LIFE's sexiest photos of all time: Water polo players, Hollywood sirens and shameless flirts

Water polo players, Hollywood sirens and shameless flirts: LIFE's sexiest photos of all time

By Daisy Dumas

Last updated at 7:11 PM on 17th November 2011

Theirs is an imperfect, unairbrushed and largely unformulaic beauty.

From the dark tans and healthy smiles of girls frolicking on a beach to the come-hither flirtation of Liz Taylor, LIFE magazine's sexiest shots all have a natural realness about them.

Celebrating 75 years of LIFE, the photos are part of a collection of defining images from the news magazine's formidable history.

Lean to: Actress Elizabeth Taylor posing in bathing suit on location during filming of motion picture The Night of the Iguana in Mexico

Liz Taylor, lounging against a tree in Mexico flirts playfully - as ever - with the camera. Visiting her husband at the time, Richard Burton, on the set of Night of the Iguana in 1963, the screen megastar relaxes in a summery beach suit and flip flops.

By the time the photo was taken, says LIFE, the star had already won her first Oscar and was Hollywood's highest-paid actress.

Legs eleven: Betty Grable models a shirt of her own design while showing off her famous pins in the process

The stunning beauty found herself at the subject of several scandals in the years leading up to the shot, though her beauty was never in dispute.

In another, Steve McQueen drapes a languidly protective arm around his wife, Neile Adams, as she envelops The Great Escape star in an embrace.

Shot by John Dominis, the image, also from 1963, is taken in the actor's home after the photographer developed a close working relationship with McQueen. LIFE writes that the handsome star would often walk around his home and garden in the nude - here, swimmers protect his modesty.

Splashin around: Girls play in the ocean in California, the photo was taken as part of a Co Rentmeester essay on the state's beach life

California dreamin: Another shot from Co Rentmeester's essay on California beach life shows a splashing woman in the sun

Doll-like: Actress and sex symbol Jayne Mansfield lounges on an inflatable raft in a swimming pool surrounded by bottles shaped like bikini-clad versions of herself, Los Angeles, 1957

A colour photo from the Fifties shows Jayne Mansfield and her perfect physique on a pool lilo, surrounded by plastic dolls. The dolls are hot water bottles modelled on the pin-up's figure.

On to another pin-up, and Betty Grable is caught, arms aloft, showing off the military-style jacket she decorated herself. The coat paid homage to the troops, writes LIFE, who had made the siren a star, her famous and much lusted-after legs on show, as ever.

Revealing: Actor Steve McQueen is photographed at home with wife Neile Adams in 1963

Balls aloft: US water polo team, circa 1966, L-R, Rick McNair, Alex Rousseau, Chris Humbert and Chris Duplanty

Soap suds: Actress Jeanne Crain balancing a huge soap bubble on her index finger as she luxuriates in a bubble bath in scene from the movie Margie

In a ruffle: Taken in 1954 by Gordon Parks, this image captures garters in their everyday glory, before they had become a true staple of the x-rated wardrobe

Fresh as a daisy: Brigitte Bardot during filming of the movie En Effeuillant la Marguerite, or 'Plucking the Petals from the Daisy'

Other photos from the collection continue to record stolen moments of the past for posterity - with Life photographers often capturing unplanned, serendipitous and often fleeting moments.

A group of girls splash and laugh together on a California beach, their long hair and tanned bodies shot by Co Rentmeester as part of a 1970 photo essay of beach life in the sun-soaked state.

Smoking hot: Brigitte Bardot on set during filming of Lady and the Puppet

New York fashion, 1969: While many of her peers sported Woodstock style, this young lady strides up a city street looking sleek and sophisticated

Other images include the US water polo team. Toned, dark and wide-grinned, the naked men - who became immensely popular with ladies - hold water polo to protect their modesty as they laugh together.

Another sees Jane Fonda, anachronistic and faintly comical in full Barbarella get up, staring wilfully at the camera. In one, an unnamed girl of the swinging Sixties strides up a New York street, her sleek fashion at odds with her Woodstock-loving peers.

