The Sexiest LIFE Photos Of All Time

Courtesy of LIFE

LIFE's photographers always had an eye for the provocative and alluring. Sometimes they spotted it on movie sets, where the most beautiful people in the world are hard at work being beautiful. Sometimes it was on fashion runways, where their cameras capture what the young and chic are wearing (or barely wearing). And sometimes, it was just wherever sun and spray prompted revealing displays of well-toned flesh, as in this shot from Co Rentmeester's 1970 photo essay about California beach girls.

Click here to visit the full gallery on LIFE.com.

To see more great photography visit HuffPost Exposure.

Comments

[Kford]

09:10 AM on 11/19/2011

Certainly different.

[frank1946]

08:07 AM on 11/18/2011

When you feel worry or fatigue, think of the Lady, not the Tiger !

Donna Reed, Ingrid Bergman.................Thank God for Beautiful Women !

Women are the Spirit of Life. They are Sex. Photos of McQueen are great !

[littlepuffycloud]

11:10 AM on 11/17/2011

Brooke Sheilds looks like a Silverback who just heard something rustling nearby in the jungle. Not sexy.

[hueylover]

01:07 AM on 11/17/2011

That McQueen photo captures sexy

[naschkatze]

12:22 AM on 11/17/2011

The McQueen picture is SEXY, the others, not so much.

[doglove]

11:10 PM on 11/16/2011

Ava Gardner

[ljkcan]

10:32 PM on 11/16/2011

Rita Hayworth in the infamous pinup on life magazine now that was sexy.

[nixthetrix]

09:38 PM on 11/16/2011

Any photo of Grace Kelly tops my list .... sexuality by grace .

[TheCampusQueen]

08:09 PM on 11/16/2011

Great classic photos. You are missing the famous sexiest of all Marilyn Monroe ...actually I am just saying that because I just saw My Week With Marilyn.

[wallinmark]

11:18 PM on 11/20/2011

Some one broke into my locker in an army camp ,only thing taken was Marlyn Monroe on red velvet poster

[polkarde]

02:47 PM on 11/16/2011

Yeah those pics were HOT....what would have been cool, is to have the soundtrack..'Let's Get It On'...playing at the same time.

[Mary Karius]

01:38 PM on 11/16/2011

wow, Bridgette Bardot was GORGEOUS! and ALL REAL, I think?

[SamOhSam]

01:20 PM on 11/16/2011

sexy is a relative term... apparently

[Mochilero]

12:03 PM on 11/16/2011

Sexiness exists in the real world apart from movie stars. How about the sailor kissing the girl on the streets of New York when WWII ended.

[DungBeetle]

12:40 PM on 11/16/2011

Nice moment for sure but you're changing the meaning of the word sexy. Why not just use the corrrect words? It's easier for us all to communicate that way instead of a few people deciding that certain words now mean something else. Let me know what you think about this attack.

All the best!

[invirginia]

08:12 PM on 11/16/2011

kudos!

[Mochilero]

08:14 PM on 11/16/2011

Yes, erotic would have been a far better choice for that moment which distilled lust and desire. Is sexiness just an attribute of people rather than experiences? And it certainly is far better represented in ordinary people than in celebrities, if you ask me. I never resent efforts to clarify our language.

[Jced]

11:15 AM on 11/16/2011

Those lips on Bardot will cost you a couple thousand $$$ today! Beautiful!

[Jced]

11:14 AM on 11/16/2011

I wish (in a whimsical way) that woman in the picture with Steve was me...Y U M M Y!