26 Famous Photos And Their Backstories
Turns out some pictures need 1,000 words.
![26 Famous Photos And Their Backstories](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/7/8/9/700789.jpg?v=2)
There are certain photos that are iconic and recognizable, and have become well-known cultural touchstones. But as it turns out, some of those well-known images have virtually unknown backstories. And some of them have even been heavily edited. Which is saying something, in the pre-Photoshop era.
For example ...
![The nurse in the V-J Day kiss photo wasn't game for it. Greta Friedman has recounted how this stranger just grabbed her. In other photos, she has her](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/6/5/699565.jpg?v=2)
![This photo was taken for Rolling Stone the same day John Lennon was murdered. Photographer Annie Leibovitz wanted both Lennon and Yoko Ono nude, but O](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/8/4/699584.jpg?v=2)
![CRACKEDCO COM OPENEER Christopher Columbus didn't actually look like this. This portrait was painted by Sebastiano del Piombo, who never met Columbus.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/8/2/699582.jpg?v=2)
![One of Abe Lincoln's most famous portraits is a fake. They didn't have any heroic likeness of the president- so they just pasted his face onto South](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/8/3/699583.jpg?v=2)
![CRACKED.COM Winston Churchill was surly because the photographer took his cigar. Already in a bad mood, Churchill refused to give up his cigar. The ph](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/8/1/699581.jpg?v=2)
![Harold Lloyd wasn't clinging with two complete hands here. NI M A I Lloyd had been maimed in an accident before filming Safety Last! He wore prostheti](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/8/0/699580.jpg?v=2)
![This is Tenzing Norgay atop Mt. Everest. The photo was taken by Edmund Hillary after the first ascent of the mountain ever. There's no photo of Hillar](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/7/9/699579.jpg?v=2)
![Get up and fight, sucker! Muhammad Ali was yelling here. Ali was furious when Sonny Liston fell down after a phantom punch. Speculation abounded t](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/7/7/699577.jpg?v=2)
![Ulysses S. Grant was never here. GRANT The picture is a composite of Grant's head on the body of Major General Alexander McCook. The background is a p](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/7/6/699576.jpg?v=2)
![This iconic photo was altered to avoid accusations of looting. Raising a Flag over the Reichstag, taken after the Battle of Berlin, was edited by its](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/7/8/699578.jpg?v=2)
![No, President Bush wasn't holding a book upside-down. BLCA The Phesimhe to the S Cosstinition MUBIC TA Peaml Coiaatie Amserica LIV This image that wen](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/7/5/699575.jpg?v=2)
![Did these rats get cancer from eating GMOs? No, they didn't! These are Sprague Dawley rats, which develop tumors naturally regardless of what they eat](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/7/4/699574.jpg?v=2)
![No, photos like this don't prove that Marilyn Monroe was a size 16. We know from her clothes that she was a size 8 for most of her career, and never e](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/7/3/699573.jpg?v=2)
![A Rolling Stones album cover rewrites history. 1971-2003 ROLLING STONES RARITIES The cover for Rarities 1971-2003 features an old photo of all Stones](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/7/2/699572.jpg?v=2)
![Snowball is a monster cat. Except that he isn't. This photo of Snowball went viral in 2000. A year later, the owner admitted he edited the image on](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/7/1/699571.jpg?v=2)
![CRACKED COM This inspirational iceberg never existed. Part of the iceberg was photographed in Alaska, and the rest in Antarctica. In all, four separat](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/7/0/699570.jpg?v=2)
![This is an uncropped photo of the Tiananmen Square Tank Man. T Seeing the whole picture, you can appreciate the sheer magnitude of what this ballsy](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/6/8/699568.jpg?v=2)
![This photo of Bob Dylan and Hurricane Carter was staged. Upon visiting the wrongfully jailed boxer, Dylan was disappointed there weren't any bars fo](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/6/9/699569.jpg?v=2)
![The Cottingley Fairies fooled grown-up people. Both Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the Kodak Company said the photos showed no signs of faking. As it turn](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/6/7/699567.jpg?v=2)
![There's more than one first in this photo. This was the first time an airplane took off. It was also the first time the photographer had ever used a c](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/6/6/699566.jpg?v=2)
![The little girl with Stalin didn't get much kindness from Stalin. Being used as a propaganda prop didn't help Gelya Marzikova or her family. Her fathe](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/6/3/699563.jpg?v=2)
![Mussolini wanted this photo all to himself. The fascist dictator didn't look heroic enough with a guy handling his horse- so the guy was edited out. C](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/6/4/699564.jpg?v=2)
![Clarence H. Long was the original Marlboro Man. A ranch foreman, his picture in Life magazine inspired Marlboro execs to use him in a campaign to bran](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/6/2/699562.jpg?v=2)
![Bobby Kennedy literally fell out of this busboy's grip. Juan Romero was the first person to assist Kennedy because he was shaking the presidential can](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/6/0/699560.jpg?v=2)
![These workers were only pretending to take a break. It was part of a promotional photo shoot. The potential 840-feet fall with no safety harnesses was](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/6/1/699561.jpg?v=2)
![This was the second flag raised at Iwo Jima. The first flag was too small, and they had to procure a bigger one.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/pictofact/5/5/9/699559.jpg?v=2)