The 70 Hottest Women of The '70s

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Known In The '70s For: Singing "Son of a Preacher Man" and other blue-eyed soul classics

Dusty Springfield was a mega-star at the dawn of the '70s. Her most acclaimed album, Dusty In Memphis, had been released in 1969. It contained the career-defining 1968 single "Son of a Preacher Man." She performed her wide selection of hits on tour in the early years of the decade, but her albums didn't sell as well as Dusty In Memphis had, and she didn't put a song on the pop charts at any time in the decade.

Part of this may be attributed to the fact that people were getting nosy about her sexuality, and she chose to live as a recluse in the United States, first with her lover Norma Tanega, a singer, and then with Faye Harris, a photojournalist. In 1970, she told London's Evening Standard, "Many other people say I'm bent, and I've heard it so many times that I've almost learned to accept it ... I know I'm perfectly as capable of being swayed by a girl as by a boy. More and more people feel that way and I don't see why I shouldn't."

Known In The '70s For: Starring in the Broadway musicals On The Town and Mack & Mabel

Peters has been a Broadway and off-Broadway superstar since the late '60s, but didn't make a splash as a movie star until 1976, in Mel Brooks' Silent Movie. As a fearless biker in the Steve Martin-led comedy The Jerk (1979), Peters prove that she is a genius at striking the balance between funny and sexy.

Known In The '70s For: Singing the feminist anthem "I Am Woman"

Australian-born Reddy had worked her way into the pop charts by 1971, and then she happened to release the perfect song at the perfect time. Feminism had reached a fever pitch, so much so that it got its own magazine, the Gloria Steinem-edited Ms., which debuted in December 1971. A year later, Reddy released a beast of a song, "I Am Woman," which topped the pop charts in the US and Canada and came in second on the US Adult Contemporary and Australian listings. From 1973 to 1975, Reddy unleashed a relentless barrage of hits; she topped various charts regularly but did the greatest damage on the Adult Contemporary with a streak of six consecutive number-ones that started with "Delta Dawn" and finished with "Emotion." She is estimated to have sold 25 million albums worldwide.

Known In The '70s For: Being the top-ranked female tennis player from 1974-1981

Chris Evert was 16 when she made her debut at the U.S. Open in 1971. She won her first majors (the French Open and Wimbledon) in 1974, and was the top ranked women's tennis player from 1974 until the end of the decade. But dominating on the court was just part of the picture/ Evert had been picked to endorse Calvin Klein sportswear before she won her first Grand Slam, and her romance with Jimmy Connors was the tennis equivalent of Brangelina.

Known In The '70s For: Being the singer/songwriter behind the acclaimed albums Blue (1971), For the Roses (1972), and Court and Spark (1974)

The slender Canadian girl who wrote "Chelsea Morning" and "Both Sides Now" was the most desired folkie on the scene, and she wasn't afraid to date within the industry. Her boyfriends included Jackson Browne, James Taylor, and 2/3 of Crosby, Stills, and Nash. Not only was she more exotic than her folk predecessors Joan Baez and Judy Collins, she was also far more musically adventurous, venturing further and further into jazz as the '70s wore on. Mitchell had survived polio as a kid and gave a baby up for adoption when she was 21—there was a certain badassery to her that kids today might never comprehend. Listen to "Carey," off her album Blue, and you might just get it, though.

Known In The '70s For: Being a chart-topping country singer

During the decade, there weren't many vocalists in country music bigger than Tammy Wynette. She scored big with multiple number-one hits including "The Wonders You Perform," "'Til I Get it Right," and "Kids Say the Darndest Things." She also cleaned up at the annual Country Music Association Awards, winning Female Vocalist of the Year a total of four times. Unfortunately, a string of medical issues and subsequent addiction to pain killers ultimate contributed to her untimely death in 1998 at the age of 55.

Known In The '70s For: Singing in the band ABBA, which spawned the classics "Dancing Queen" and "Take A Chance On Me"

The A in her name may stand for one of the letters of the Swedish pop group ABBA, but to us, it also stands for amazingly attractive. Sure, her band gave us some of the cheesiest karaoke songs today, but back then, Agnetha, who started as a chart-topping solo singer in Sweden in the late '60s, was a sex symbol for bell-bottom wearing fans everywhere.

Known In The '70s For: Being a part of the singing duo Sonny and Cher

Cher had risen to prominence as the taller, female half of the duo Sonny & Cher, whose debut single was a chart-topping hit in 1965. Pop success followed through the rest of the '60s, both with husband Sonny Bono and as a solo artist, but it wasn't until 1971, when The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour debuted, that Cher emerged as a multifaceted performer.

Like Barbra Streisand, Cher has won a grab bag of prestigious awards: An Oscar, a Grammy, an Emmy, and three Golden Globes. Throughout the '70s, Cher made waves with her wardrobe choices, and her insistence on wearing navel-baring outfits on TV rankled conservative viewers. Not to mention, her album covers ranged from the sexy to bizarre; the best example of the latter being her Valkyrie-esque getup on the cover of her disco album Take Me Home.

