Actresses of theater and cinema, models, singers, public figures - these women are distinguished not only by their exceptional beauty, but also by their fortitude, self-confidence and ambition. They have achieved a lot in life, and their appearance was crazy, excited the imagination and made the hearts of fans beat faster.
Beginning of the century
The most beautiful women of the 20th century were very different, but always attractive, graceful and eye-catching. At the beginning of the century, the image of a languid beauty was in fashion, the embodiment of which was the ballerina Pavlova, who played the role of a dying swan. In the twenties, Greta Garbo was universally recognized for her sophisticated appearance, incredibly sexy and unattainable.
Interwar era
In the interwar era, luxury came into fashion. An attractive woman was considered well-groomed, it was considered unacceptable to go out without makeup. The standard of the era was a blonde with impeccable styling in a revealing outfit by Jean Harlow. In the forties it was felt that the war was approaching, and chic andluxury became unpopular. A beautiful woman - a brown-haired woman with an innocent doll-like appearance. The most memorable image is a half-naked Rita Hayworth posing in front of the atomic bomb.
Frank fifties
In the fifties, outright sex appeal became popular. The most beautiful woman of the 20th century had to have full breasts, a narrow waist and sloping shoulders. The standard of beauty is the attractive, feminine, sexy and accessible Marilyn Monroe. This is a classic blonde - a little vicious, beautiful and naive.
Playful sixties
Fashion changed dramatically by the sixties - the most beautiful women began to be considered the owners of a small chest, long and thin legs, a flat stomach. A little awkward, but natural and sexy Brigitte Bardot, who behaved defiantly and provocatively - the standard of those years. Became popular and fragile Audrey Hepburn. The Frenchwoman is known to a wide audience for the film "Roman Holiday". Audrey Hepburn did a great job as Natasha Rostova in the 1956 film, and her image became truly iconic for many years after Breakfast at Tiffany's. At the same time, the invention of miniskirts made the image of a woman-child even more popular. This type was perfect for Twiggy with her upturned nose, fragile figure and half-childish expression.
Active seventies
The seventies were remembered for the sexual revolution, mass political speeches and bold riots of youth. The self-confident woman with an active civic position has become the ideal of beauty. It's boldastronaut exploring distant civilizations from the movie "Barbarella" - Jane Fonda. By the eighties, a girl with broad shoulders, a toned figure and long legs became the standard. The image was embodied by Kim Basinger - a blue-eyed blonde with plump sensual lips and a neat nose.
"Model" nineties
In the nineties, the most beautiful women of the 20th century began to be considered not actresses, but top models who received huge fees for their attractive appearance, which was part of the standards. The most famous are Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiffer. It was the time of chiseled female forms. Soon, total femininity was replaced by a unisex era - a fragile and young Kate Moss appeared.
The best
In the list of the most beautiful women according to the online store QVC French Audrey Hepburn is in the lead, the second place was taken by the British actress Cheryl Cole, and the famous Marilyn Monroe is only on the third line. Further places were distributed as follows: Angelina Jolie, Grace Kelly, Scarlett Johansson, Halle Berry, Princess Diana, Kelly Brook, Jennifer Aniston. Similar lists have been published by many publications. Interestingly, each time the places are distributed differently, so beauty is a relative concept.
Marilyn Monroe
Norma Jean Mortenson, who was named after the famous actress of the time Norma Talmadge, was born in Los Angeles in 1926. The girl's mother, Gladys Mortenson, worked in a Hollywood film lab and believed that her daughter would become a movie star. Norma's childhoodcall happy. The father left the family, and the unstable mother gave the girl to a foster family at the age of only two weeks.
Until the age of seven, Gladys visited Norma from time to time, and then decided to take her to her place. Soon the woman experienced a mental breakdown and went to a mental hospital for treatment, and the girl spent the rest of her childhood in foster families. Norma was not yet twelve when her stepfather and cousin had already tried to rape her twice. According to one version, that is why Marilyn Monroe's personal life did not work out in adulthood. Until the age of nineteen, she tried to commit suicide twice.
Norma first married at sixteen, she left school and moved in with her husband, Jim Dougherty. It was a forced measure, as she was afraid to find herself again in the orphanage. The fact is that the foster family was just about to move, but they did not want to take the girl with them. A year after the wedding, Jim went to the front, and Norma Jean got a job at an aircraft factory.
One of the photographers who filmed a story at the plant about the contribution of American women to the fight against Nazism offered the girl to pose for a series of shots for $5 an hour. Thus began the career of Norma Jean Mortenson. In 1946, she signed a contract with 20th Century Fox and adopted a pseudonym, under which she soon became known throughout the world. In March 1954, Marilyn Monroe received the "Most Popular Actress" award, and in 1955 she created her own corporation.
