20. Salma Hayek

Salma's gorgeous face and probably award-winning breasts would be enough to unzip the collective flies of straight men globally. But her daring performances, from serious takes in Frida to outright zaniness in 30 Rock, make Salma Hayek the preferred choice of the thinking sex enthusiast.

 

19. Jane Fonda

With Barbarella, Jane Fonda launched herself into the collective wet dream of the 1960s, in a performance that remains a marvel of coy daffiness and playful lust.

 

18. Joan Crawford

The regal Joan Crawford may be entitled to a position on this list solely based on the maybe-fact that she and Marilyn Monroe once shared a bed. Though her striking features made her a sex symbol, her epically dense list of Golden Age sex partners — Glenn Ford, Clark Gable, Judy Garland, John Wayne, et al. — made her a sex symbol.

 

17. Clara Bow

Clara Bow's wide-set, smoky, and knowing stare was anything but demure. Heart-shaped lips, a flapper bob, and a flirtatious glance made her a 1920s "it girl;" to this day, she punctures our naive fantasies of an innocent past.

 

16. Ursula Andress

Arguably the entire Bond franchise was built on the libidinal charge of one image: Ursula Andress rising out of the Caribbean in a tiny white bikini.

 

15. Halle Berry

Even Catwoman and Berry's other non-Oscar turns contain a leggy elegance that collapses latency periods.

 

14. Ann-Margret

Ann-Margret had an innocent face, but then you'd notice the tight figure and winking demeanor that made her a sex kitten for the ages.

 

13. Farrah Fawcett

One clear way to secure a place on lists like this is to get a red one-piece swimsuit placed in the Smithsonian. Pre-Farrah, masturbation fantasies had never been so golden-hued and feathered.

 

12. Jayne Mansfield

Maybe she's been publicized as the watered-down version of Marilyn Monroe, but her hourglass figure could hold its own in a centerfold, and she was a pioneer of the "whoopsi-daisy, did little old me just fall out of my dress?" school of self-promotion. This notorious picture of Mansfield and Sophia Loren more or less tells the whole story.

 

11. Sophia Loren

Her aquiline nose, wide-set eyes, and curvaceous form made the talented Sophia Loren a bedside name. There was something grand, profound, and subtly charged about her performances that hinted at underlying sexual expansiveness.