Known In The '70s For: Variety show personality, Las Vegas performer

You'd be hard pressed to find a bigger personality in the feel-good decade than Charo. Having made her first America television debut in the mid-1960s on the Today Show, the Spanish-American entertainer took her talents to Las Vegas at the top of the decade and became one of the most sought after headliners, alongside Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, and Dean Martin. Charo's colorful persona and skimpy stage outfits eventually landed her spots on The Love Boat, Donny & Marie, and even the Brady Bunch variety spinoff. In total, the peak of her 15 minutes of fame lasted over 15 years.

Known In The '70s For: Playing Katie inThe Way We Were (1973) 

A nice Jewish girl from Brooklyn, Streisand began her career with little more than a room-filling voice, a bumpy nose, and crossed eyes. And yet out of the gates, she was winning: two Oscars, eight Grammys, five Emmys, a Tony, a Peabody, and some sort of Kennedy Center honor that might be kind of a big deal. She had spent the '60s as a hugely successful singer, but in 1968 made her film debut in Funny Girl, for which she won the Best Actress Oscar and Golden Globe. Throughout the '70s, she made huge films opposite Hollywood's top WASPs: Robert Redford, in The Way We Were (1973), and Ryan O'Neal, in What's Up Doc? (1972) and The Main Event (1979). To understand Streisand as a sex symbol, you kind of had to be there, but the fact that she could hold her own onscreen opposite cowboy crooner Kris Kristofferson (in A Star is Born, 1976) counts for something.

Known In The '70s For: Being the frontwoman of Fleetwood Mac

Stevie Nicks and boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham joined Fleetwood Mac in 1974 and orchestrated one of the most dramatic yet peaceful takeovers in rock history. Fleetwood Mac had started as a blues-rock band in Britain the late 1960s, and released nine albums before Buckingham and Nicks came on board. Yet from the moment the couple walked in the door, they handled the lion's share of songwriting (the rest was handled by Christine McVie) and the two best tracks on 1975's Fleetwood Mac, "Rhiannon" and "Landslide," were pure Stevie Nicks magic. Not to mention, Rumours, the 1977 follow-up, stands as one of the great rock albums of all time, dripping with classic rock tracks; its most successful single (and the Mac's only number-one hit) was Nicks' "Dreams."

Nicks also built up her own otherworldly image: flowing blonde hair, a wardrobe like a heap of tattered curtains, and six-inch platform boots. Nicks was the essential Californian post-hippie gypsy. Thanks to her look and mystique, some even believe that Nicks is a witch.

Known In The '70s For: Singing and dancing on talk shows, including The Mike Douglas Show and Dinah!

After Bye, Bye, Birdie made her a major star, Ann-Margaret started headlining her own live TV specials, namely The Ann-Margaret Show in 1968. Throughout the 70s, the all-around entertainer would balance dramatic roles in movies with live musical performances. Namely, she followed up The Train Robbers with John Wayne with her Golden Globe-winning performance in the musical Tommy.

Known In The '70s For: Being a pop, rock, and county star

Linda Ronstadt in the '70s had a rare mojo that seems puzzling today. She came up in the L.A. folk-rock and country-rock scene—playing at the Troubadour, a club where stars like James Taylor, the Eagles, and the Byrds were regulars. Ronstadt started out as a country-rocker, then almost suddenly she was hailed as the Queen of Rock and First Lady of Rock by magazines and critics.

She cultivated a sexy image with her mid-70s album covers: Hasten Down the Wind (1976) featured wind-hastened protruding nipples a la Carly Simon, and Simple Dreams (1977) had her lounging in a silk robe at her vanity. But Living in the U.S.A. (1978) blew them all out of the water for flat-out sexiness: Ronstadt standing in a narrow hallway, wearing short-shorts, tube socks, a white t-shirt, a blue silky jacket, and accessorizing with a short perm hairdo and knee pads. This was an athletic seduction that foreshadowed all sorts of unfortunate '80s fashion and hairstyles. Ronstadt is considered by many to be the greatest female artist of the '70s, and the first arena-level female rock star. And yet, name your three favorite Linda Ronstadt songs. Ok, how about two. See? Puzzling.

Known In The '70s For: Being a TV model

Erin Gray kicked off her modeling career at just 15 years old and by the mid-1970s she had become one of the top TV models in the country. Deals with L'Oreal and Bloomingdales bolstered her visibility and pushed her annual earnings into the six figure range, a mark only a handful of models could boast. By the end of the decade, Gray shifted her focus to acting and earned credibility with performances in Evening in Byzantium (1978) and the TV series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.

Known In The '70s For: Playing Princess Leia in Star Wars IV: A New Hope (1977)

Fisher inspired kinky geeks everywhere to ask their girlfriends to roleplay with them. With her tight double sided buns (we're talking about the hair, people) to her iconic white dress, Fisher had future jedis everywhere becoming aware of their own "lightsabers." We don't have to mention the golden bikini of the early '80s, you were already thinking it.

