Rare and Beautiful Photos of Teenaged American Actress and Model Brooke Shields in New York City, 1978

These beautiful photographs of Brooke Shields and her mother Teri were taken in New York City by Robert R. McElroy in 1978, when Brooke Shields was 13 and already a successful child model.

Shields began her career as a model in 1966, when she was 11 months old. Her first job was for Ivory Soap, shot by Francesco Scavullo. She continued as a successful child model with model agent Eileen Ford, who, in her Lifetime Network biography, stated that she started her children's division just for Shields. In 1978, when she was 12-years-old, Shields played a child prostitute her age in the film Pretty Baby. Eileen Ford, founder of the Ford Modeling Agency, said of Brooke Shields: "She is a professional child and unique. She looks like an adult and thinks like one."

(Photos © Robert R. McElroy/ Getty Images, via Mashable/ Retronaut)