I think a good photograph can capture something of its era. It’s something that can stir emotions within us. I feel a little sad looking at the photo as, for me, it represents 2 things. First of all, the actor in the middle, Gary Cooper, did not have long to live when this photo was taken. He belonged to the Golden Age of Hollywood and would pass close to other icons of that era, Clark Gable and Errol Flynn. The photo was taken 1958/59 while he was working on, The Hanging Tree. He would die 2 years later. At this stage he was already suffering from the cancer that would kill him.
Next to him, Jack Kelly and James Garner on the set of Maverick. They had just recently experienced their first great success on the show and James would go on to become an icon on the small screen.
It also represents the passing of the era of cinema to the era of television. Gary had started in the silent era and had seen the upheavals in his industry such as the McCarthy purges and the antitrust case of 1948 which did much to change Hollywood.
To me it represents the passing of a baton from one generation to the next.