Known In The '70s For: Playing the titular character in Annie Hall (1977)

Keaton is one of Woody Allen's most popular muses. She starred in a number of his films, most notably as Annie Hall, which established her as a true comedic actor, far from her breakout role in The Godfather in 72. Annie Hall's titular character was based on Keaton herself, including her self-deprecating humor, and the role earned her a Academy Award for Best Actress. Well, la-de-da.

Known In The '70s For: Playing Jennifer Pace on the soap opera Search for Tomorrow

Don't buy the fancy name, Morgan Fairchild was born Patsy Ann McClenny in Dallas. And yet that is precisely what has made her so appealing during her whole career: the ability to be a high class dame and a sultry Texas blonde simultaneously. She didn't achieve true stardom until the '80s, with iconic performances on dramatic series Flamingo Road (1980-82) and Falcon Crest (1985-86), but throughout the mid- and late '70s she was an in-demand TV babe, appearing on Kojak, Happy Days, Search for Tomorrow, Barnaby Jones, The Bob Newhart Show, and Dallas.

Known In The '70s For: Playing Elaine O'Connor Nardo on the TV show Taxi 

Henner was just two movie roles into her career—Between the Lines (1977) and Bloodbrothers (1978)—when she got the part that made her a household name: Elaine on Taxi. A divorced mother of two, Elaine was a charmer, a serial dater of handsome guest stars, and serial rejecter of taxi dispatcher Louie de Palma (Danny de Vito).

Known In The '70s For: Being the lead singer of Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, and Starship

The name Grace Slick brings to mind seminal '60s psychedelic hits like "White Rabbit" and "Somebody to Love" or, if you want to be a dick, you can associate her with "We Built This City." But Slick, as the face and voice of Jefferson Starship (formed in 1974, after Jefferson Airplane crashed) was a sarcastic, in-your-face, sometimes out-of-control rock star.

As Jefferson Starship moved away from psychedelia and toward arena rock, Slick's howling vocals and aggressive stage presence remained one of the few traces of the former band. Slick, battling alcoholism (a lifelong struggle for her), was becoming erratic as the decade wore on. In June 1978, she went too far in Germany, taunting the audience about World War II, and was out of the band the following day.

Known In The '70s For:  Being the busty singer of the country hits "Joshua," "Jolene" and "I Will Always Love You"

Parton had been performing and recording since 1967, mainly in association with Porter Wagoner, but she really busted out as a solo phenomenon in 1971 with the chart-topping "Joshua." A veritable treasure chest of country classics followed; her most memorable were the bigguns "Jolene" (1973), "I Will Always Love You" (1974), and "Here You Come Again."

Dolly was one of country's first crossover, cross-your-heart stars. Her film debut, 9 to 5 (1980), had audiences hooting in the aisles and critics cheering brava; unsurprisingly, she won a Golden Globe as New Star of the Year. The film's theme song, a single of the same name, scaled the twin peaks of the pop and country charts. Indeed, with the '70s in the can, Dolly was a knocker on the door of megastardom. Amazing that we got through that whole paragraph without a single boob joke. Or did we?

Known In The '70s For: Playing Barbara Cooper Royer on the TV show One Day A Time

No, Bertinelli isn't just that chick in all those Jenny Craig commercial. In the 70s, audiences watched her grow up on screen in the sitcom One Day At A Time. Naturally, she started the series as a tomboy until writers took advantage of her growing up into a nubile babe.

Known In The '70s For: Being called the Queen of Las Vegas thanks to her hugely successful self-titled Vegas variety show

Lola Falana was an all-purpose international star, a Jill of all trades who got her break dancing in Sammy Davis Jr.'s Broadway musical Golden Boy in the mid-60s. As the '70s loomed, Falana became a star of Italian cinema. Stateside, she appeared in crime flicks and variety shows, where she sang, danced, and did sketch comedy. She put out a disco record. Hell, she was doing it all, and yet not doing enough of any one thing.

That's when her old mentor, Sammy Davis Jr., brought her to Las Vegas. She sold out rooms at the Sands, the Riviera, and the MGM Grand. When she secured a $100,000-a-week gig at the Aladdin, she became the highest paid female entertainer in Vegas.

Known In The '70s For: Playing Eula in The Master Gunfighter (1975)

Though best known as a Bond girl in the non-canon Bond film Never Say Never Again, Carrera was already an established actress by that film's 1983 release. Her performance in her second film, The Master Gunfighter (1975), had earned her a Golden Globe nomination, and she was among the top-billed stars in celebrity-packed 12-part miniseries Centennial.

She has appeared on covers of fashion magazines like Vogue and Bazaar as well as in the pages of Playboy—twice. And she has married as only a top-ranking exotic babe of mystery can; husbands include a male model, a baron-von-something, a Greek shipping magnate, and a photographer.

