The Land Rover Defender and its celebrity connections

The all-new 2020 Land Rover Defender was a show-stopper at the 2019 Frankfurt Motor Show. While its technological advances aim to impress a new audience who might not have grown up with the original Defender, this ride of choice for some of the most charismatic industry names is no overnight sensation.

The Defender both gained a reputation for being tough and effortlessly designed but also became a pop culture icon in its own right. Here are a few famous admirers who can take credit for the Defender’s claim to fame.

In 1957, movie star Marilyn Monroe famously posed in a swimsuit with a white Land Rover Series I. The image was taken by her friend and photographer Sam Shaw at California’s Long Beach confirming the Defender as part of her off-screen legacy.

Celebrated actor and film director Steve McQueen was famously photographed in 1963 with a Land Rover for a story in Life magazine while on a camping trip in the Sierra Madre Mountains with his daughter.

Known casually as the ‘King of Cool’, the Life feature, photographed by Barry Feinstein, included some iconic shots of the Landie, which ended up on many of the 40 rolls of film Feinstein used up for the feature.

The Land Rover made one of its first silver-screen appearances when Clark Gable drove one in 1953’s Mogambo, starring alongside Hollywood royalty like Ava Gardener and Grace Kelly.

The John Ford-directed feature film was a Technicolor high-stakes drama set in Kenya that followed a love triangle between the three leading actors. But arguably, perhaps it was the stylish Defender was an occasional scene-stealer throughout.

Fashion designer Ralph Lauren is famously known for owning many vintage cars including a Land Rover. He had one painted black specifically for him, a departure from the signature ‘Alpine’ white models which he refloored in sisal and repainted three times to get the right shade of tan.

Defenders were also famously used in many fashion campaigns over the years – from Michael Kors to Louis Vuitton. This was proof that not only could the vehicles navigate tough terrain, but they deserved a spot on the catwalk or glossy fashion magazine spreads, too.

Beetle Paul McCartney and his rock band The Wings, which he formed with wife Linda, released a song in 1973 called "Helen Wheels". The song was named after Paul and Linda's Land Rover, which they nicknamed "Helen Wheels" which is a pun of Hell on Wheels.

A longstanding Land Rover fan and owner, Smith collaborated with Land Rover back in 2015 to create a one-off bespoke edition infused with the British fashion designer’s signature details.

Smith mentioned wanting to give the Defender a feeling of luxury – he used over 27 different colours and a mix of different leathers and fabrics to transform the utilitarian features of the vehicle into something that was still reliable and resilient but didn’t worry about taking itself too seriously.

Memorable details included a hand painted bumblebee on the roof, blue leather trim around the air-con vents and a set of keys painted inside the glove box.

A Defender was custom-made to be driven by Angelina Jolie when she stared as the action hero Lara Croft in the Tomb Raider movies.

The model included diamond plate trimming and an underwater snorkel, true to combining unapologetic Hollywood glamour with a sense of fearlessness for the risks of off-roading. The Defender was never really a supporting act on-screen, or happy to blend into the background.

Since its early days of making its Technicolour debut, the Defender has gone on to feature prominently in many other Hollywood features and franchises, including The Expendables, the Bond films, the Da Vinci Code, the Fast and the Furious and Mission Impossible movies.

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