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The Hottest, Sexiest Fictional Women of All Time

Who were the hottest, sexiest, most beautiful and most alluring fictional female characters of all time? On this page we have imaged the most stunning women in their most stunning roles — some that they actually played, and some that we imagined for them. Take, for instance, our first "imagination" ...

Ava Gardner as Venus, the goddess of love ...



The picture of Ava Gardner on a beach in a white bikini, standing on her tiptoes, is one of my favorite pictures of all time. She looks like Venus, the goddess of love. She was born on Christmas Eve, 1922. A talented actress, she was nominated for an Oscar for her lead role in Mogambo (1953). She auditioned for the lead in The Graduate, but insisted that "I strip for no one" and the part was given to Anne Bancroft instead.

Dorothy Dandridge is our choice to play Helen of Troy, the "face that launched a thousand ships" ...



Dorothy Jean Dandridge was an African-American film and theatre actress, singer and dancer. She was the first black actress to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in the 1954 film Carmen Jones. In 1959, she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Porgy and Bess. Dandridge also performed as a vocalist in venues such as the Cotton Club and the Apollo Theater.

Lynda Carter as Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons ...



Audrey Hepburn is our Lolita ...



"She had a quality no other actress had: a curious combination of lady and pixie. She was a joy to work with: enormous talent and no ego." — Sidney Sheldon

Anita Eckberg as Sylvia in La Dolce Vita ...



Beyoncé Knowles as Boudicca, the valiant Celtic queen who routed the vaunted Roman legions after her daughters were raped ...



Brigitte Bardot as Juliette in And God Created Woman ...



Brigitte Bardot was a ballet dancer nicknamed "Little Doe" by her colleagues. One of her classmates at ballet school was Leslie Caron. Bardot later became a model, then an actress after fortuitously babysitting for the movie director Roger Vadim, whom she later married. She was frequently cast as ingénue or siren, in varying states of undress. Not that we're complaining, mind you!

Lana Turner as Cora Smith in The Postman Always Rings Twice ...



Lana Turner had acting ability that belied her sexy "sweater girl" image. She became the first famous "sweater girl" when she wore a tight-fitting knit top in the 1937 movie They Won't Forget. Unfortunately, her stunning looks and tumultuous private life sometimes overshadowed her professional accomplishments. 

Liv Tyler as Arwen in The Lord of the Rings ...



Liv Tyler is the daughter of Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler. She was named Liv Rundgren at birth because her mother, Bebe Buell, was living with rock star Todd Rundgren at the time. It was later determined that Steven Tyler was her father. (It was Liv Tyler who figured out the truth, at age eleven.)

Cher is our Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile ...



Princess Diana Spencer can play herself in our imaginations, and probably had to act in real life ...



Grace Kelly was an actress also known as Princess Grace of Monaco ...


Princess Caroline of Monaco, the daughter of Princess Grace, can also play a real-life princess ...



Norma Jeane Baker, better known as Marilyn Monroe, will be our Lady of the Lake ...



"Goodbye Norma Jeane, we never knew you at all ..."

Ginger Rogers is our Guinevere ...



Gene Tierney as Patricia Stanley in The Male Animal ...



Ingrid Bergman as Alicia Huberman in Notorious ...



Ingrid Bergman won three Oscars, two Tony awards, and an Emmy. Generally considered to be one of the very best female actors of all time, she is best known for her roles in Casablanca, Anastasia, For Whom The Bell Tolls, Gaslight and Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious and Spellbound.

Mila Jovovich is our Joan of Arc ...



Gypsy Rose Lee can play herself ...



Gypsy Rose Lee was a famous burlesque performer known far and wide for her stripteases. But she was also a dancer, actress, producer, author, and playwright whose 1957 memoir was made into the stage musical and film Gypsy. She also wrote a mystery novel called The G-String Murders and co-produced a musical revue called Star and Garter. It is said that her first striptease was accidental, occurring when the strap of her gown broke, causing it to fall to the floor during one of her acts. She went on to develop a more casual style of striptease, emphasizing the "tease" and incorporating humor. She was frequently arrested during police raids on her performances, which would be considered to be quite tame and in good taste today.