The girl really became incredibly popular. ATearly in her career, she posed nude for a series of calendars. Then such pictures were equated with pornography, and when Marilyn became famous, a scandal erupted against this background. But the pictures were purchased by Hugh Hefner, who placed them in the first issue of Playboy. This made Monroe even more famous.
Only Marilyn Monroe's personal life did not develop: nine months after the wedding, her second marriage to Joe DiMaggio broke up, she lived with Arthur Miller for four unhappy years. Millionaire Aristotle Onassis wanted to marry the girl to the Prince of Monaco, she did not mind, but these plans fell through. There were unconfirmed rumors about Marilyn Monroe's affair with John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert. After another overdose, she decided to restore relations with Joe DiMaggio. They set a date, but days before, Marilyn was found dead in her home.
Brigitte Bardot
Throughout the twentieth century, talented actresses such as Brigitte Bardot and Sophia Loren were considered the most beautiful. Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot was born in 1934 in Paris. As a child, the girl was an "ugly duckling", and she herself did not consider herself a beauty. She wore massive glasses and metal braces, and suffered from strabismus. But already in 1949, Bardot posed for a French edition, and a year later she was on the cover of ELLE. The film debut took place in 1952, but the real popularity came to her after the film And God Created Woman (1956). The Catholic Church condemned this picture for being too frank, but the scene with the naked Brigitte Bardot made the actress a world-famous star andsex symbol of the era.
Repeatedly Brigitte Bardot found herself at the center of political scandals. The inhabitants of France have repeatedly heard statements in the nationalist spirit from the lips of the famous actress and singer. Bardo openly stated that she did not sympathize with any of the political parties, but she was still condemned for inciting interracial hostility. Brigitte Bardot has been featured in several lawsuits about this. In 1973, the actress announced her retirement and took up the protection of animals. The 84-year-old film actress now lives in Saint-Tropez.
Sophie Loren
Sophie Loren (Sofia Villani Scicolone) was born in Rome, grew up in the vicinity of Naples. The girl was somewhat awkward, but still got into the list of several selected finalists of the "Queen of the Sea" competition and went to the casting in Rome. Two years later, she received the title of "Miss Elegance", but luck did not accompany her. The girl was offered either erotic scenes or the role of extras, so Sophie worked as a model. Her career began to develop actively in 1952 after Sophia Loren took second place in the Miss Rome beauty pageant.
In the first pictures, the girl starred under the pseudonym Sofia Lazarro, but in 1953, producer Carlo Ponti suggested that she change her last name to Lauren, which was consonant with the name of the then popular Belgian actress Martha Thoren. The girl got rid of her Neapolitan accent, changed her make-up style, learned to wiggle her hips sexually while walking, and became interested in dramatic literature. It's fasthas borne fruit. Over the next 15 years, she managed to work on almost everything with the cult actors of the American scene. The golden time in her biography was the period between the fifties and eighties.
Gina Lollobrigida
The future actress Gina Lollobrigida was born near Rome in 1927. At birth, she received the name Luigina. From an early age, the girl attracted attention with her bright beauty, and at the age of three she won the children's beauty contest. In addition, she differed from her peers in artistic and acting talent. Gina Lollobrigida studied vocal skills at the academy, entered the theater school and received her first roles in the theater. The girl spent the money she earned on vocal lessons.
On the set, a girl who dreamed of becoming a sculptor or an opera singer was led by the need to earn a living. After her debut in The Black Eagle, Gina Lollobrigida received other invitations to roles in films, but did not stop dreaming of a musical or artistic career. Gina's first Hollywood work was the film Shame the Devil, released in 1953, and one of the most talented works was the role of Esmeralda in the film Notre Dame Cathedral. Gina Lollobrigida finished acting at a fairly advanced age, so she left her fans a bright creative legacy.
Elizabeth Taylor
The future actress got a good ticket to life: her parents were American actors who worked in the British capital. In 1942ten-year-old Elizabeth Taylor received her first filming contract, and in the fifties she began to be invited to the main roles in serious films. The films "Once Upon a Time Last Summer" and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" brought her popularity. In 1962, Elizabeth Taylor received an unimaginable fee of one million dollars for the film Cleopatra. Since the eighties, she mainly starred in serials little known to the Russian audience, began to engage in social activities (the fight against HIV infection) and business (she launched her own perfume line).
Catherine Deneuve
The actress became the personification of a real Frenchwoman and received the nickname "Snow Queen of French cinema" for her strict beauty. Photos of the beauty of the 20th century Catherine Deneuve adorned the billboards of North America and Europe, she was one of the main models of the Chanel No. social picture "East-West" and the horror film "Repulsion".