Known In The '70s For: Playing Sabrina Duncan on the TV show Charlie's Angels

In 1975, Kate Jackson signed on to star in a TV series called Alley Cats. The show's producer, Aaron Spelling, told her that it was only a working title and would probably need to be changed. Jackson's suggestion was Charlie's Angels. Jackson starred alongside Farrah Fawcett, Jaclyn Smith, and Cheryl Ladd during her three-season run on the show before pursuing other opportunities in Hollywood. Her performances earned her three Emmy nominations for "Best Actress" and several Golden Globe nominations. Who cares if she never won a trophy? The Charlie's Angels pose is still one of the most recognizable and most imitated images in pop culture history.

Known In The '70s For: Appearing on the Merv Griffin Show and hosting the Great Radio City Music Hall Spectacular

In 1969, Anton was crowned Miss California and subsequently went on to compete in the Miss America beauty contest, where she took home the prize for second runner-up. By the mid 1970s, she was primed for showtime and gained notoriety through a string of popular commercials for Muriel cigars. From there, she was able to launch a successful career in TV, and even landed her own variety series alongside country singer Mel Tillis on ABC called Mel and Susan Together. Her career in show business continued well beyond the 70s, too. Antons was the host of the Great Radio City Music Hall Spectacular show at the Flamingo Hilton in Las Vegas for over 5,000 performances until the turn of millenium. Now that's longevity.

Known In The '70s For: Starring in Cleopatra Jones (1973) and Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold (1975)

A fashion model turned actress, Dobson became a blaxploitation sex symbol with two Cleopatra Jones movies. She died at 59 in Baltimore—the city of her birth—of complications from pneumonia and multiple sclerosis. Dobson was statuesque to say the least, standing at 6'2"—6'9" with the afro.

Known In The '70s For: Playing Marcia Brady on the TV show The Brady Bunch

Marcia! Marcia! Marcia! Honestly, if we grew up in the 70s, we wouldn't have tired of saying that either. Maureen McCormick was essentially the decade's idea of the quintessential teen crush, thanks to her bubbly personality and Barbie-good-looks in The Brady Bunch. However, outside of the show, she was more famous for her personal life than for her other film and TV work. Throughout filming the sitcom that made her a catchphrase, McCormick had an off-screen romance with her on-screen brother, Barry Williams (Greg Brady).

Known In The '70s For: Starring in Rollerball (1975) and Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze (1975)

Pamela Hensley wasn't exactly the most famous or sought after actress in Hollywood, but that doesn't diminsh the fact that she was a hell of a looker. Throughout the '70s, Hensley built her resume with roles in Rollerball (1975) and Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze (1975). By the end of the decade, she was prime for a breakthrough and landed roles in Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and Matt Houston in the early '80s.

Known In The '70s For: Playing Athena on the TV show Battlestar Galactica

Before getting into acting, Maren Jensen established a successful career as a model. Having landed on the covers of Vogue and Mademoiselle, as well as a number of high profile TV modeling gigs, Jensen clearly had the sex appeal to make the leap into acting. Her career on screen was limited mostly to TV, including an extended string of appearances on Battlestar Galactica.

Known In The '70s For: Playing the Mary Richards on the TV show The Mary Tyler Moore show

You can't say the name Mary Tyler Moore without thinking about The Mary Tyler Moore show, in which she played a local news producer in Minneapolis. Hell, even kids who've never seen the show are vaguely familiar with it, the same way kids who've never listened to the Beatles are aware of their existence. Thanks to the show, the Emmy-award winning actress, who got her start on The Dick Van Dyke Show in the 60s, made it OK to be a 30-year-old woman who's unmarried, without kids, and isn't slaving away over a stove.

Known In The '70s For: Playing Samantha Stevens on the TV show Bewitched

You know that show where the witch-cum-suburban housewife constantly seems like she has a itch in her nose? Well, Elizabeth Montgomery was the original star of that sitcom, which ran for a solid eight seasons and is a staple on late night TV thanks to syndication. After earning five Emmy and four Golden Globe nominations for the show (and never winning any!), she moved onto more dramatic roles in movies including A Case of Rape (1974) and The Legend of Lizzie Borden (1975).

Known In The '70s For: Being a singer of the band the Ike & Tina Turner Revue

Tina had been performing with husband Ike Turner since the late '50s, and was always clearly the star—shimmy in a mini-skirt and people just tend to pay attention. The early '70s were a fertile period for Ike & Tina, at least musically, as they scored chart hits with a series of covers that included Sly & The Family Stone's "I Want to Take You Higher," the Beatles' "Come Together," and Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Proud Mary."

Yet for Tina, the years were nightmarish. She had already tried to commit suicide in 1969, but it wasn't until 1976, after suffering a beating in Dallas, that Tina found the nerve to leave Ike. She lost most everything but her stage name (and she assumed some debts) in the divorce proceedings, which ended in 1978. Tina picked herself up and began her career anew, performing in her own cabaret-style show and appearing as a guest on numerous TV shows. A long climb back to prominence would culminate in the 1984 album Private Dancer.

