The 20 Most Beautiful Women Born 100 Years Ago
I’ve always been fascinated by the golden age of cinema and the iconic women who graced the silver screen a century ago.
Their beauty transcended time, capturing hearts across generations with a magic that modern filters and editing just can’t replicate.
Looking back at women born around 1924, we find an extraordinary collection of talents whose elegance, charisma, and natural radiance set standards of beauty that still influence our culture today.
1. Audrey Hepburn: Timeless Elegance Personified
Born in Belgium but claiming the world’s heart, Audrey wasn’t just beautiful—she redefined beauty itself. Those enormous doe eyes could express more emotion in a glance than most actors could in an entire performance.
Her slender frame and swan-like neck created a silhouette that fashion designers still reference today. What made Audrey truly spectacular wasn’t just her physical appearance but the genuine warmth that radiated from within.
While starring in classics like ‘Roman Holiday’ and ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s,‘ she demonstrated that true beauty includes compassion. Her later humanitarian work with UNICEF showed that her inner beauty matched—perhaps even surpassed—her famous face.
2. Grace Kelly: The Princess of Poise
Hollywood royalty who became actual royalty, Grace Kelly embodied her name in every sense. Her cool blonde perfection seemed almost otherworldly—like someone had sculpted the ideal woman from marble and somehow breathed life into her.
Those who worked with Grace often remarked on her incredible camera presence. The lens simply adored her, capturing a luminous quality that made her appear to glow from within.
Before trading Hollywood for Monaco’s palace, she crafted unforgettable performances in Hitchcock classics. Her transition from actress to princess seemed inevitable—as if the universe recognized she was always meant for something extraordinary beyond mere stardom.
3. Marilyn Monroe: The Bombshell Who Changed Everything
Nobody talks about beauty icons without mentioning Marilyn. That platinum hair, those curves, the breathy voice—she created a template for sensuality that countless women have emulated but none have truly matched.
What’s fascinating about Marilyn is how deliberately she constructed her image. Born Norma Jeane, she transformed herself into the ultimate fantasy woman while hiding surprising intelligence and vulnerability beneath the glossy exterior.
Her famous ‘diamonds are a girl’s best friend’ persona masked a complex woman who read Dostoyevsky and yearned to be taken seriously. This contradiction between her bombshell appearance and her sensitive soul makes her beauty all the more compelling a century after her birth.
4. Elizabeth Taylor: Violet-Eyed Wonder
Those eyes! Genetics blessed Elizabeth with a genetic mutation that gave her natural violet eyes, framed by double rows of eyelashes—another rare genetic gift. Mother Nature clearly played favorites the day Elizabeth was born.
Her beauty was so extraordinary that it sometimes overshadowed her considerable acting talents. While starring in classics from ‘National Velvet’ to ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’, she commanded attention not just with those famous eyes but with raw emotional power.
Elizabeth’s beauty evolved fascinatingly throughout her life. From child star to sultry Cleopatra to mature actress, she never lost that magnetic quality that drew the camera—and multiple husbands—to her like moths to a flame.
5. Sophia Loren: Mediterranean Magnificence
Sophia exploded onto screens with a kind of beauty Hollywood hadn’t seen before—unapologetically Italian, voluptuous, and earthy. Those almond eyes and famous curves challenged the blonde bombshell standard of her era.
Her journey from poverty in war-torn Italy to international stardom reads like a fairy tale. Yet there was nothing fairy-like about Sophia—she exuded a grounded sensuality that felt refreshingly real compared to more manufactured starlets.
Famous for saying “Everything you see, I owe to spaghetti,” she embraced her natural assets rather than conforming to Hollywood’s size-zero ideals. Her confidence in her distinctive looks made her not just beautiful but revolutionary in redefining beauty standards.
6. Ingrid Bergman: Natural Nordic Beauty
Swedish-born Ingrid brought something revolutionary to Hollywood—natural beauty. In an era of penciled eyebrows and manufactured glamour, she appeared on screen with minimal makeup, her hair simply styled, relying on bone structure and luminous skin.
Her performance in “Casablanca” cemented her as an icon, but I’m most struck by her courage to age naturally on screen. Unlike many stars who fought time with increasing artifice, Ingrid allowed herself to mature gracefully.
Director Alfred Hitchcock called her “internally beautiful.” This perfectly captures what made her special—the intelligence and emotional depth that shone through those expressive eyes. She proved that authentic beauty will always outshine manufactured perfection.
7. Ava Gardner: The Barefoot Contessa
Country girl turned screen goddess, Ava possessed a raw, untamed beauty that seemed almost dangerous. Those hooded eyes and full lips gave her a sultry look that men found impossible to resist—including Frank Sinatra, who called her the love of his life.
