Sci-Fi’s Most Beautiful Stars: 1933-2008
John on September 4, 2009 at 10:20 am
And now for something completely different…
I’m a fan of sci-fi and fantasy films. One of the things I’ve noticed about these movies over the years is that they always feature beautiful stars. There are no doubt lots of interesting reasons for this, but I think the obvious ones are probably the right ones. In any case, we’ll save that discussion for another day.
For the moment, the only goal is to identify the most beautiful stars in sci-fi/fantasy films for every year from 1933-2008. Now, prior to 1950 there wasn’t a lot of science fiction on the screen, so you’ll see a lot more fantasy films prior to that date. Honestly, some of the films are a bit of a stretch under sci-fi or fantasy, but it was the best I could do. If you have a better suggestion, feel free to disagree or make suggestions in the comments.
Finally, a content warning: Everything here is from G, PG or PG-13 films, nearly all of which I’ve seen, some of which I’ve seen several times and many of which you’ve no doubt seen as well. Princess Leia’s metal bikini is as risque as it gets. If, however, you avoided seeing Return of the Jedi because of nudity you should probably skip this post as well.
Without further ado…
- 1933 – Fay Wray in King Kong
- 1934 – Maureen O’Sullivan in Tarzan and His Mate
- 1935 – Olivia DeHavilland in Midsummer Night’s Dream
- 1936 – Jean Rogers in Flash Gordon (serial)
- 1937 – Betty Jane Rhodes in Jungle Jim (serial)
- 1938 – Olivia DeHavilland in Adventures of Robin Hood
- 1939 – Constance Moore in Buck Rogers (serial)
- 1940 – June Duprez in Thief of Bagdad
- 1941 – Ingrid Bergman in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
- 1942 – Veronica Lake in I Married a Witch
- 1943 – Martha Vickers in Captive Wild Women
- 1944 – Maria Montez in Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves
- 1945 – Anne Jeffreys in Zombies on Broadway
- 1946 – Josette Day in Beauty and the Beast
- 1947 – Virginia Mayo in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
- 1948 – Ann Blyth in Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid
- 1949 – Mae Clarke in King of the Rocket Men
- 1950 – Erin O’Brien-Moore in Destination Moon
- 1951 – Margaret Sheridan in The Thing from Another World
- 1952 – Elizabeth Taylor in Ivanhoe
- 1953 – Donna Martell in Project Moonbase
- 1954 – Julie Adams in Creature from the Black Lagoon
- 1955 – Faith Domergue in It Came from Beneath the Sea
- 1956 – Anne Francis in Forbidden Planet
- 1957 – Joan Taylor in 20 Million Miles to Earth
- 1958 – Kathryn Grant in The 7th Voyage of Sinbad
- 1959 – Yvette Vickers in Attack of the Giant Leeches
- 1960 – Yvette Mimieux in The Time Machine
- 1961 - Coleen Gray in Phantom Planet
- 1962 – Anne Helm in The Magic Sword
- 1963 – Tippi Hedren in The Birds
- 1964 – Martha Hyer in First Men in the Moon
- 1965 – Ursula Andress in She
- 1966 – Raquel Welch in One Million BC
- 1966 Runner Up – Julie Christie in Farenheit 451
- 1967 – Susan Denberg in Frankenstein Created Woman
- 1968 – Jane Fonda in Barbarella
- 1969 – Loni Von Friedl in Journey to the Far Side of the Sun
- 1970 – Linda Harrison in Beneath the Planet of the Apes
- 1971 – Julie Ege in Creatures the World Forgot
- 1972 – Britt Ekland in The Asylum
- 1973 – Leigh Taylor Young in Soylent Green
- 1974 – Caroline Munro in the Golden Voyage of Sinbad
- 1975 – Maud Adams in Rollerball