Vivien Leigh
British film legend Vivan Mary Hartley was born in 1913 in India. The unusual appearance of the girl is explained by her origin: her mother was half Irish and French by birth, her father was English. At 22, actress Vivien Leigh dazzled London audiences with her brilliant performance in Virtue's Masquerade. The production made a splash, so they decided to move it from the small hall to the big one, but Vivien's voice was too weak for the big one.space, so popularity quickly waned.
During this period, the girl met the director and actor Laurence Olivier, who invited her to work in the film "Fire Over the Island". The audience fell in love with the image of the heroine, and the directors began to offer her new roles in the cinema. In 1939, Vivien Leigh began filming in the Hollywood bestseller Gone with the Wind. The film received many Oscars, including Best Leading Actress. Four years later, the public saw the film "Lady Hamilton", in which Vivien Leigh played along with Laurence Olivier. This work was very fond of Winston Churchill, who began to invite a creative couple to social events.
Later, the actress developed a serious mental disorder, and her reputation on the set was ruined by constant psychosis and inappropriate behavior. In the fifties, the actress starred in only a few minor roles. Gradually, Vivien Leigh withdrew from professional activities. One of the most beautiful women of the 20th century died alone in her home on the outskirts of London in 1967.
Claudia Cardinale
Italian actress Claudia Cardinale (biography, personal life briefly reviewed below) was born in 1938 in the Republic of Tunisia, which at that time was a French colony. A pretty girl with an Arab appearance got her first role in a movie by accident. Director Renaud Vottier invited her to appear in a documentary about the Sicilian sailors "Golden Rings". After Claudia, who dreamed of becoming a missionary teacher in Africa, won thelocal beauty pageant and attended the Venice Film Festival.
Studio "Vedes" signed a seven-year contract with an aspiring actress and model, guaranteeing constant employment in secondary roles. In exchange, the girl was forbidden to cut her hair, gain weight and get married during the entire duration of the contract. By the way, Claudia Cardinale violated the last point almost immediately. In 1963, the actress starred in the Hollywood film The Pink Panther, followed by work in the cult film Federico Fellini's 8 1/2, Mark Robbson's The Lost Squad, and The Professionals by Richard Brooks.
In her first marriage, the actress lived from 1966 to 1975. Producer Franco Cristaldi became her chosen one. Ten years before the wedding, Claudia Cardinale was a victim of rape. She did not report to the police and did not tell her parents. But soon the girl's stomach began to grow, and Franco Cristaldi persuaded her to leave the child. Cardinale gave birth to a boy, who was named Patrick. After her first marriage, the actress married director Pasquale Squitieri.
Cindy Crawford
Cindy Crawford personifies the modeling boom of the nineties. She constantly starred for magazine covers and participated in fashion shows. Expressive eyes, a cute mole above the lips, a taut figure and high cheekbones of Cindy Crawford became a real standard of beauty of those years. She got into the modeling business by accident: a newspaper photographer captured a girl who helped her ill father to harvest corn. Liked these photosVictor Skrebnesky, who invited Cindy Crawford to try her hand at a beauty pageant.
The girl took second place, and after a short collaboration with the photographer, she dropped out of school and left for New York. Soon she began to appear on the covers of Vogue and Cosmopolitan magazines, star in commercials for famous brands, and one of the longest projects was collaboration with the cosmetic brand Revlon. For a while, Cindy Crawford hosted a TV show on MTV, dabbled in films and released fitness training CDs. Thirty-four-year-old Cindy Crawford left the modeling business at the peak of her popularity in 2000.
Soviet beauties
In the Soviet Union there were no concepts of "glamor diva", "sex symbol" or "show business star", but the most beautiful women of the 20th century in the USSR captivated the audience with natural attractiveness and brilliant talent. Many of them were known not only at home, but also abroad. In the sixties, for example, the French magazine Candide included Natalia Kustinskaya in the list of the ten most beautiful actresses in the world, for many years Lyubov Orlova was the prima donna of the Soviet movie screen. Emigrated Alla Nazimova became a Hollywood star.
The main beauties of the USSR attracted the attention of foreign directors and the jury of international film festivals. Young Irina Skobtseva for the role of Desdemona in the film "Othello" was awarded the title of "Miss Charm" at the Cannes Film Festival, Rufina Nifontova was distinguished not only by her natural beauty, but also by her subtle sense of humor, and Tatiana Piletskaya conqueredviewers with a daring look, proud posture and not at all classically beautiful features.
Soviet viewers remember the "beautiful sportswoman-Komsomol member" Natalya Varley, who had to choose between the established circus career and the world of cinema. Anastasia Vertinskaya looked into the very soul with her bewitching eyes, the charming Lyubov Polishchuk was not afraid to be funny on the screen. Janet Agren of Soviet cinema - Tatyana Vedeneeva. She became truly famous after her role in the film "Hello, I'm your aunt." In the mid-eighties, Tatyana Vedeneeva became a popular television presenter.