Known In The '70s For:: Starring in for Chinatown (1974) and Network (1976)

Stunningly beautiful in 1967's Bonnie and Clyde, Dunaway became a strange sort of sex symbol who wasn't sexy in the 1970s. This was partly because she took a lot of roles that required serious acting and not bikini hijinks. And perhaps another element was that in her two best movies, Chinatown (1974) and Network (1976), she played women who were, though desirable, a bit cold, to say the least. In Chinatown, it turns out her character has been raped by her father; in Network she's just an unfeeling bitch of a TV executive.

And in fact the titular character she played 1978's The Eyes of Laura Mars, a fashion photographer who visualizes the grisly handiwork of a serial killer, and Joan "Wire Coat Hangers" Crawford, whom she played in Mommie Dearest (1981), weren't all right in the head either. Maybe you like that kind of thing. Maybe you're not all right in the head.

Known In The '70s For: Being half of the brother-sister duo The Carpenters, who scored massive hits with "We've Only Just Begun" and "(They Long to Be) Close to You"

Karen Carpenter came up as a jazz drummer who also did vocals, but as the group became more successful she was persuaded to stand front and center to sing. And she looked good up there—really good, with a toothy, girl-next-door grin—but there remains something sexy about a girl who knows how to break it down on the traps. Though the Carpenters' big singles continue to haunt easy-hits radio to this day, Karen herself was sadly short-lived. She suffered from anorexia, and died at 32 of heart failure brought on by the disease.

Known In The '70s For: Playing Jennifer Marlowe on the TV show WKRP in Cincinnati

Anderson was judged suitable to play the breathy, pneumatic secretary on WKRP when the show's creator saw a picture of her in a bikini. He described her as having "a body like Jayne Mansfield and the overall sex appeal of Marilyn Monroe." In a way, the babe racket in the late '70s was a giant hair contest, in which sex symbols wore ever larger and more elaborate piles of curls and waves—and Loni played second fiddlehead to no one.

Known In The '70s For: Playing Joanna Kramer in Kramer Vs. Kramer (1979)

Streep is recognized as one of the greatest actors of all time but there was a time when she was just the cold woman in Kramer Vs. Kramer, which won her her first (of three) Academy Award. In fact, Streep (who said Woody Allen wouldn't let her improvise any of her lines in Manhattan) wrote a lot of her dialogue for the film, drawing inspiration from her own working mother.

Known In The '70s For: Playing Laurie Partridge in the TV show The Partridge Family

Forget the cheesy songs that came out of the fictional family band's sitcom, it was what happened behind the scenes that made the model-turned-actress famous, if not infamous. The hot oldest sister of the Partridge Family and her on-screen brother, David Cassidy, had an off-screen affair (yes, Greg and Marcia style).

Known In The '70s For: Being Hugh Hefner's girlfriend

Barbi Benton first appeared on the cover of Playboy magazine in the late 60s, having met Hugh Hefner on the set of the TV show Playboy After Dark. Though never a Playmate, Benton held the more prestigious title of Hef's Main Squeeze for seven years. She was a go-to TV babe, appearing as her bubbly self on The Tonight Show, Hollywood Squares, and Hee Haw. She was a semi-successful country artist who in 1975 had a top-five single, "Brass Buckles."

Known In The '70s For: Leaving the '60s trio the Supremes and being a successful solo singer in the '70s

Before Beyonce, there was Diana Ross. Formerly of uber-successful girl group The Supremes, Ross struck out on her own in 1970, and topped the chart with "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" from her eponymous debut album. She also launched a movie career, playing Billie Holiday in Lady Sings the Blues (1972), which she won a Golden Globe for. Her 1975 film Mahogany was also a success, and "Theme From Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To?)" was another number-one hit.

Known In The '70s For: Playing Helen Grayle in Farewell, My Lovely (1975)

English Charlotte Rampling was an established A-lister in Europe well before gaining popularity in the US in the '70s. She crossed over with a riveting performance in the remake of Farewell, My Lovely in 1975. A string of nominations and awards comprised her prolific career spanning four decades. Her longevity and stunning looks make Charlotte Rampling one of the most desirable women of the '70s.

Known In The '70s For: Starring in the comedies There's a Girl in My Soup (1970), $ (1971), and Butterflies Are Free (1972)

An often forgotten fact: Hawn was huge in the '70s. After her Academy Award win in '69, Hawn starred in some of the best comedies of the era but she also had enough star power to have two TV specials in her name, Pure Goldie and The Goldie Hawn Special. She performed with comedy legends and the Harlem Globetrotters. Her special even won her an Emmy.

Known In The '70s For: Playing Sandy Olsson in Grease (1978)

Throughout the '70s, Olivia Newton John was a massive force on the pop, adult contemporary, and country charts—that last one much to the chagrin of many country artists, who disliked the idea of an Australian singer born in England competing with such pure country queens as Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton. Yet compete she did, and in 1973 her country-pop stylings won her the Grammy for Best Female Country Vocal and the Academy of Country Music's Most Promising Female Vocalist award.

In a way, though, she was just getting warmed up, because her most enduring achievement of the 70s was her co-starring role, opposite John Travolta, in the film version of Grease, which was the top performing film of 1978.

