Rita Moreno was a Golden Age of Hollywood beauty

With film credits dating back to the 1950s, EGOT winner Rita Moreno has been winning audiences over with her undeniable talent and beauty since the Truman administration. Although modern audiences might be more familiar with Moreno’s depiction of elderly matriarchs in TV comedies like “One Day at a Time,” and blockbuster films such as “Fast X,” she started her acting career in the Golden Age of Hollywood. But Moreno’s early Tinseltown years weren’t easy. Born in Puerto Rico, she balked at being typecast by the studio and relegated to small roles rooted in ethnic stereotypes, but she managed to land roles in notable Hollywood films like “Singin’ in the Rain” and “The King and I.”

Although being gorgeous certainly helped her career, like when her stunning 1954 cover of LIFE magazine helped secure her a contract at 20th Century Fox, it also was a personal burden. Being labeled a 𝓈ℯ𝓍 symbol wasn’t easy for Moreno, telling Yahoo! Entertainment, “And it’s the very thing that eventually drove me into psychotherapy, which is probably the best favor I ever did myself,” adding, “You hate it when they call you a 𝓈ℯ𝓍 object.” In the ’60s, Moreno became the first Latina to win an Oscar in 1962 for her performance in “West Side Story.” Her historic win didn’t automatically lead to more opportunities initially, but throughout the decades, Moreno has crafted a career for herself that few can match.

Cybill Shepherd’s beauty opened a lot of doors for her

Cybill Shepherd’s gorgeous looks opened a lot of doors for her early in life. Growing up in Memphis, TN, Shepherd’s beauty got her noticed. At 16, she won the title of Miss Teenage Memphis and when she was 18, she was honored as “Model of the Year.” Soon, the flaxen-haired, blue-eyed Shepherd was scouted by a modeling agency and quickly landed gigs, like modeling for Breck Shampoo as one of the brands celebrated “Breck Girls” and appearing on magazine covers for publications like Seventeen and Glamour. In fact, it was her April 1970 Glamour cover that caught the attention of director Peter Bogdanovich, who cast her in his movie “The Last Picture Show,” kicking off her acting career with parts in other ’70s hits like “The Heartbreak Kid” and “Taxi Driver.”

As Shepherd matured as a performer, her career really took off. In the ’80s, Shepherd scored her break-out role starring opposite Bruce Willis in the TV series “Moonlighting.” and in the ’90s she starred on her eponymous CBS sitcom. As a person who massively benefited from being gorgeous, she worked through insecurities about being an aging beauty. She shared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” “If we don’t work to develop that depth and [have] more fun too—and really laughing and crying as much as possible—learning to love ourselves as we age is one of the most challenging things we can do.”

Clint Eastwood kept things rolling by not wearing a shirt

With his chiseled good looks, future Hollywood legend Clint Eastwood served up some serious eye candy as a young actor in the 1950s. Eastwood signed his first Hollywood contract back in 1954, but stardom didn’t come immediately for the handsome actor. Despite his camera-ready looks, he paid his Tinseltown dues in a series of low-budget films for Universal. His first movie, 1955’s “Francis in the Navy” was part of a film series starring a “talking” mule – not exactly an auspicious career start. Even though Eastwood leaned into being a Hollywood hunk by posing and weightlifting shirtless, work was tough to come by early in his career. Hustling for auditions and acting in small roles, he actually thought about quitting the business altogether, but in 1959, Eastwood kept his acting doggies movin’ by landing his breakout role in “Rawhide.”

Eastwood transitioned from a young, hunky cattleman to mature bronco in the 1960s by starring in director Sergio Leone’s “Dollars Trilogy,” beginning with “A Fistful of Dollars” in 1964.From there, Eastwood started to become more well known for his hard-boiled characters like the Man with no Name, “Dirty” Harry Callahan, not to mention his prolific film directing resume, his foray into politics, and his tumultuous love life. And hotness runs in the Eastwood family. Clint’s son, Scott Eastwood, has made a name for himself playing beefcake characters and just like dad, he hasn’t been shy about doing shirtless workouts for the cameras.

Dame Judi Dench’s alluring charm ruled the stage

Dame Judi Dench didn’t rise to global stardom until she was in her 60s, when she played M in the “James Bond” film series and won an Oscar for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth I in “Shakespeare In Love.” Despite her late start in Hollywood, she’s been delighting British theater audiences with her elegant allure for decades. Making her stage debut in 1957 as Ophelia in “Hamlet,” Dench’s beauty and talents made her an in-demand Shakespearean actor and she would go on to play many of The Bard’s prominent female characters for the famed Royal Shakespeare Company. Dench looked ever the bombshell as Titania in a 1968 film version of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” We must say, she looked very fetching in her green body makeup and minimal costuming.

Dench has seemingly found her signature look, and she been rocking her signature pixie-cut for decades, While she’s celebrated the world over for her artistic gifts, she bristles at being labeled a “National Treasure” in her home country. She told The Guardian in 2021, “For one thing, it’s a terrible label. So dusty, so dreary. For another, it relegates me to being an 86-year-old woman. Whereas in my mind’s eye I’m 6ft and willowy and about 39.” Sure, in reality Dench is just over 5 feet tall, but her short stature has never diminished her pure talent and graceful beauty.

Jeff Bridges was hot Hollywood royalty

Over the course of his career, Jeff Bridges has transitioned from being a second-generation showbiz talent into a celebrated elder statesman of Hollywood. But those who are only familiar with Bridges’ later-in-life work, like his Oscar-winning turn as a grizzled country singer in the 2009 movie “Crazy Heart” or his iconic performance as The Dude in the cult classic film “The Big Lebowski,” might not be aware of Bridges’ hunk factor in his younger years. His parents were actors Lloyd and Dorothy Bridges, and Jeff’s early acting career was just as hot as he was, scoring his first Academy Award nomination for “The Last Picture Show” while in his early 20s. Whether sporting long, flowing locks like he did in “King Kong” or wearing groovy printed shirts in “Thunderbolt and Lightfoot,” Bridges has serious ’70s 𝓈ℯ𝓍 appeal.

Bridges continued his hot streak in the ’80s, just take a look at him in movies like “Against All Odds” and “Starman.” Called “the thinking woman’s 𝓈ℯ𝓍 symbol,” as he’s gotten older, Bridges doesn’t identify himself with the moniker, but he knows what he finds appealing. He told The Daily Mail, “I think the attractive men are the ones who show you who they are. They’re not trying to hide aspects of themselves. They tell you how they feel. That’s what I aspire to — being honest.”