MGM’s makeup artists claimed they never needed to retouch her photographs. Her skin tone, facial symmetry, and bone structure were so perfect that they seemed almost unreal, yet there was nothing manufactured about her appeal.
Despite her knockout looks, Ava maintained a refreshing lack of vanity. “Deep down, I’m pretty superficial,” she once quipped, demonstrating the self-awareness and humor that made her beauty all the more magnetic to those who knew her personally.
8. Hedy Lamarr: The Beautiful Brain
Austrian-born Hedy possessed a face so geometrically perfect that it almost doesn’t seem real in photographs. Those symmetrical features, luminous skin, and hypnotic eyes made her the standard against which other beauties were measured.
What makes her truly remarkable wasn’t just her face but her mind. Between filming scenes, she co-invented a frequency-hopping technology that later became fundamental to Bluetooth and WiFi. Imagine being both the most beautiful woman in the world AND a groundbreaking inventor!
MGM marketed her as “the most beautiful woman in the world”—a title that actually undersold her. Her legacy reminds us that true beauty includes intellect, innovation, and the courage to pursue interests beyond what society expects of beautiful women.
9. Rita Hayworth: The Love Goddess
Born Margarita Cansino, Rita underwent a painful transformation to achieve her iconic look. Studio executives had her hairline electrolyzed to appear less Latina and her naturally dark hair dyed auburn—a reminder of beauty standards’ often problematic history.
The resulting image became iconic: that cascading red hair, luminous smile, and the way she moved on screen with the grace of her dancer background. Her famous “Put the Blame on Mame” performance in “Gilda” remains one of cinema’s most seductive moments.
Her pin-up was reportedly the most requested by American soldiers during WWII. Yet behind the glamour was a woman who famously lamented, “Men go to bed with Gilda but wake up with me”—highlighting the gap between her goddess image and her human reality.
10. Lauren Bacall: The Look That Launched a Legend
At just 19, Lauren invented “The Look”—that smoldering gaze from beneath lowered lids that became her signature. The story goes that it started as a way to control her nervousness by keeping her head steady, but it became one of cinema’s most famous expressions.
Her beauty was unconventional for her time—angular rather than soft, with a deep voice that matched her sophisticated appearance. Those strong features and that confident stance challenged the more demure feminine ideals of the 1940s.
Humphrey Bogart fell hard for her during filming “To Have and Have Not,” and who could blame him? Her combination of youthful beauty and seemingly impossible sophistication created an irresistible paradox—she looked like a woman who knew things beyond her years.
11. Gene Tierney: Porcelain Perfection
Darryl F. Zanuck called Gene’s face “the most perfect face in motion pictures,” and it’s hard to disagree. Those high cheekbones, perfect oval face, and distinctive overbite combined to create a unique beauty that photographers adored.
Her performance in “Laura” created one of film’s great paradoxes—a woman so beautiful that a detective falls in love with her portrait, believing her dead. The film’s premise seems less far-fetched when you actually see Gene on screen.
Behind that perfect exterior was a woman who endured tremendous personal tragedy, including mental illness and the birth of a disabled daughter. The contrast between her flawless appearance and her painful life adds a poignant dimension to our perception of her beauty today.
12. Vivien Leigh: Fragile Fire
British-born Vivien possessed a delicate beauty that masked incredible inner strength. Those enormous eyes dominated her tiny heart-shaped face, creating an impression of vulnerability that made her Scarlett O’Hara and Blanche DuBois so compelling.
Her fragile appearance—she stood just over five feet tall and maintained a tiny waist—belied her fierce determination. Fighting for the role of Scarlett against every major actress in Hollywood, she demonstrated that true beauty includes tenacity and self-belief.
Struggling with bipolar disorder before it was well understood, Vivien brought a feverish intensity to her performances and her life. Her beauty contained this same contradiction—delicate features animated by unmistakable inner fire that burned perhaps too brightly for her own well-being.
13. Dorothy Dandridge: Barrier-Breaking Beauty
Dorothy made history as the first Black woman nominated for a Best Actress Oscar, but her achievements shouldn’t overshadow just how stunning she was. Those high cheekbones, flawless skin, and expressive eyes made her impossible to ignore on screen.
Her beauty faced the additional burden of America’s racial politics. While white actresses were celebrated for their looks, Dorothy had to fight for roles that showcased her talent rather than just exoticizing her appearance.
In “Carmen Jones” and “Porgy and Bess,” she displayed not just physical beauty but magnetic screen presence. Her tragically short life and career left us wondering what might have been, but the photographs and films that remain confirm her place among the century’s most beautiful women.
14. Brigitte Bardot: French Revolution
BB didn’t just own beauty—she reinvented it for the modern age. Her tousled blonde mane, sultry pout, and cat-lined eyes created a template for sensuality that felt revolutionary compared to the more polished stars who came before her.
