Bettie Page
Nude

She may not have been the first, but she broke the mold and scorched the lens, and she still rules as the Queen of the Pinups. Bettie Page‘s prime body of work as a model in the ’50s and ’60s continues to influence art, fashion, and popular culture to this day–and, oh, you can make love to yourself to it, too! While she never really crossed over into acting like other cheesecakers, Bettie’s allure easily overshadowed the pack with an air of playful naughtiness that also hinted at a harder, more carnal edge. After she took off her clothes in Playboy magazine as Miss January 1955, her career took off too, making her an overnight sensation. Her frisky personality and trademark black pageboy hairdo went on to appear in an incandescent string of sexploitation gems: Striporama (1953), Varietease (1954), and Teaserama (1955). Later she turned up in the crime drama Body of a Female (1964), although her part was quite limited (as was, she once said, her acting ability). Claiming to know her limits, Bettie utterly vanished from the public eye in the early ’70s, wanting to grow old gracefully in private rather than become the “aging former starlet.” Her vamoosement only fueled the hint of mystery she conveyed through her photos and prompted furiously dedicated fans to build her into an icon on par with Mickey Mouse, Marilyn Monroe, and other huggable larger-than-lifers. Over the past decade, we’ve seen entire books, clothing lines, stores, and multiple companies dedicated solely to Bettiephanalia. The ultimate “built like brick shithouse” beauty has become a cottage industry unto herself.