- 1976 – Jenny Agutter in Logan’s Run
- 1976 Runner Up – Jessica Lange in King Kong
- 1977 – Jane Seymour in Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger
- 1978 – Caroline Munro in Starcrash
- 1979 – Persis Khambata in Star Trek the Motion Picture
- 1979 Runner Up – Sigourney Weaver in Alien
- 1980 – Ornella Muti in Flash Gordon
- 1981 – Judi Bowker in Clash of the Titans
- 1981 Runner Up – Adrienne Barbeau in Swamp Thing
- 1982 – Nastasia Kinski in Cat People
- 1982 Runner Up – Sean Young in Blade Runner
- 1983 – Carrie Fisher in Return of the Jedi
- 1983 Runner Up – Lysette Anthony in Krull
- 1984 – Phoebe Cates in Gremlins
- 1984 Runner Up – Katherine Mary Stewart in The Last Star Fighter
- 1985 – Kelly LeBrock in Weird Science
- 1985 Runner Up – Michelle Pfieffer in Ladyhawke
- 1985 Runner Up – Michelle Pfieffer in Ladyhawke
- 1986 – Geena Davis in The Fly
- 1986 Runner Up – Lea Thompson in Howard the Duck
- 1987 – Emanuelle Beart in Date with an Angel
- 1987 Runner Up – Robin Wright in The Princess Bride
- 1988 – Erika Eleniak in The Blob
- 1988 Runner Up – Tahnee Welch in Coccoon: The Return
- 1989 – Kim Basinger in Batman
- 1990 – Demi Moore in Ghost
- 1990 Runner Up – Natasha Richardson in The Handmaid’s Tale
- 1991 – Jennifer Connelly in The Rocketeer
- 1992 – Michelle Pfeiffer in Batman Returns
- 1993 – Sandra Bullock in Demolition Man
- 1994 – Cameron Diaz in The Mask
- 1994 Runner Up – Mili Avital in Stargate
- 1995 – Jeanne Tripplehorn in Waterworld
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- 1995 Runner Up – Natasha Henstrige in Species
- 1996 – Pamela Anderson in Barb Wire
- 1997 – Milla Jovovich in The Fifth Element
- 1997 Runner Up – Denise Richards in Starship Troopers
- 1998 – Jennifer Connelly in Dark City
- 1998 Runner Up – Gillian Anderson in The X Files Movie
- 1999 – Carrie Anne Moss in The Matrix
- 1999 Runner Up – Dina Meyer in Bats
- 2000 – Jennifer Lopez in The Cell
- 2001 – Cameron Diaz in Vanilla Sky
- 2002 – Natalie Portman in Attack of the Clones
- 2002 Runner Up – Samantha Mumba in The Time Machine
- 2003 – Monica Belluci in Matrix Reloaded
- 2003 Runner Up – Kristianna Loken in Terminator 3
- 2004 – Angelina Jolie in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
- 2004 Runner Up – Jessica Biel in Blade Trinity
- 2004 Runner Up – Alexa Davalos in Chronicles of Riddick
- 2005 – Charlize Theron in Aeon Flux
- 2005 Runner Up – Jessica Alba in Fantastic Four
- 2006 – Rebecca Romijn in X-Men 3
- 2007 – Megan Fox in Transformers
- 2007 Runner Up – Keira Knightley in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
- 2008 – Gwyneth Paltrow in Iron Man
- 2008 Runner Up – Rachel Bilson in Jumper
Looking over the list, about half of these movies are pretty bad. Even if you’re a fan of the genre, some of them aren’t worth watching. Maybe that’s why the casting director tries so hard to cast the most beautiful women possible in these roles?
Special thanks to Dr. Macro’s High Quality Movie Scans which is the source of many of the photos from films prior to 1950. Also, Scott looked over the whole list and made a number of good suggestions.
Update: Trying out a new gallery feature…
Category: Movies |
1985 Runner Up – Michelle Pfieffer in Ladyhawke
September 4, 2009 @ 6:23 pmMy siamese/tabby mix cat’s name is Isabeau.
If vampire movies count as sci-fi — how can we forget Sharon Tate in The Fearless Vampire Killers?
