14 Of The Most Beautiful Women Of All Time

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!

No list would be complete without Marilyn Monroe, one of the most recognizable celebrities in the world. "Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring," she said, and she lived by those words.

Hedy Lamarr is one of the most fascinating women on this list. She holds a Guinness world record for being the first woman to be filmed doing particular activities, but her claim to fame is much more profound than that. After WWII broke out, she turned her mind to inventing "frequency hopping" to solve a problem of enemy vessels jamming the radio signals submarine use to control torpedos. Although she filed a patent that sat unused for years, it became the basis for many subsequent military inventions, as well as future civilian applications.

Ava Gardner's southern accent (she hailed from South Carolina) made her almost incomprehensible to MGM. That didn't stop her from banking on her beauty and they quickly signed her. It took five years for her to achieve a breakthrough with the film noir The Killers, which launched her to stardom. She was a leading Hollywood actress for five decades until the mid-'80s when her life-long smoking habit caught up with her. She developed emphysema and two strokes in 1986 left her paralyzed. She passed away from pneumonia in 1990.

Isabella Rossellini is the daughter of another woman on this list, Ingrid Bergman, from her marriage to Italian filmmaker Roberto Rossellini. In addition to her acting, she is known for her modeling work, although she began significantly older than usual in the industry. She eventually landed her a job as the spokesmodel of Lancôme, a job she held for 14 years. She has played in film and TV, including David Lynch's Blue Velvet. She is also known for her activism, specifically in conservation work.

Barbara Eden is best known for starring in the popular '60s sitcom I Dream of Jeannie, but many don't know that originally the show's creators wanted a brunette. This was because they wanted a departure from Bewitched, also a fantasy sitcom with a blonde lead. Barbara Eden was so funny, beautiful, and fit the role so perfectly that the show's creators overlooked this minor detail. And it's good that they did! Barbara has been a TV star ever since.

With her unique looks, Audrey Hepburn was launched to stardom after starring in Roman Holiday opposite Gregory Peck, a role which garnered her an Academy Award, a BAFTA, and a Golden Globe for Best Actress. Later in life, she concentrated on philanthropy, and she was honored for her humanitarian work both during and after her life. She succumbed to a rare form of abdominal cancer in 1993. Proof of her lasting legacy is evident in her appearances in popular culture throughout the decades since her death.

Although not her first role, Raquel Welch became something of a pop culture phenomenon after she played in the 1966 film One Million Years B.C., in which she wore an iconic fur bikini. She later starred in movies such as 1967's Bedazzled, 1968's Bandolero! and 1969's 100 Rifles. She has continued to star in movies throughout the years, notably Legally Blond alongside Reese Witherspoon. In 2001 she received the "Imagen Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award" for positively promoting her Latin heritage.