Beaten and bruised: Actor Clint Eastwood is bare-chested and bandaged after a brutal beating scene from Dirty Harry, 1971

Roller girl: Actress Raquel Welch in roller derby uniform during filming of The Kansas City Bomber, 1972

Unearthly woman: Jane Fonda in full Barbarella get-up, 1967, is a plastic-encased, gun-toting force to be reckoned with

Boudoir: Texan model Suzy Parker lounges in her California apartment for photographer Allan Grant in 1957

Oscar winner: Faye Dunaway takes in her Oscar win over breakfast and papers at the Beverley Hills Hotel in 1977

A beaten, bruised and bandaged Clint Eastwood appears to shake off his injuries with a smile in a 1971 shot from the filming of Dirty Harry. The macho man played policeman Harry Callahan, propelling the actor to the top of the pile of Hollywood action heroes.
'It's easy to be beautiful - just be born that way,' once said model Suzy Parker, according to the magazine. A photo of the red-head in a summer dress lying in her California home, proves that that the Texan was blessed with more than her fair share of natural beauty.
As ever, Marilyn Monroe shows how to do it best, looking directly at the lens, not showing an ounce of flesh and simply giving the camera a look that could melt a million men.

Satin sheets: Actress Rita Hayworth looks stunning - wearing her trademark charming, nonchalant look - in a nightgown in 1941

Saving the best for last: Inimitably sexy Marilyn Monroe outside her home, shot by Alfred Eisenstaedt

As ever, time has only accentuated the sexiness of many of LIFE's best shots. Faye Dunaway, shot in 1941 on satin sheets and casually throwing a coy look that became dubbed the 'Mona Lisa of pinups,' hit superstardom shortly after the photo was taken.

The screen siren, natural-looking, voluptuous and every bit the pin-up star, encapsulated a style that is firmly lodged in a bygone era.

Her ensuing fame makes the innocence of the shot yet more endearing.
View more images from LIFE's stunning collection at LIFE.com.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2062360/Water-polo-players-Hollywood-sirens-shameless-flirts-LIFEs-sexiest-photos-time.html#ixzz1efnrWcG7

Oscarbation: A Look Back at 1969 for Best Actress

I'VE BEEN WANTING TO REVIEW THE OSCAR WINNERS FOR AGES.

i hope you indulge me. the oscars are to gay men what the super bowl is too straight men. they don't always get their favorites in the game. we don't always get the performances in that we think should be there or the one that should have won out of the five choices given.

i hope to make this a sunday regular as we head toward oscar season. more during the week time permitting. but we start today.

for those of you who follow my blog you have probably guessed i love actresses. so that's where i'll begin with the best actress nominees of 1969. i'll endeavor to add supporting actresses from time to time.

1969 was a year that all the female nominees deserved to be nominated.

they were:

genevieve bujold in 'anne of a thousand days'

jane fonda in 'they shoot horses don't they'

liza minelli in ''the sterile cuckoo'

jean simmons in 'the happy ending'

maggie smith in 'the prime of miss jean brodie'

so in ascending order here goes:

#5

jean simmons

a wonderful performance in a small film. ms. simmons always lights up the screen large and small. in this film the light was not quite bright enough. her best film performance was in 'elmer gantry'. as a woman on the verge of a breakup in 'the happy ending' she gives a heartfelt performance but not an oscar winning performance.

#4

liza minnelli

as 'pookie' adams ms minnelli broke your heart. it was her first 'staring' role and she delievered the goods. she went on to win the oscar three years later. in 1969 she should be proud to have been an also-ran.

#3

genevive bujold

in her first major staring role ms bujold held her own opposite richard burton. no small feat. she has never been better than in this film. sadly she was never given a better role. again, she should feel proud she was nominated.

#2

maggie smith

ms smith won the oscar. it was a worthy win when you look at all best actress winners in the academy's history. it's just that her performance was a tad too theatrical. not her fault really. it was a theater piece first and was wonderfully translated to the screen. she gave a brilliant 'stage' performance where she was always more comfortable. she gave a really good film performance but she was not the best actress of 1969 yet remains one of the best actress winners.

#1

jane fonda

jane fonda would no longer be considered a pretty face, a sex symbol or henry fonda's daughter after her performance in 'they shoot horses don't they'. she proved her mettle in a heart wrenching performance in one of the best films in modern history. as a down and out of luck woman in the depression era she tried to make a buck in a dance marathon. she sold her soul, and body, to the slick emcee in an effort to win. but it was lost before it began. she took us on an emotional roller coaster and as much as we rooted for her we knew all was lost. her nomination and her performance stand the test of time.

ms fonda would go on to win two oscars in films that were far less than this one. this remains her best performance ever. her losing it one of oscar's bigger shames.

without reservations i say jane fonda is and was the best actress of 1969

who do you believe was the best actress of 1969 among the nominees. perhaps you believe it was an actress other than these. it can happen. i certainly have years like this.