September 5, 2009 @ 8:54 amUma Thurman in Baron Munchausen
September 5, 2009 @ 9:49 amBender,
Didn’t really think of vampire movies. If I had I would have made sure we included Alyssa Molano in Kiss of the Vampire.
September 5, 2009 @ 10:17 amJennifer Connelly made the list twice.
I don’t consider this to be a problem.
September 5, 2009 @ 11:29 amSome of these aren’t even remotely Sci Fi movies. The Princess Bride? Ghost? And several others.
September 5, 2009 @ 11:29 amPreaching to the choir, my friend.
September 5, 2009 @ 11:30 amI’m a tad surprised that, among all those names, there was no Evelyn Ankers. (Yeah, everyone’s gonna nitpick…)
Ah, well. At least Julie Adams made the cut…
September 5, 2009 @ 11:31 amThe fact that neither Morena Baccarin nor Summer Glau are up for 2005 is rather sad.
September 5, 2009 @ 12:29 pmTRO – it was Sci-Fi/Fantasy.
Ivanhoe, however, is reeeeeeeeaaaally stretching it.
Thanks for the interesting read, though, John.
September 5, 2009 @ 12:52 pmKeith,
Yeah, I know. I was thinking sort of “romantic fantasy” but really I just had to find a way to get Elizabeth Taylor in there. I knew I couldn’t get away with A Place in the Sun so this was the best I could do.
September 5, 2009 @ 1:00 pm[...] Sci-Fi’s Most Beautiful Stars:1933 – 2008. Being a big fan of Sci Fi and a big fan of women obviously I had to post this. Favorites are [...]
September 5, 2009 @ 5:14 pmNatascha McElhone In Solaris, VaVa Voom!!! She was also in Ronin, but that isn’t Sci-fi.
September 6, 2009 @ 4:45 amWhat the?
The beautiful and gracious Liv Tyler, in LOTR (X3)?
(I would say Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine) but she didn’t make the big screen. Oh, well, she did make Voyager somewhat watchable.)
September 6, 2009 @ 6:35 amJeanne Tripplehorn is a fine MILF. But her over Natasha in the original Species? Are you CRAZY?
September 6, 2009 @ 10:16 amApostic was right. Leaving Evelyn Ankers off the list was just wrong. And where were Ramsay Ames (also in Ali Baba and in the Mummy ‘s Ghost), and Elyse Knox (The Mummy’s Hand and Mark Harmon’s mother)? If you want to know where Mark Harmon got his incredibly handsome good looks, check out his mother. But in the final analysis, Maria Montez leaves them all in the dust. She was an incomparable beauty. Ali Baba is still one of my favorite movies and I made sure my kids watched it too.
September 6, 2009 @ 10:31 amI guess I’m OK with Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman in 1992. But doesn’t a buff Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2 deserve a runner-up?
September 6, 2009 @ 10:34 amhave to second Beldar’s Questioning of Tripplehorn over Henstridge in ’95. Otherwise it’s a fine list.
I am surprised though that Liv Tyler never made it for either of the three Lord of the Rings, or for that matter Armageddon (remember we were rating hte women not the movies)
September 6, 2009 @ 10:46 amI always thought Kirstie Alley in 1982 Star Trek II, The Wrath of Khan, was gorgeous, even though the uniform didn’t show much. Maybe it was those pointy ears… oooh, yeah….
September 6, 2009 @ 11:02 amVampires? How about Salma Hayek as Santanico Pandemonium in From Dusk Till Dawn.
September 6, 2009 @ 11:30 amSean Young a runner-up????
September 6, 2009 @ 11:37 amThe stunningly beautiful Jody Foster in “Contact” (1997).
September 6, 2009 @ 11:39 ammelody anderson as dale arden, flash gordon/1980.
September 6, 2009 @ 11:42 amI dunno about Carrie Fisher; in that scene she looked about as sultry and exotic as somebody’s sister dressed up for a costume party. And where’s Sigourney Weaver, who at least looks like she has some conversation?
