What era of cinema do you think produced the hottest movie stars?
Do you find you prefer the attractions of performers of a particular period of cinema or popular culture? Do you prefer the sex symbols of the 40’s, the seventies, or perhaps the look and styles of current actors and actresses?
Rita Hayworth, Farrah Fawcett, Jessica Alba?
John Wayne, Tom Selleck, Johnny Depp?
If you feel comfortable, please give a hint as to your own age, and perhaps speculate as to why.
Observing members:
0
Composing members:
0
19 Answers
I think Lauren Bacall and Veronica Lake, in their heyday, were about the most glamorous beautiful women in the world. So that would be the 1940’s. But later, when Cary Grant and Sean Connery came around, I guess that would be the 1950’s.
I’m not sure which generation these guys would fall into but I love the movies of Al Pacino (Dog Day Afternoon), Robert Redford (A Star is Born), Robert DeNiro, Robert Duvall, John Travolta (Saturday Night Fevor) and too many others to name. Probably the 70’s.
Oh, I’m in my mid forties. I just think the hair on those ladies was spectacular and they were always tooling around in evening gowns and they all had that slightly New England-style accent that doesn’t exist anymore. No one in New England sounds like Lauren Bacall or Katherine Hepburn or Cary Grant (even the newscasters and documentary speakers of that time had that typical New England TV/Movie accent). The men I mentioned looked spectacular in their suits and their Brylcreamed hair and shiny shoes.
My formative years were during the 1960’s and I loved me some Graduate era Dustin Hoffman and later some Butch Cassidy Paul Newman.
All of the people I’ve mentioned seemed larger than life, like real movie stars.
Today, I really like actors as opposed to movie stars, so someone like Meryl Streep or Paul Giamatti is what really gets me interested in seeing a movie they’re in.
@chyna OMG! Al Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon almost made me cream my jeans (as a pre-teen). He looked a lot like Paul McCartney back then, which made him even hotter.
Cagney seems to be voting for her as well.
@gailcalled your mom was gorgeous, what amazing photos. Thanks for sharing. I would agree that the starlets of the 30’s had amazing sex appeal, so for women the 30’s win.
For men I agree with @chyna, the 1970’s all the way. I would add Jon Voight, Dustin Hoffman, and John Savage to the list of 70’s hotties. Though I don’t think anyone beats Al Pacino as Michael Corleone for sexiness.
@SuperMouse Oh my. My heart is beating much faster just looking at that pic. Love Al Pacino.
Cary Grant, Clark Gable, Gary Cooper, Tyrone Power, Dana Andrews, Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney… For my money the sexiest men were from the 30’s and 40’s.
As for women? That’s tough. I love Natalie Portman, Jessica Alba, Marion Cotillard, and Meg Ryan from the last 20 years.
I was never big on most Hollywood actresses from the 30’s and 40’s, like Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, or Vivian Leigh, but I do have a huge crush on Myrna Loy and Ingrid Bergman.
I think the men and women of the 30s, 40s were far more glamorous than during other eras. I agree with @Kardamom about Lauren Bacall and I loved Katherine Hepburn.
When I think about men though and consider men like Paul Newman and Steve McQueen and even Robert Redford… very, very sexy guys.
Really, I think each era has its share of sexy and beautiful stars.
There are beautiful actors in every era
Kim Bassinger
Raquel Welch
Selma Hayek
Jaclyn Smith
Ann Margret
Adrian Paul
Matt Damon
Tony Curtis
Elvis Presley
The thirties. Ah, that fabulous era, when everyone had “airbrushed” skin because the camera quality was too poor to pick up your pores…
@gailcalled Woah.
I agree that there’s beautiful actors and actresses in every era, it’s just sad nowadays that more and more women(and men) get plastic surgery. Breast implants on a woman,while her choice, still looks so cheap and tacky to me.
I would probably choose the 1940’s. Because I love that time anyway.
I like natural feminine curves, not really the skinny or athletic look, or the look of a runway model who is 5’11 tall and is very skinny. Just my taste and preference, so I think that’s another reason why I like the 1930’s/1940’s/1950’s so much. Beautiful curvy women. I like that soft feminine look.
There’s very good looking people in every era so it’s hard to say.
I think guys in the 40’s/50’s/60’s were very dashing as well. I like guys who wear fedoras and have that “man’s man” type of sex appeal.
Guys like Gerard Butler and Leonardo DiCaprio definitely have that, so I can’t diss every era.
1930s & 1940s
Claudette Colbert is my favorite. It Happened One Night turned me on to this.
And @gailcalled: Your mom was beautiful.
1939 was THE year for fantastic movies and stars.
Answer this question 
Composing members:
0
