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Over the course of movie history, there have been the great actresses, women who light up the screen with charisma and character, like Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn, and Meryl Streep. There have also been women whose special gifts had more to do with the sexual allure they projected. Hey fellas, you must have noticed them, right? Brace yourselves then- here are our picks for the top twenty female cinematic sex symbols of all time. (Drum roll). 

If you ask a true movie buff to identify the most gifted director in the history of film comedy, believe it or not, you might not hear the names Woody Allen, Rob Reiner, or even Mel Brooks – funny as many of their films may be. Some aficionados might point to Chaplin, Keaton, or Preston Sturges. My own vote goes to Ernst Lubitsch.             His string of classic comedies, extending from the late ‘20s to the early ‘40s, were all characterized by what became known as “The Lubitsch Touch.” The key to his approach lay in trusting his audience’s intelligence, in their ability to infer and appreciate subtle comic nuance. Try to imagine that happening in today’s Hollywood.      Lubitsch relied more on suggestion than demonstration; he counted on his public to fill in the blanks, and of course, they did. He was known for his urbane characters, witty dialogue, and chic, exotic settings - catnip for Depression-era audiences desperate for escape and a heady dose of glamour.

Given all the heroes and soldiers he played over his half century in film, this year, it’s only fitting that John Wayne’s birthday should fall around Memorial Day. 

Did you know that both Lincoln and Kennedy have 7 Letters? Did you know that both were shot on a Friday? Just as uncanny is the connection between genial superstar Tom Hanks and his folksy predecessor, James “Jimmy” Stewart.   If there was any question that the two share cinematic auras for their respective generations, it was blown away when Hanks inhabited Stewart’s role from “The Shop Around the Corner” in the slick remake “You’ve Got Mail”. Their parallel command performances – studies in “aw shucks,” regular guy humility – make them both exasperatingly lovable middle-class heroes – everymen doing extraordinary things. The two stars’ respective charm-laden film careers have a great deal in common too, running the leading man gamut from drama to thriller to comedy (Stewart’s “The Philadelphia Story” is a little classier than Hanks loving on a sheep in “Bachelor Party,” but you get the idea).

Katharine Hepburn, whose birthday falls today, remains the only actor or actress to be awarded four Oscars. Yes, Meryl has long since surpassed her on nominations, but Kate still leads on wins. Few people now realize that by the end of 1938, after just six years in Hollywood, pundits were saying Kate was all washed up. In 1939, the year many point to as Hollywood’s finest, Kate didn’t have a single movie credit.  True, she got her first break early enough, as talking pictures in the early ‘30s were always searching for young, attractive Broadway-bred comers who could actually speak. Kate made an auspicious debut in 1932’s “A Bill Of Divorcement," opposite the aging, alcoholic John Barrymore (who played her father).

Once upon a time, in a little period of history called World War II, America was sorely in need of heroes, specifically heroes who personified the ideals by which America defined itself: courage, humility, toughness, and the chance to start small and end up big. Gary Cooper was that hero. Perhaps his friend John Wayne fit that mold too, but in a larger, more mythical way. Coop was quieter, more deliberate and unassuming, but no less powerful. If they’d made a movie in the thirties about Charles Lindbergh, surely Gary Cooper would have played him. Cooper grew up on a ranch in Montana and knew early on the meaning of hard work. He also knew a thing or two about horses, which came in handy when he first went to Hollywood and found work as a stuntman in Westerns.

Gary Cooper was born 113 years ago today, and while he'll always be remembered as the man who played their favorite cowboy or hero, many also recall him simply as the man with THAT FACE. (Just ask my wife!) When he broke into the movie scene in the mid-late '20s, talking pictures were still 2-3 years away. While Coop's arresting looks and "aw shucks" manner would have guaranteed him a solid career in silents, he had a nice baritone voice that only made him more appealing when talking pictures finally arrived. So as the talkies took off, so did Coop's career. The product of an authentic western upbringing in Montana, Coop represented something singularly American to his audience, and they loved him for it. Pair that with an understated style and a face that would force any cowgirl to stop a galloping mustang in its tracks, and you've got yourself a true Hollywood Legend who lives on in our dreams.

By the time ambitious model-turned-actress Grace Kelly hit Hollywood at the dawn of the ‘50s, she was possessed of near-perfect looks, enormous ambition, a healthy sex drive, and… a major Daddy complex. As stunning and talented as she was, Grace could never seem to please her self-made businessman father, Jack Kelly. Somehow this drew her physically to older men. (I’ll have to ask my shrink how that works).

Seemingly more machine than man, Churchill lived to see his 90th birthday, smoking and tippling pretty much the whole way, getting by on the occasional cat nap.