Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, making any list of the most beautiful people in history up for serious debate. Many of these women became successful thanks to their looks, so if we’ve piqued your curiosity, check out which women we have selected…and let’s see who is the most breathtaking of them all.
Michelle Pfeiffer
During the ’80s and ’90s, Michelle Pfeiffer was one of the most popular actresses on the silver screen, thanks to her skilled acting and drop-dead gorgeous looks. She managed to break the typecast of the pretty girl in her late ’70s movies, going on to have a supporting role in Scarface that led to obtaining more serious roles as she rose to stardom. According to one Daily Telegraph contributor, hers is “the kind of beauty you find yourself involuntarily taking a moment to marvel at mid-conversation.”
Claudia Cardinale
Italian-Tunisian Claudia Cardinale’s career began when she won the “Most Beautiful Italian Girl in Tunisia” contest, which earned her a trip to Italy. Although she struggled with Italian (as the Sicilian she knew from her parents is quite different), her beauty brought her offers to model and act. Her voice was actually dubbed over in the early part of her career due to her raspy tone and a French accent. She is an outspoken supporter of women’s rights, becoming a UNESCO goodwill ambassador for the defense of women in 2000.
Sharon Tate
Sadly, Sharon Tate’s life will always be overshadowed by her disturbing, tragic, and senseless death. Long before Quentin Tarantino reimagined how history could have been different in Once Upon a Time In Hollywood, the beautiful Tate started to act in movies. She was hailed as a promising newcomer, having enjoyed positive reviews for both comedic and dramatic acting roles. She married her director and co-star from The Fearless Vampire Killers, Roman Polanski, in 1968. She was eight months pregnant with their child when she was taken from this world.
Jaclyn Smith
Smith is a successful actress and businesswoman who is best known for starting her career off as the stunning Kelly Garrett in the television version of Charlie’s Angels. The show leaped her and the other Angels into stardom and she then returned for the same role in 2003 in the film Charlie’s Angels: Full throttle. Smith went on to appear in many other TV films and mini-series’s for the rest of her career. Her beauty did not go unknown as she was married four times.
Marilyn Monroe
No list would be complete without Marilyn Monroe, one of the most recognizable celebrities in the world. “Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring,” she said, and she lived by those words.
Hedy Lamarr
Hedy Lamarr is one of the most fascinating women on this list. She holds a Guinness world record for being the first woman to be filmed doing particular activities, but her claim to fame is much more profound than that. After WWII broke out, she turned her mind to inventing “frequency hopping” to solve a problem of enemy vessels jamming the radio signals submarine use to control torpedos. Although she filed a patent that sat unused for years, it became the basis for many subsequent military inventions, as well as future civilian applications.
Catherine Deneuve
French actress Catherine Deneuve had her international breakthrough with Les Parapluies de Cherbourg, a unique French film in which all the dialogue is sung, like in an opera. After this, she played in Roman Polanski’s Repulsion, which brought her more widespread fame. Since then, she has accumulated an impressive corpus of roles. France honored her in 1985 by making her the official face of Marianne, the French personification of liberty. Most recently she signed an open letter denouncing the #MeToo movement, claiming it has become a witch hunt.
Vivien Leigh
Like many on this list, Vivien Leigh said that she had to overcome her physical beauty because it overshadowed her acting prowess. Indeed, one director described her as a “consummate actress, hampered by beauty.” Although she is most famous for roles in Gone with the Wind and A Streetcar Named Desire, she was actually more prolific onstage during her career. She suffered from bouts of tuberculosis for the last several decades of her life, finally succumbing to the illness when it recurred in 1967.
Ava Gardner
Ava Gardner’s southern accent (she hailed from South Carolina) made her almost incomprehensible to MGM. That didn’t stop her from banking on her beauty and they quickly signed her. It took five years for her to achieve a breakthrough with the film noir The Killers, which launched her to stardom. She was a leading Hollywood actress for five decades until the mid-’80s when her life-long smoking habit caught up with her. She developed emphysema and two strokes in 1986 left her paralyzed. She passed away from pneumonia in 1990.
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan
Aishwarya Rai has topped the “most beautiful woman in the world” lists for years, so her spot here should come as no surprise. She began modeling when she was in college, winning the title of Miss World in 1994. She moved on to act in Bollywood movies later that decade. Her performances are marked by a “delicately sensual presence and physical grace,” according to Derek Elley of Variety. Although she is constantly under the attention of the media, she has kept her personal life mostly private.
Barbara Parkins
At the age of 16, Canadian-born Parkins moved to Los Angeles to become famous. The young girl started as a backup singer and dancer behind major stars in nightclubs. By 1961 she made her debut in the low-budget crime flick 20,000 Eyes. However, one of her larger projects was appearing in the film adaptation of Valley of the Dolls. She stayed with the series for the entire run and was nominated in 1966 for an Emmy Award as Best Actress in a Lead Role.
