Beauty Icons : My Top Ten (plus a Giveaway!)

Marion Cotillard

My favourite French actress, the most amazing eyes and such beauty....

Grace Kelly

I watched her over Christmas in "High Society", her beauty was really breathtaking, no wonder practically every one of her co-stars always fell in love with her....she was a very beautiful child and still had that serene beauty when she died in her early 50's

Lauren Bacall

Humphrey Bogart fell in love with her at first sight in "To Have and To Have Not". Definitely a beauty icon for me, a strong woman who remains very beautiful to this day

Sophia Loren

I have mentioned before that I grew up watching old movies with my mother and I can remember reading a biography of Sophia Loren when I was quite young. What I do remember from the book was that even though she grew up in great poverty, she had great focus and was determined to get herself (and her mother and sister) out of that situation.

She's my definition of beauty - and someone who became more beautiful throughout her life.

Katherine Hepburn

Not always considered conventionally beautiful - altho the above photo shows her fabulous bone structure - she is someone for me who was even more beautiful because of her strength, her intelligence and her character.

Audrey Hepburn

Eternally beautiful....what more can I say?

Hedy Lamarr

The Austrian actress was a huge Hollywood star and absolutely stunning.

Ava Gardner

Another huge Hollywood star, many many famous men fell in love with her, I think that kind of beauty. Frank Sinatra married her and, so it was said, never stopped loving her.....when she died in London years later, it was he who paid for her funeral (allegedly).

I also read a story that a car with blacked-out windows attended her funeral from which no one got out - after the funeral it drove off. It was said to be Sinatra.

Monica Bellucci

So Italian, so sexy, stunningly beautiful!

Vivien Leigh

If you have seen her in "Gone with the Wind" you will know how breathtaking beautiful she was in it. The search for an actress to play the role of Scarlett O'Hara took a long time and the studio saw thousands of actresses - Vivien Leigh was so right for the role, she was fabulous as the spoilt Southern belle.

Elizabeth Taylor

To me, Elizabeth Taylor has an eternal beauty.

She was the most gorgeous child in "National Velvet" and stunning in "Antony and Cleopatra".

A woman of strength and passion - and a fantastic actress too.

I included the photo of her and Welsh actor Richard Burton because their tumultuous relationship fascinates me....they couldn't be together (at times) but yet couldn't be apart - famously marrying each other twice and filling endless column inches with their quarrels and behaviour. When he died and was buried in Switzerland, Ms Taylor wept at his graveside.