There’s nothing quite like charting the ascent of a major new Hollywood player, and as the premier pictorial weekly of its era, LIFE magazine was uniquely positioned to feature more than a few famous faces early in their careers, well before they became bona fide stars.

Here, LIFE.com offers a gallery of some of moviedom’s most celebrated (and gorgeous) young talents on the very brink of life-altering fame, from Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn to Kim Novak, Ann-Margret, Liz Taylor, Rita Moreno, Catherine Deneuve and other film legends.