Golden Gate Bridge: San Francisco star is always ready for her close-up

San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge is known worldwide for its dramatic bridge towers. Since 1941, it has been featured  in a wide range of movies -- from suspense dramas to family fare and science fiction.

WORLD'S MOST FAMOUS BRIDGE CELEBRATES  81 YEARS WITH DOZENS OF FILM APPEARANCES -- CAMEOS TO STARRING ROLES

'San Francisco, open your Golden Gate, you let no stranger wait outside your door....'" a lyric from "San Francisco," a popular 1930s tune which became the city's theme song, famously sung by Judy Garland.

STORY By CHRISTENE MEYERS

PHOTOS By BRUCE KELLER

"The Carpe Diem Kids"

and Hollywood studio archives

Editor's Note: This piece was reviewed and updated September of 2026.

ONE OF THE world's most famous landmarks is celebrating her 81st birthday this month with a star-studded string of movie close-ups to her credit.

"San Francisco," the song that became the anthem for 1906 earthquake survivors, implied what savvy Hollywood has long known: no one is a stranger to this magnificent architectural and engineering feat.

Hollywood has loved the landmark for decades, even when the bridge was but a youngster.

DID YOU KNOW that since the bridge opened to the public in 1937, it has appeared in nearly three dozen movies -- romances to science fiction and disaster epics, suspense thrillers to Disney pics?

Director John Huston loved San Francisco and used the bridge in his film, "The Maltese Falcon." Above left, we toured the bridge recently aboard a vintage 1955 fire engine, for our own movie.

Jimmy Stewart rescues Kim Novak in "Vertigo." Director Alfred Hitchcock loved San Francisco.

At the young age of four years, the bridge made its movie debut. Director John Huston used it to enhance the mood of his 1941 film noir classic, "The Maltese Falcon," starring Humphrey Bogart as the no-nonsense private detective Sam Spade.

Director Alfred Hitchcock, who loved northern California and the City by the Bay, used the bridge in a famous scene in his 1958 thriller, "Vertigo."

Remember when Jimmy Stewart's detective Scotty rescued apparently suicidal Madeleine (Kim Novak) from the bay? Recall Christopher Reeve in “Superman: The Movie,’’ when he saved a group of teens just as their school bus was about to slip off the ‘quake-damaged bridge.

Golden Gate Bridge has Impressive Film History -- Bond to Bogart to 'Star Trek'

"Star Trek" has used the bridge more than once.

"Planet of the Apes" envisioned a collapsed bridge near the film's end.

My favorite James Bond, Roger Moore, went on location in San Francisco for the 1985 film "A View to a Kill." The suave Agent 007 took on his nemesis Max Zorin on one of the bridge's iconic towers high above the roiling waters and whizzing traffic.

The bridge is constantly being painted its distinctive orange by a full-time crew, to keep it looking good. Our next feature is about an exciting version of "Around the World in 80 Days."

IN MORE than one "Planet of the Apes” movies, the bridge has been featured. In 2011, a super smart chimp, Caesar, led a revolution of apes and a whiz bang fight scene on the bridge pitted apes against the California Highway Patrol.

Remember the shock as a giant tsunami hurdled a huge freighter at the bridge in the 2015 disaster film, “San Andreas"?

   THE BRIDGE has taken bows in romances, too, as in “Going the Distance” a 2010 romantic comedy starring Drew Barrymore and Justin Long. "Star Trek" fans know that the bridge was featured in the 1986 time-travel adventure “Star Trek IV – The Voyage Home.’' A captured Klingon Bird of Prey starship from 2286 flew under the foggy span to land in 1980s San Francisco. Then William Shatner’s James T. Kirk and Leonard Nimoy’s Mister Spock rode a bus across the bridge to Sausalito, trying to track a rare humpback whale. In the 21st century “Star Trek’’ flicks, Starfleet Command runs the galaxy from headquarters near -- guess where -- the Golden Gate Bridge.

UP NEXT:   Elevate your artistic visions and feed your soul with a  satisfying offering of fine theater.  The arts are bread and butter -- not mere dessert -- and there's nothing like a first-rate production. Here in southern California, San Diego's North Coast Repertory Theatre is serving up a smashing version of  Jules Verne's classic novel, "Around the World in 80 Days."  Five gifted actors, dozens of quick costume changes and inspired direction make for an engaging time.  It's held over through Feb. 11. Don't miss it -- and other San Diego theater treats which we'll preview next time. Remember to explore, learn and live. Catch us weekly for a fresh spin on travel, nature and art.