950.

LIFE’s Best Kisses

Bernard Hoffman The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Josephine Baker receiving congratulatory kiss on the nose from her husband, orchestra leader Jo Bouillon, after her show at the Strand theater during her US tour. 1951.

LIFE’s Best Kisses

Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Jill Corey giving her grandmother, "Mamouch", a kiss on the forehead. 1953.

LIFE’s Best Kisses

Gordon Parks The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Irish McCalla as "Sheena Queen of the Jungle" kissing her chimpanzee costar. 1955.

LIFE’s Best Kisses

Loomis Dean The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Elvis Presley tenderly embracing and kissing the cheek of a female admirer backstage before his concert, 1956.

LIFE’s Best Kisses

Robert W. Kelley The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

University of Michigan student couple engaged in an impromptu kiss, which was forbidden conduct even before school ban, because earlier rules required couples to have both feet on the floor, in the Union Building on campus. 1957.

LIFE’s Best Kisses

Grey Villet The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Richard Ramsey, worker in cosmetic company covered with relics of iipstick kisses to prove that dyes in lipsticks are harmless. 1960.

LIFE’s Best Kisses

Yale Joel The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Steve McQueen kisses Natalie Wood's hand as the actors meet to discuss their new big-screen project, 1963's "Love With the Proper Stranger."

LIFE’s Best Kisses

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Astronaut Gus "Virgil" Grissom kissing his mother after his successful Gemini 3 mission, 1965.

LIFE’s Best Kisses

Ralph Morse The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Dustin Hoffman kissing his wife, 1969.

LIFE’s Best Kisses

John Dominis The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

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LIFE’s Best Kisses

Bill Ray The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

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