Emboldened by her character's transformation in the final scene of the film, Newton John gave herself a makeover and went all sexy for her 1978 album Totally Hot. That album's success drove her to further objectify herself on the synth-heavy, double-platinum, chart-topping, did-people-really-listen-to-this release Physical. But that was 1980, and her cult hit film Xanadu beckoned.

Known In The '70s For:  Starring in Carnal Knowledge (1971) and Starting Over (1979)

By the 1970s, Candice Bergen had already established herself as one of the best actresses in Hollywood based on her performance in the Academy Award-nominated film The Sand Pebbles. However, her legacy was built in the 70s with strong performances that earned her Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations. Her talents extended beyond the big screen, too, as she landed the lead in Murphy Brown and owns the distinction for being the first woman to host Saturday Night Live, ever. It's safe to say that her resume is equally as impressive as her stunning looks.

Known In The '70s For: Playing Kelly Garrett on the TV show Charlie's Angels

Along with Farrah Fawcett and Kate Jackson, Smith was cemented as a pop culture icon thanks to the sexy (and constantly-remade) crime drama Charlie's Angels. However, outside of kicking ass in bellbottoms, Smith was the queen of made-for-TV movies, starring in The Whiz Kid and the Carnival Caper (1976), The Users (1978), and most notably, Nightkill (1980), which earned her a Golden Globe nomination.

Known In The '70s For: Being a disco singer

With the release of "Love to Love You Baby" in late 1975, Donna Summer began her reign as the Queen of Disco (she also claimed the title "The First Lady of Love"). As such, she was a regular presence at Studio 54. She put out five more albums before the end of the '70s, the last being Bad Girls, a tribute of sorts to prostitutes that featured Summer herself depicted as a hooker on the cover.

She was freakishly prolific, especially considering that Bad Girls and 1977's Once Upon a Time were double albums. When she released a greatest hits collection at the close of the decade it was— guess what—a double album, containing a new song, "On the Radio," which became her fifth consecutive top-five hit.

Known In The '70s For: Playing Bond girl Anya Amasova in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

Ah, the Russian spy Anya Amasova is called Agent XXX for obvious reasons: Bach's character made her an international sex symbol, Bach herself has appeared in Playboy numerous times, and she grants Bond's request at the end of the movie to get out of her wet clothes.

Known In The '70s For: Being a model and appearing on the cover Vogue a record of 27 times

Hutton was an uber-successful model, and a decent actress (she gained critical acclaim for her role in 1974's The Gambler. But her real legacy is her teeth, or rather, the large space between her two front ones. It's possible to be gap-toothed and beautiful, she proved, and all who have come after her owe her a debt. We're looking at you, Mr. Letterman.

Known In The '70s For: Playing Chrissy on the TV show Three's Company

This quintessential California blonde slogged through a decade of bit parts and guest roles before landing her career-defining job, the role of Chrissy on Three's Company. From 1977-81, she was TV land's favorite ditz, and arguably the best thing about the show. However, when she insisted she be paid on the same scale as contemporary male sitcom stars like Alan Alda and Carroll O'Connor, network ABC said no dice, wrote her out of the show, and terminated her contract. Fortunately, she found redemption with the Thighmaster.

Known In The '70s For: Being a sports announcer of The NFL Today

Jayne Kennedy kicked off the decade with a historic win in the Miss Ohio USA beauty pageant (she was the first black contestant to win the coveted title). By the mid-'70s, Kennedy had moved to California to pursue an acting career. She didn't have much luck in the way of becoming an uber-famous movie actress, but she did manage to break into the world of sports announcing (Erin Andrews who?) on The NFL Today. From there, Jayne Kennedy went on to become the first black actress to grace the cover of Playboy in 1981.

Known In The '70s For: Playing Jenny Hanley in 10 (1979)

Bo Derek appearing as a white woman in the comedy 10 with cornrows should have been funny but it was way too sexy instead. And while her hairstyle has been parodied her sex symbol status cannot be denied. Derek was even nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Newcomer for the film.

Known In The '70s For: Playing Nicole Britton in Hustle (1975)

Think Jennifer Love Hewitt's The Client List is a progressive new plot line for a TV show? Think again. Deneuve was the original bored-housewife-turned-prostitute in the film that made her a French megastar Belle Du Jour. The actress made her transition as sex symbol stateside with the 1969 film The April Fools, co-starring Jack Lemmon, and Hustle, with Burt Reynolds.

Known In The '70s For: Playing Wilma McClatchie in Big Bad Mama (1974)

If you think cougars and MILFs are a new phenomenon, consider this: Angie Dickinson was a cougar and MILF before some of today's cougars and MILFs were even born. Dickinson turned 39 in 1970. 

The reason Angie makes this list can be summed up in three words: Big Bad Mama. The 1974 film, about a female gangster in the 1930s, was dressed-up grindhouse fare, but it struck a chord and proved that Dickinson, in her 40s (and nude in a couple scenes) was still a hot babe. It came out nearly simultaneously with the debut of Police Woman, a cop series starring Dickinson that ran for four years.