Julie Ege
Julie began working as a model from the age of 15. She came second in the Miss Norway competition at the age of 18 and later competed for the title of Miss Universe before moving to England to work as an au pair in order to improve her English. By the late 1960s, she began acting in a few small roles but is best remembered for her part in the 1971 comedy film Up Pompeii. Although labeled as a glamour actress, she later revealed she did not mind as her looks helped pay the bills.
Sophia Loren
Sophia Loren is known for her acting work and is one of Italy’s most beloved and adored stars. She started her career as a 14-year-old and is still making films to this day. She has appeared in dozens of movies including The Pride and the Passion, A Countess From Hong Kong, and Grumpier Old Men. But there is something even more telling about this beauty, she was never shy about showing the world she doesn’t shave her armpits. We hate to admit it, but it still does not take away from her beauty.
Jane Birkin
Although the English actress had a successful career in British and French cinema, she attained her international fame from her decade-long relationship with Serge Gainsbourg. Even after their separation, Birkin continued to remain successful working as an actress and singer in various independent films such as Red Fox and A Soldier’s Daughter Never Cries. Nevertheless, Birkin is most well known for having a Hermés bag named after her after revealing that she couldn’t find a leather weekend bag she liked.
Britt Ekland
The Swedish actress and singer appeared in many films throughout the 1960s and 1970s, and is most known for her roles in The Night They Raided Minsky’s and Get Carter. She also appeared as a Bond girl in The Man With the Golden Gun (1974). Ekland received most of her attention overnight as a result of her 1964 romance with actor Peter Sellers, who proposed to her after seeing her photograph in the paper. Throughout the 1970s she was one of the most talked-about and photographed celebrities in the world.
Loretta Young
Loretta Young had a long and interesting career starting as a child as young as two or three in 1917 all the way until 1953. She was nominated for an Oscar for her role in Come to the Stable and an Academy Award for Best Actress for her part in the 1947 film The Farmer’s Daughter. Young was married to actor Grant Withers from 1930 to 1931 but had a public affair with co-star Spencer Tracy. As young as eight the child actress began smoking, yet quit in the mid-1980s in order to gain 10 pounds.
Julie Andrews
She might not be the most obvious choice on this list, but there is no denying that Julie Andrews has aged so gracefully and is still extremely active in the public eye, well into her 80s. Not many Hollywood stars have had roles in two iconic movies the way that she has. As Mary Poppins, Julie Andrews did an incredible job making that role her own and of course, her work in The Sound of Music can not be ignored.
Jane Fonda
A true powerhouse whenever Oscar season came around, Jane Fonda is still making movies even while in her 80s. The daughter of the legendary Henry Fonda is part of one of the most prolific families in all of Hollywood. Nevertheless, she has still managed to stand out from her relatives for her huge charisma, beautiful looks, and her long filmography. With success in film, TV and even on Broadway, it seems like there’s nothing that Jane Fonda can not do.
Judy Garland
Starring in arguably the most iconic movie of all time in The Wizard of Oz, it seems like Judy Garland was a victim of the glitz and glamor that comes with being a Hollywood star. Nominated for Academy Awards for her roles in A Star Is Born and Judgment at Nuremberg, Garland had the world at her feet before meeting her tragic end. With her daughter Liza Minnelli carrying on the torch and Renee Zellweger starring as her in the 2019 biopic, Judy Garland’s legacy has definitely lived on.
Katharine Hepburn
Despite refusing to succumb to the pressures of Hollywood publicity, it seemed like fans and co-stars alike couldn’t keep their eyes off Katharine Hepburn. With that said, she did have a well-publicized marriage to fellow actor Spencer Tracy, in which she also starred alongside him in nine movies. And that’s just scratching the surface of her relationships. With a record four Academy Award nominations for Lead Acting Performance, it is clear that she was one of the greatest actresses of all time.
Jessica Lange
It seems like Jessica Lange has had two lives in the world of acting. Having made a name for herself with Academy Award nominations in six different movies during the 80s/early 90s, Lange seemed to slow things down a little and become a lot more selective with her work. However, in the last decade, the actress has seen something of a resurgence, especially since starring in five seasons of American Horror Story. She also starred as Joan Crawford in the miniseries Feud: Bette and Joan.
Greta Garbo
Many fans of Hollywood’s golden era forget that Greta Garbo wasn’t even from the US. The Swedish actress made a smooth transition to American cinema and in no time at all, she became a huge commercial and critical hit. She ended up being nominated for three Academy Awards for Best Actress. In 1954, she received an Honorary Academy Award for her unforgettable performances on the big screen. At just 35 years of age, Garbo retired from film acting, after starring in 28 movies.