September 6, 2009 @ 12:08 pm1967 Essy Persson, Mission Stardust
And Raquel Welch in her Fantastic Voyage wetsuit over her skin bikini from BC for 1966
1979 Buck Rogers in the 25th Century was a movie before it was a series Erin Grey and Pamela Hensley and there was also Sigourney Weaver in Alien that year
September 6, 2009 @ 12:10 pmBrooke Adams in the 1978 remake of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (an excellent remake, by the way).Hmm… I also noticed that the 1956 original (which is one of the all-time classic sci-fi films) featured Carolyn Jones, better known as Morticia Addams. I didn't know that.Incredible that neither of those movies appeared in the list.
September 6, 2009 @ 12:20 pmI’m shocked at no Sigourney Weaver in the Alien saga. And what about Kate Beckinsale in “Underworld?”
September 6, 2009 @ 12:25 pmthanks – very fine and fun to look at
September 6, 2009 @ 12:47 pmHow about Olivia Newton John in Grease?
You say it’s not science fiction? Well according to leftie science the fifties as depicted in the movie certainly was fiction.
Sorry, just thinking of Michelle Pfeiffer and Halle Berry (replacing Jolie for the winner of 2004 I would say) in skin-suits naturally took my mind there.
September 6, 2009 @ 12:48 pmI’d go back to 1927 and add Brigitte Helm in Metropolis, only because that’s one of my favorite films. If you had to add some stuff between 1928 and 1932 that’d be hard. Maybe Helen Chandler in Frankenstein (1931), Zita Johann in The Mummy (1932), and perhaps Jacqueline Gadsden in The Mysterious Island (1929).
September 6, 2009 @ 12:55 pmOh, and Species was R-rated.
September 6, 2009 @ 1:12 pmI must respectfully say you are completely wrong about 1981. I’ll give you Adrienne as runner-up, but the winner is clearly Taaffe O’Connell for ‘Galaxy of Terror’. If you don’t know why I’m not going to explain it. :o)
September 6, 2009 @ 2:04 pmDunno if Goonies is considered science fiction, but Anne Ramsey, holy crap, she gets me going!
September 6, 2009 @ 2:06 pmNo Jeri Ryan as 7 of 9 from Star Trek Voyager 1997-2001? Instead we get Jennifer Lopez?
“Ivanhoe” is science fiction?
September 6, 2009 @ 2:11 pmValerie Hobson from Bride of Fankenstein…
http://www.doctormacro1.info/Images/Hobson,%20Valerie/Annex/Annex%20-%20Hobson,%20Valerie_01.jpg
September 6, 2009 @ 2:22 pmNo Mara Corday for Tarantula?
No Daryl Hannah or Sean Young for Bladerunner?
September 6, 2009 @ 3:00 pmUma Thurman (baron m)and Grace Park (Battlestar) didn’t make the short list?
How is this even remotely possible?
September 6, 2009 @ 3:02 pmhttp://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000815/
The actress in Stargate is Mili Avital, not Mila
September 6, 2009 @ 3:28 pmCorrected the spelling to Mila.
Sean Young got runner-up for 1982. It was impossible for her to win up against Nastasia Kinski in Cat People.
The one rule I did stick to was films only. I may do a TV list next.
No, but kinda sorta a romantic fantasy.
You’re correct. My bad.
I wanted to start with ’27 for just that reason, but couldn’t think of anything to fill in ’28-’32. Great suggestions. Maybe I’ll do an update at some point.
To everyone who mentioned Sigourney Weave in ’79. I agree she deserves to be added, but IMO as a runner-up to Persis Khambata.
Thanks for all the good suggestions thus far.
September 6, 2009 @ 4:04 pmHow about Norma Bengell from Mario Brava’s 1965 Sci-Fi/Horror film Planet of the Vampires?
September 6, 2009 @ 6:04 pmWhat, no Mathilda May from Lifeforce?
September 6, 2009 @ 7:03 pmRachel Weisz in any of the Mummy movies!
September 6, 2009 @ 10:18 pmSharon Stone in Total Recall pretty much knocked everybody out. Kind of a “who is that?!!” deal.
