You can't exactly call it voyeurism when the photographers hired by Architectural Digest carefully set-up shots and probably took rolls and rolls of film (at least for the pre-digital assignments). Still, it is kind of like peeking into the backyards of various celebrities -- past and present -- to get a glimpse of their spectacular swimming pools.

Movie stars and swimming pools have always gone together, long before the Clampetts moved to the Hills of Beverly. Private ornamental pools existed as early as 18th-century BC Mesopotamia -- depicted in a wall painting of a royal orchard from the palace of Zimri-lim on the Euphrates. Actual pools for swimming as a sport or pasttime were invented in the first century B.C. by the Romans. These bathing pools were the precursors to modern-day swimming pools, which were popularized in movies (the MGM gems of Esther Williams and her synchronized swimming) and movie magazines, featuring stars like Rita Hayworth and Orson Welles (when they were married) having fun in their private pools.

This photo gallery of luminaries' pools from the pages of Architectural Digest also includes the pools and cabanas of current-day stars, like Lance Armstrong, John Travolta and Kelly Preston, and Ryan Seacrest. Enjoy the scenery.

In your exploration for the perfect swimming pool, you've perused every pool-design coffee table book and outdoor-living magazine and come up empty. Well, here's more: our photo gallery of ultra-chic swimming pools from some of the world's most luxurious hotels and resorts. You'll see everything from simple and elegant designs to elaborate naturalistic pools with waterfalls, meandering "streams" and "rivers." There's even some Disney resort theme-oriented pools that look like a few of the rides landed in the hotel pools.

While you might not be able to replicate a Disney pirate ship or infinity-edge-to-the-Mediterranean Sea in your backyard pool, an image in this gallery might spark an idea that you could incorporate into your swimming pool or spa design plan. Besides, it's fun just to look at the best of the best -- it's like sampling the Belgian chocolate and cocoa truffles of eye candy.