Ann Savage as Vera in Detour ...



Ann Savage and I share the same birthday, February the 19th. The day I discovered her, I received a message out of the blue, Glamour, that made me think of the word's ancient connotation of a magical spell. Then, I swear, the two pictures above were the only ones I could get to paste into this page, as if she was selecting them herself! Ann Savage is best known today for her role as the cigarette-dangling, "vicious and predatory, very sexually aggressive" femme fatale Vera in the surreal film noir Detour. She has also been called "the perfect vixen."

Candy Darling inspired three songs and stars as herself ...



Candy Darling certainly qualifies as a notorious beauty, since she was a favorite of Andy Warhol and the songs "Lola" by the Kinks and Lou Reed's "Candy Says" and "Take a Walk on the Wild Side" were allegedly written with her in mind. Oh, and she was a he, born James Lawrence Slattery.

Bette Davis also inspired a hit song, by Kim Carnes ...



"She's got Bette Davis eyes ..."

Claudia Cardinale as Jill McBain in Once Upon a Time in the West  ...



Claudia Cardinale was an Italian actress and sex symbol who starred in films such as Girl with a Suitcase (1961), The Leopard (1963) and Federico Fellini's 8½ (1963). Cardinale became known in the United States and Britain from her role in The Pink Panther. She later appeared in Hollywood films like Blindfold (1965), The Professionals (1966) and Once Upon a Time in the West (1968). Cardinale feared becoming a cliché and grew tired of Hollywood, so she returned to Italian and French cinema. 

Rihanna is our choice to play the enchantress Circe ...



Halle Berry is our Catwoman ...



Rita Hayworth is our Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty ...



"Rita Hayworth gave good face ..."

Raquel Welch is our Artemis, goddess of the hunt ...



Brooke Shields is our Pretty Baby ...



Demi Moore can play Lolita ...



Elizabeth Taylor is our Cat on a Hot Tin Roof ...



Lauren Bacall is our Athena ...



Sophia Loren as the Girl Next Door who prevents you from sleeping at night ...



Vivien Leigh as Cleopatra ...



Jane Seymour as Demeter, the goddess of harvests and fertility ...



Sherry Britton as Salome ...



Kate Winslet as Morgause, the enchantress ...



Belinda Carlisle as Morgan le Fay



Greta Garbo as Sophia, the goddess of wisdom ...



"There are many things in your heart you can never tell to another person. They are you, your private joys and sorrows, and you can never tell them. You cheapen yourself, the inside of yourself, when you tell them." — Greta Garbo

Gloria Vanderbilt as Hecate, the goddess of spells and enchantments ...



Iman as Ishtar, the goddess of love and fertility ...



Iman Mohamed Abdulmajid, professionally known as Iman ("faith" in Arabic), is a Somali fashion model, actress and entrepreneur. A pioneer in the field of ethnic cosmetics, she is also noted for her charitable work. She is married to David Bowie. Iman is fluent in five languages: Somali, Arabic, Italian, French and English. With her long neck, tall stature, slender figure, fine features, copper-toned skin, and exotic accent, Iman was an instant success in the fashion world, though she herself insists that her looks are merely or typically Somali. She became a muse for many prominent designers, including Halston, Gianni Versace, Calvin Klein, Issey Miyake, Donna Karan, and, in particular, Yves Saint-Laurent.

Natalie Wood as Lolita ...



Orson Welles said that Natalie Wood was so naturally talented, she was "terrifying." She was nominated for three Oscars before turning 25. The daughter of Russian immigrants, she started acting at age four, with her only previous training having been to sit in her mother's lap watching movies. Her leading men included James Dean ("Rebel Without A Cause"), Warren Beatty ("Splendor In The Grass"), John Wayne ("The Searchers") and Robert Redford in three different movies. 