September 7, 2009 @ 12:25 amNumskull! You left out Alice Krige, who played the Borg Queen in First contact. She could make an android break out in a sweat. Assimilate me!
September 7, 2009 @ 1:51 amI suppose you had to squeeze Phoebe Cates and Catherine Mary Stewart in there, but for my money 1984′s great beauty was Daryl Hannah’s mermaid in Splash. Her beauty was woven into the plot; memories of a brief childhood encounter haunted Tom Hanks’ character all his life. The movie made Hanks a star and launched the Disney label Touchstone Pictures. Splash holds up very well to viewings 25 years later, and the only dated thing about it is the now-forgotten controversy about whether Disney should be associated with PG movies that contain mild references to sex and nudity.
September 7, 2009 @ 7:08 amOh yea, I forgot about Total Recall (1990). Rachel Ticotin was hot! Beats Demi Moore hands down!
September 7, 2009 @ 11:33 amDiane Keaton in Woody Allen’s “Sleeper”.
September 7, 2009 @ 9:03 pmLysette Anthony from Krull.
September 7, 2009 @ 10:28 pmYang,
Runner-up 1983.
September 7, 2009 @ 10:42 pm[...] This post was Twitted by Writepop [...]
September 8, 2009 @ 4:17 amMight I suggest Charlotte Rampling in Zardoz as a runner up in 1974?
September 8, 2009 @ 1:22 pmwhat???..no Farrah Fawcett in Logan’s Run?
obviously a temporary lapse in judgment…
September 8, 2009 @ 4:28 pmWhat about a blond Sigourney Weaver in Galaxy quest????
September 8, 2009 @ 6:26 pmAs already mentioned Mathilda May should be included for Lifeforce from 1985 but for me the most glaring omission is Valerie Leon for Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb from 1981. Who could overlook her obvious talents?
September 9, 2009 @ 1:31 pmI have no objections to all the names mentioned, including the additional ones in the comments.
Let me add Elaine Stewart in The Adventures of Hajji Baba and Kim Novak in Bell, Book and Candle where she played a witch.
September 9, 2009 @ 9:38 pmI think Ivanhoe is just fiction, not fantasy fiction.
September 13, 2009 @ 11:14 amHey, no Kate Beckinsale in Underworld and Selma Blair from Hellboy?
Also who is more beautiful than Haley Berry’s Storm in the X-Men? She certainly gives Rebecca Romjnn a run for her money, as does the girl playing Phoenix.
The girl who plays Uhura in the New Star Trek picture is also not hard on the eyes.
I also have to second the folks who noted Logan’s Run’s Farah Fawcett and Kim Novak of Bell, Book and Candle.
September 13, 2009 @ 11:24 amYou know, for some reason vampire movies did not enter the picture when I put the list together. Kate Beckinsale and Selma Hayek could both make the list if they had.
It’s a flaw.
September 13, 2009 @ 7:21 pmDina Meyer should be in for Johnny Mnemonic from 1995–utterly stunning. She should also place ahead of Denise Richards in Starship Troopers, who looked annoyingly plastic…
Excellent call on Jenny Agutter, though. That’s a can’t miss!
January 21, 2010 @ 11:16 amWhat about Mara Corday in “The Black Scorpion” (1957)?
February 13, 2010 @ 9:14 pmHelena Carter in “Invaders From Mars” (1953)?
Anne Helm in “The Magic Sword” (1962)?
I believe the picture you have for Kathryn Grant in The Seven Voyages of Sinbad, is actually Mary-ann Mobley in an Elvis picture called Harum Scarum.
March 6, 2010 @ 12:27 pmI think you may be right. I will need to replace it.
March 6, 2010 @ 12:50 pmWow, John! Amazing! I think you just got out-geeked!
March 6, 2010 @ 1:09 pmScott,
Of course I have the DVD of this film on the shelf behind me. I’ll just do a screen cap and that should solve the problem.
March 6, 2010 @ 7:33 pmha! i bow before your awesome sci-fi geek powers! i’m not worthy…i’m not worthy!
March 6, 2010 @ 8:37 pm