Successful Women In History

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, making any list of the most beautiful people in history up for serious debate. Many of these women became successful thanks to their looks, so if we've piqued your curiosity, check out which women we have selected...and let's see who is the most breathtaking of them all.

During the '80s and '90s, Michelle Pfeiffer was one of the most popular actresses on the silver screen, thanks to her skilled acting and drop-dead gorgeous looks. She managed to break the typecast of the pretty girl in her late '70s movies, going on to have a supporting role in Scarface that led to obtaining more serious roles as she rose to stardom. According to one Daily Telegraph contributor, hers is "the kind of beauty you find yourself involuntarily taking a moment to marvel at mid-conversation."

Sadly, Sharon Tate's life will always be overshadowed by her disturbing, tragic, and senseless death. Long before Quentin Tarantino reimagined how history could have been different in Once Upon a Time In Hollywood, the beautiful Tate started to act in movies. She was hailed as a promising newcomer, having enjoyed positive reviews for both comedic and dramatic acting roles. She married her director and co-star from The Fearless Vampire Killers, Roman Polanski, in 1968. She was eight months pregnant with their child when she was taken from this world.

A dancer from a young age, Brigitte Bardot moved on to acting in the '50s. She starred in the controversial Robert Vadim film, And God Created Women, which launched her to international fame in 1956. One American critic called her, "undeniably a creation of superlative craftsmanship." Brigitte Bardot's entrance onto the world scene during the conservative decade was so palpable that Simone de Beauvoir wrote a feminist essay titled Brigitte Bardot and The Lolita Syndrome. Later in life, she became an animal rights activist and, most controversially, was fined five times for inciting racial hatred.

The Swedish actress and singer appeared in many films throughout the 1960s and 1970s, and is most known for her roles in The Night They Raided Minsky's and Get Carter. She also appeared as a Bond girl in The Man With the Golden Gun (1974). Ekland received most of her attention overnight as a result of her 1964 romance with actor Peter Sellers, who proposed to her after seeing her photograph in the paper. Throughout the 1970s she was one of the most talked-about and photographed celebrities in the world.