Mary Anderson as Moll Flanders ...



Mary Anderson was an accomplished Southern actress and the star of many a Shakespearean play.

Cyd Charisse as Diana, the huntress ...



Veronica Lake as Selene, the moon goddess ...



Veronica Lake was breathtakingly beautiful. As a teenager, she was expelled from an all-girls Catholic boarding school, so she may have been a bit naughty in her youth (but who wasn't?). As an adult she was arrested for public drunkenness more than once. With art perhaps imitating life, she became known for playing notorious femme fatales in film noirs. Born Constance Frances Marie Ockelman, she took the last name "Lake" because Paramount producer Arthur Hornblow thought it matched her blue eyes, and the first name "Veronica" because he admired her classic beauty. Her best-known movies include The Blue Dahlia (1946), This Gun for Hire (1942), I Married a Witch (1942), Sullivan's Travels (1941) and So Proudly We Hail (1943). She was also a popular pin-up model. Her famous "peek-a-boo" bangs became so imitated that during World War II the U.S. government asked her to pin her hair back, out of fear that female factory workers would have accidents!

Catherine Deneuve as Belle in Belle De Jour ...



Jennifer Lawrence as Aether, the goddess of light ...



Jessica Alba as Eos, the goddess of the dawn ...



Christina Applegate as Kelly Bundy, the ultimate Girl Next Door ...



Bettie Page as her notorious self ...



Bettie Page was one of the first Playboy "playmates" and she was so notorious for doing bondage stills and films that the movie made about her life was titled The Notorious Bettie Page. In 1958, she retired to become a Christian evangelist, after which she returned to live in her Bible belt hometown, Nashville, and went on to do full-time work with Billy Graham. Ironically, after her conversion she had a nervous breakdown and was institutionalized as insane for eight years.

Katy Perry as the second coming of Bettie Page ...



Christina Aguilera as Aurora, goddess of the dawn ...



Angelina Jolie as Lara Craft ...



Diana Dors as Theia, goddess of shining light out of a clear blue sky ...



Ann-Margret as Bobbie in Carnal Knowledge ...



Kelly LeBrock as Lisa in Weird Science ...



Drew Barrymore, who has definitely grown up since E. T., as Freyja, the goddess of love and sex ...



Katherine Hepburn as Mary Magdalene ...



Scarlett Johansson as Hathor, goddess of love and beauty ...



Kim Basinger as Veronica Lake lookalike Lynn Bracken in L.A. Confidential ...



Lillian Gish as Lolita ...



Lillian Gish has been called "The First Lady of American Cinema." She once remarked with pride, "I played a lewd Ophelia." But she also said, "Young man, if God had wanted you to see me that way, he would have put your eyes in your bellybutton."

Lillian Russell as Annie Oakley in Annie Get Your Gun ...



Lillian Russell was one of the first American female celebrities. She was an actress and singer known for her stage presence. She was married four times, but her longest relationship was with Diamond Jim Brady, a man known for his enormous appetites, which included gambling, food and (as his nickname suggests) expensive jewels. Her mother was a noted feminist who became the first woman to run for mayor of New York City. In her later years Russell became an advocate of women's suffrage and was a popular lecturer and newspaper columnist.

Related pages: Visions of Beauty, The Sexiest Fictional Women, Best Marilyn Monroe Pictures, Marilyn Monroe Rare & Unusual Pictures, Famous Beauties, Famous Historical Beauties, Famous Courtesans, Famous Ingénues, Famous Hustlers, Famous Pool Sharks, Famous Rogues, Famous Heretics, Famous Hypocrites, Famous Forgers and Frauds, Famous Flops and Flubs, Famous Morons, The Dumbest Things Ever Said, Famous Last Words, Famous Insults, Famous Falsettos, Unmentionables, Visible Panty Lines

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