This article was first published on 20 December 2017.

It’s hard to remember a moment when Meryl Streep wasn’t the most celebrated actress in the world. But when photographer Duane Michals shot her in 1975 in New York’s theatre district, she was entirely unknown, a recent graduate from Yale School of Drama who hadn’t yet made a film. 

“The picture was taken before she was famous,” Michals remembers. “I had simply been told she was super talented and bighellip;

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