Known In The '70s For: Starring in Love Story (1970) and The Getaway (1972)

After a successful modeling career, MacGraw burst into film with Goodbye, Columbus (1969) and then turned in a Golden Globe-winning performance in one of the top-grossing films of all time 1970's Love Story. Love Story is a fairly stomach-churning watch today—with its mantra of, "Love means never having to say you're sorry"—but there's no doubting the sex appeal of 30-year-old Ali. Her next film, The Getaway (1972), remains a ripping good time, and her chemistry with the dangerous hunk Steve McQueen was all too real: They were wed in 1973 and stayed together until 1978. Uncoincidentally, she made no movies during that span.

She returned to film with Convoy (1978), a film that could not have been more late-70s if it tried: Based on a country-western song, it tried to cash in on the trucking/CB craze and starred Kris Kristofferson. 

Known In The '70s For: Playing Kris Munroe in the TV show Charlie's Angels

Cheryl Ladd moved to Hollywood in hope of launching a singing career, although her most notable gig was the singing voice of Melody on the animated series Josie and the Pussycats. However, Ladd did gain superstar status, except it was for her acting gig as Kris Munroe in the popular TV series Charlie's Angels. She used her newfound fame to resurrect her music career, getting the nod to sing the national anthem at Superbowl XIV. You go, Glen Coco!

Known In The '70s For: Playing Janet Weiss in Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

In the '70s, Sarandon was still trying to make a name for herself (and clearly, she wasn't the MILF we know her as now). She appeared in the short-lived soap opera A World Apart and then French-Italian comedy opposite Sophia Loren, Lady Liberty, but she was far from a household name. In 1975, the cult hit Rocky Horror Picture Show was released, with Sarandon as the innocent virgin Janet. Even if sweet singing transvestites and parodies of B-movie horror films aren't your thing, buy a ticket for a midnight showing. Sarandon is in her underwear for 90% of the time.

Known In The '70s For: Starring in The Last Picture Show (1971), The Heartbreak Kid (1972), and Taxi Driver (1976)

Memphis-born Shepherd was a successful model when one of her Glamour covers caught Polly Platt's eye. Polly Platt was the then-wife of Peter Bogdanovich, who had been searching for a young actress to portray Jacy in The Last Picture Show (1971). The role kicked off Shepherd's acting career. Although she made a number of unsuccessful films in the '70s, both The Heartbreak Kid (1972) and Taxi Driver (1976) are classics of the era. She dropped out of show business in the late '70s, but would return with a vengeance in the mid-80s, co-starring with Bruce Willis in the TV series Moonlighting.

Known In The '70s For: Playing Joanna Ingalls Eberhart in The Stepford Wives (1975)

After establishing herself as an actress as Mrs. Robinson's daughter in The Graduate (1967), Ross landed a series of roles that made her a Hollywood legend. Rounding out the 60s, she starred Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. In the 70s, she took lead role in The Stepword Wives (1975) and won a Golden Globe for Voyage of the Damned.

Known In The '70s For: Being the first black model to appear on the cover of Vogue in 1974

Naomi Campbell gets a lot of credit for demolishing the unusually stubborn color barrier in high fashion, but Naomi's achievements in the '80s and '90s ought to be considered no more significant that what Beverly Johnson did in the '70s. Her rise to prominence triggered an interest in black models, and before long many of the fashion world's most prominent designers were employing them. Johnson turned out to be much more than a pretty face. 

Today it's common for models like Cindy Crawford and Elle MacPherson to become businesswomen, but Beverly was pioneering the "modelpreneur" concept when she launched the self-branded Beverly Johnson Hair Collection. 

Known In The '70s For: Modeling for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue

Christie Brinkley was one of the OG swimsuit models, landing her first cover in 1979. In addition to making high-waisted bikinis look surprisingly sexy, Brinkley signed a deal with CoverGirl (that would last for a total of over 25 years) and graced the front page of a number of famous publications, including Glamour and Rolling Stone.

Known In The '70s For: Singing the hits "You're So Vain" and "Nobody Does It Better"

Along with Linda Ronstadt, Carly Simon is considered one of the elite musical sex symbols of the '70s. Her first hit was "That's the Way I've Always Heard It Should Be," from 1971, which was followed by "Anticipation"—yes, the song from the old Heinz Ketchup commercials. Her 1973 single "You're So Vain" was the biggest hit of her career, a bitter attack on an ex-lover assumed to be either Mick Jagger or Warren Beatty, but Carly to this day refuses to say.

Carly was at least vain enough to know she was sexy and that couldn't hurt album sales. The cover of 1975's Playing Possum was her most risque: she's in a kneeling pose and her face is barely visible; instead we're meant to focus on her knee-high leather boots, thighs and ass cheekily protruding from a very short lacy shirt. 

