my vote goes to

Grace Kelly

beutiful and classy but died too early

Kim Bassinger

Politics aside.

Joan Severance ...never made the "A" list but damn she looked good

ETA..I did date a girl that looked like a young Liz Taylor once...but she sounded like an old Rosanne Barr


Joan

Sophia Loren mighty fine stuff and all natural

Rita Hayworth
Ava Gardner

will have to think of some more

Audrey Hepburn

Too long of a time span to narrow it down to one.  I'd have trouble narrowing down even if you said living actresses.

Audrey Hepburn.

Edit:  Damn.  Just got beat to it.

Ingrid Bergman

Grace Kelly

Quoted: Sophia Loren mighty fine stuff and all natural

Quoted: Audrey Hepburn

+4. End Of Debate.

Next Question.

SG

Veronica Lake

That's a tough one. A few of my all time favorites

Cindy Crawford

Jaclyn Smith

Catherine Zeta Jones

The correct answer is Barbara Eden (but only in her Jeannie outfit )

Quoted: The correct answer is Barbara Eden (but only in her Jeannie outfit )

Something's rotten in Denmark.

Quoted: I agree. Grace Kelly. However, Catherine Deneuve is a very close second.

The queen of Laire du Temps perfume.

Quoted: Quoted: The correct answer is Barbara Eden (but only in her Jeannie outfit ) Something's rotten in Denmark.

Sorry - if you don't agree, you are insane.  That's the rule.  

Ava Gardner

Quoted: I agree. Grace Kelly. However, Catherine Deneuve is a very close second.

+1
They could have ended the thread right there.

ETA
Except for Barbara Eden

And in the brunette category, Julie Adams (Bend of the River).

ETA or Natalie Wood.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: The correct answer is Barbara Eden (but only in her Jeannie outfit ) Something's rotten in Denmark. Sorry - if you don't agree, you are insane.  That's the rule.

Hey, damnit!  That's not at issue here!

Raquel Welch

Hedy Lamar

Natalie Wood or Grace kelly

Sophia Loren big time! She even looks great today.

+5 and then some, however, I also agree that Grace Kelly and Veronica Lake have an argument.  Let's not forget Vivien Liegh and Lizabeth Scott.






The modern "stars" of Hollywood can't hold a candle to the glamour and beauty of the starlets of the Golden Age of Hollywood.

Hedy Lamarr.

http://www.imdb.com/gallery/mptv/1126/Mptv/1126/0958_0090.jpg?path=pgallery&path_key=Lamarr,%20Hedy

Unblievably beautiful and extrmemly smart.

On November 9, 1913, Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler was born in Vienna. Austria to a banker and his wife. Hedwig, who obviously became Hedy, had a rather calm childhood, but it was cinema that fascinated her. By the time she was a teenager, she decided to drop out of school and seek her fame as an actress. Her first role was a bit part in the German film Geld auf der Straße (1930) (aka MONEY ON THE STREET) in 1930. She was attractive and talented enough to be in three more German productions in 1931, but it would be her fifth film that would catapult her to worldwide fame. In 1932, Hedy appeared in a German film called Extase (1932) and had made the gutsy move to be nude. It's the story of a young girl who is married to a gentleman much younger than she, but she winds up falling in love with a young soldier. The movie's nude scenes created a sensation all over the world. The scenes, while very tame by today's standards, caused the film to be banned by the US government at the time. Hedy soon married Fritz Mandl, who was a munitions manufacturer and a Nazi sympathizer, He attempted to buy up all the prints of Extase (1932) he could lay his hands on. Even Italy's dictator, Benito Mussolini, had a copy and refused to sell it to Mandl. It turned out to be a complete waste of money because there are still several prints floating around the world today. The gutsy move to be nude brought Hollywood to her door. Certain people brought her to the attention of Louis B. Mayer who signed her to a contract against his judgment due to her nude performance. But it was the dollar signs that made him do it due to her notoriety. However, he insisted she change her name and make good, wholesome films. Besides, nudity would never pass the Hays Office (the censorship agency). Hedy made her USA debut as Gaby in the 1938 film Algiers (1938). This was followed a year later with Lady of the Tropics (1939). In 1942, she landed the plum role of Tondelayo in the classic, White Cargo (1942). After World War Two, her career began to decline and MGM decided it would be in the interest of all concerned if her contract were not renewed. Unfortunately, for Hedy, she turned down the leads in both Gaslight (1940) and Casablanca (1942). What this would have done to cement her in the minds of the American public! In 1949, she appeared as Delilah opposite Victor Mature in Samson and Delilah (1949). This film proved to be Paramount Studios biggest movie to date bringing in $12 million in rental from theaters. The success of the film led to more parts but it was not enough to ease her financial crunch. She was to make only six more films between 1949 and 1957, the last being The Female Animal (1958). Hedy retired to Florida where she died on January 19, 2000.

Hedy's credited invention was for a radio guiding system for torpedoes which was used in WWII. She supposedly gained the knowledge from her first husband, Fritz Mandl, A Viennese munitions dealer who sided with the Nazis. Hedy drugged her maid to escape her husband and homeland.

Was co-inventor (with composer George Antheil) of the earliest known form of the telecommunications method known as "frequency hopping", which used a piano roll to change between 88 frequencies and was intended to make radio-guided torpedoes harder for enemies to detect or to jam. The method received U.S. patent number 2,292,387 on Aug. 11, 1942, under the name "Secret Communications System". Frequency hopping is now widely used in cellular phones and other modern technology. However neither she nor Antheil profited from this fact, because their patents were allowed to expire decades before the modern wireless boom.

My G/F!!

I am sure she's acting.

Quoted: Hedy Lamar

"THAT"S HEDLEY!"

I agree with  most of the mentions above but have to give points to Lauren Bacall for longetivity.  She was married to Bogey for gosh sakes and is still around.  That's a long time being beautiful.  She was sexy as hell too.  

Maureen O'Hara, no contest. There's nothing like a well-built fiery redhead who's a damn good actress to boot..

+1

Quoted: Quoted: Audrey Hepburn +4. End Of Debate. Next Question. SG www.starspage.com/photo_gallery/audrey_hepburn/gallery/images/audrey_hepburn15.jpg

I don't think I could pick just one.  

Here's Natalie:

Quoted: Hedy Lamar

I was going to say her, but there are others that I'd probably put up there in a tie.

The great thing about Hedy Lamar is that she was smart, too. Not often you find that combination in a hollywood starlet.

I thought Demi Moore in Ghost was the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen.

Quoted: Ingrid Bergman

+1

+1 Ingrid Bergman . She is (still) stunning in "Casablanca"

Also Donna Reed ("It's a Wonderful Life" and "They Were Expendable")

Rita Hayworth, Grace Kelly.

Elisha Cuthbert is a new hottie who has that potential...only time will tell.

Blake

Quoted: Quoted: Hedy Lamar "THAT"S HEDLEY!"

I'll sue!

The B-Movie Chicks are Hotter!

Bettie Page


Julie Strain

http://www.meredy.com/claudettecolbert/cc01.jpg                                                                                                                           Claudette Colbert !!!

Quoted: Sophia Loren mighty fine stuff and all natural

+1

Seka

Sophia Loren , Ashley Judd ,Charlize Theron,Raquel Welch and Sophie Marceau.

Honorable mentions:

Savannah
Traci Lords

where is SteyrAUG when you need him

Tippi Hedren

Valerie Leon.  Yow!

Grace Kelly.  When the postal service honored her memory with an old fashion engraved stamp, they really did her justice and captured her beauty.