Her impact on beauty standards can’t be overstated. The “Bardot look”—with that famous hair volume at the crown and those heavy-lidded eyes—launched countless imitations. Even her famous gap between her front teeth became desirable rather than something to be corrected.
What made her special wasn’t perfection but attitude. She brought a carefree, natural sensuality that made previous sex symbols seem stiff by comparison. When she walked on the beach in “And God Created Woman,” cinema’s concept of female beauty permanently shifted toward something more accessible and real.
15. Jean Simmons: English Rose with Thorns
Jean possessed a rare duality—the fresh-faced innocence of a proper English lady combined with smoldering intensity in those enormous dark eyes. Her beauty had versatility that allowed her to play everything from Ophelia to a femme fatale.
Unlike many stars who cultivated a single recognizable look, Jean transformed herself for roles. From her pixie cut in “Great Expectations” to her glamorous styling in “Spartacus,” she demonstrated that true beauty adapts rather than remaining static.
Howard Hughes became so obsessed with her that he purchased her contract, but Jean fought back against his control—showing that her delicate appearance masked impressive backbone. This combination of soft beauty and inner strength made her one of the most compelling actresses of her generation.
16. Cyd Charisse: Dancing Goddess
Those legs! Insured for a million dollars (a fortune in the 1950s), Cyd’s famous legs weren’t just beautiful—they were powerful tools of her art. Her dancer’s body combined strength and grace in a way that redefined feminine beauty.
Fred Astaire said dancing with her was “like dancing with perfection,” while Gene Kelly noted her remarkable ability to match his athletic style. Her famous dance in “Singin’ in the Rain” lasted just minutes but cemented her as a screen icon.
Beyond those legendary legs, Cyd possessed striking features—those arched eyebrows, high cheekbones, and elegant neck created a regal presence. Her beauty was active rather than passive—not just to be admired but expressing itself through movement that showcased years of ballet training.
17. Lena Horne: Groundbreaking Glamour
Lena possessed a face that the camera absolutely worshipped—those sculpted cheekbones, flawless complexion, and expressive eyes created images of such perfection they almost seem unreal. Yet her beauty faced constraints her white contemporaries never encountered.
Despite being one of the most gorgeous women in Hollywood, she was limited to performing musical numbers that could be cut when films played in southern states. Her beauty existed in a painful context of discrimination that makes her achievements all the more remarkable.
She fought back by becoming a civil rights activist while maintaining a six-decade career. Her beauty aged extraordinarily well—in her 80s, she still possessed the bone structure and luminous skin that made her a star, proving that true beauty has staying power.
18. Gina Lollobrigida: Italian Treasure
Nicknamed “The Most Beautiful Woman in the World” after one of her films, Gina brought Mediterranean passion to the screen with her voluptuous figure, expressive features, and that famous curly black hair. Her beauty felt earthy and accessible despite its perfection.
Humphrey Bogart remarked that “Gina makes Marilyn Monroe look like Shirley Temple,” capturing how her mature, confident sensuality contrasted with the more girlish sex appeal of American stars. She embodied a specifically Italian ideal of womanhood—strong, passionate, and unapologetically curvaceous.
Beyond acting, she became an accomplished photojournalist and sculptor, proving her beauty was just one facet of her talents. Her remarkable life—she lived to 95—demonstrated that the fire that made her so captivating on screen burned throughout a long, accomplished life.
19. Veronica Lake: The Peek-a-Boo Girl
Standing just 4’11”, Veronica created one of Hollywood’s most recognizable looks—that cascading blonde hair that fell over one eye, creating an air of mystery and seduction. That “peek-a-boo” hairstyle became so popular that women working in wartime factories were injuring themselves imitating it.
Her delicate features and tiny frame contrasted with the tough-talking characters she often played opposite Alan Ladd. This contradiction between her appearance and her screen persona made her especially intriguing to audiences.
Sadly, alcoholism and mental health issues derailed her career prematurely. By the 1950s, she was working as a bartender, unrecognized by patrons. Her story reminds us that beauty, however memorable, provides no protection against life’s hardships.
20. Natalie Wood: Eternal Youth
Those enormous brown eyes dominated Natalie’s delicate features, creating an impression of perpetual youth and vulnerability that remained even as she matured from child star to adult roles. Her petite frame and heart-shaped face gave her a doll-like quality that belied her emotional depth as an actress.
Born to Russian immigrants as Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko, she possessed an exotic beauty that somehow appeared quintessentially American on screen. In films like “Rebel Without a Cause” and “West Side Story,” she embodied youthful beauty with an underlying current of restlessness.
Her tragic drowning at 43 froze her in time—we never saw her age into maturity. This untimely death adds a poignant dimension to our perception of her beauty, forever associated with youth and possibility.