Known In The '70s For: Playing Daisy Duke in the TV show Dukes of Hazzard

Despite the fact that producers and casting directors were looking for a Dolly Parton look-alike, the brunette won her now-iconic part in The Dukes of Hazard on the spot. Bach brought her own wardrobe on the first day of shooting, consisting of a T-shirt, cutoff denim shorts, and high heels. Her improvised look became a pop culture phenomenon, and the Daisy Duke poster sold millions of copies. You can see why.

Known In The '70s For: Playing Jaime Sommers on the TV show The Bionic Woman

Lindsay Wagner kicked off her career as a model working in LA. Although she was undoubtedly very attractive, her career as wasn't taking her around the world and making her the superstar she set out to be. In 1971, Wagner signed a deal with Universal Studios. By 1973, she had landed her first starring role in a feature film called Two People. Two years later, Wagner entered the role of Jaime Sommers in The Bionic Women, which would eventually earn her an Emmy Award. 

Known In The '70s For: Being named the "Most Desired Woman" of the decade by Playboy

Welch established herself as one of the planet's iconic sex symbols in 1966, wearing her fur bikini in publicity stills for One Million BC. Still hotter than hell in 1970, she tried for artistic cred in the hard-to-watch film Myra Breckinridge. In fact, Raquel is the only thing that keeps the movie from being impossible to watch. Playboy called Raquel the "Most Desired Woman" of the '70s just for being herself. In bikinis and such.

Known In The '70s For: Being the lead singer of Blondie

Harry is without a doubt the pinup of the punk and new wave scene. She had been a go-go dancer and a Bunny at the New York Playboy club, so it's safe to say she was in touch with her sex appeal. Debbie Harry (the name of the person) and Blondie (the name of the group) were there, at ground zero of the explosion of edgy New York cool that emerged in response to bland soft rock and cheesy disco. They played at downtown punk venues Max's Kansas City and CBGB, sharing the stage with the likes of Talking Heads and Television.

Known In The '70s For: Playing a Bond Girl in Live and Let Die (1973) 

Born Joyce Penelope Wilhelmina Frankenberg, she took her stage name from one of Henry VIII's wives but seared herself into the memories of filmgoers as Solitaire in Live and Let Die. To this day, Solitaire remains one of the most popular Bond Girls of all time. When Roger Moore, then the "new" James Bond, tries his customary introduction, Solitaire backhands him with, "I know who you are, what you are, and why you've come. You have made a mistake. You will not succeed." Seymour continued on through the '70s as a thinking man's sex symbol, appearing in one of those ridiculous stop-motion Sinbad movies and the 1978 series Battlestar Galactica.

Known In The '70s For: Playing the titular character on the TV show Wonder Woman

Lynda Carter's inclusion on this list goes without saying. Almost nothing is sexier than an Amazonian princess in a patriotic glorified swimsuit who also has her own jet. Granted, you can't see the jet and she has the almost deal-breaking lasso of truth. Carter, who began her career in the public eye as the winner of Miss World USA 1972, is still the definitive "Wonder Woman."

Known In The '70s For: Modeling for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue

Cheryl Tiegs was a three-time Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover girl—1970, 1975, and 1983—and a 1978 poster of her in a pink bikini ranks as one of the decade's most famous bikini images. She was a longtime cover girl, and not only for men's mags: At 17, she appeared on the cover of Glamour, and went on to do Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Elle, Time and People.

Known In The '70s For: Starring in films such as The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972), Murder on the Orient Express (1974) and The Deep (1977)

Bisset is best described as her character in the parody of Bond films Casino Royale, Miss Goodthighs. The English actress broke out in Bullit (1968) as Steve McQueen's girlfriend, but American audiences really began paying attention to Bisset for her role in The Deep, where she swam underwater in only a thin white t-shirt and bikini bottoms. Her splash in the pool helped secure the film's' box office success.

Known In The '70s For: Playing Jill Munroe on the TV show Charlie's Angels

Farrah Fawcett became a household name when she first appeared as private investigator Jill Munroe on the popular TV show Charlie's Angels in 1976, earning several Golden Globe and Emmy nominations for her. Considering Fawcett has the most iconic bikini photo of all time, few actresses have been able to match her status as a universal sex symbol.

Known In The '70s For: Starring in a run of blaxploitation films that included Coffy (1973), Foxy Brown (1974), Friday Foster (1975), and Sheba, Baby (1975).

Even before her coronation as the queen of blaxploitation, Grier was a grindhouse force to be reckoned with, having strutted her stuff in women-in-prison flicks The Big Doll House (1971), Women in Cages (1971), The Big Bird Cage (1972), and Black Mama, White Mama (1973). Meanwhile, blaxploitation was percolating, and Grier's menacing beauty and brick house figure proved just what the male-dominated genre needed.

She lived by blaxploitation, and her career virtually died by it as well. After Drum (1976), she ceased being a headliner, and spent the '80s and '90s as a supporting actress until being reanimated by Quentin Tarantino for Jackie Brown. Tarantino has suggested she was the first female action hero, and though Angie Dickinson has a case, we're inclined to agree with QT.