December 23, 1998. Copyright, 1998, Graphic News. All rights reserved

PLAYBOYÕS TOP BOMBSHELLS

LONDON, December 23, Graphic News: AS we enter the last year of this millennium, Playboy magazine is looking to the past in its quest for sexy women.
The magazine, a self-appointed judge of feminine beauty, has published a list of the 100 sexiest women of the century in its January edition.
Sadly, however, to qualify for one of the top spots in the popular gentlemenÕs publication a woman should preferably be dead Ð and before that Ð blonde.)
Top of the list is sex goddess Marilyn Monroe, who appeared on PlayboyÕs first cover in 1953 and whose death in 1962 is subject to ever more numerous conspiracy theories.
Following closely on her heels is strawberry blonde starlet Jayne Mansfield, buxom star of the rockÔnÕroll film ÔThe Girl CanÕt Help ItÕ. She too departed this life in 1962, decapitated in a road accident.
Other late blondes include Jean Harlow, the original Ôplatinum blonde bombshellÕ (10th), Betty Grable (17th), Lana Turner (25th) and the elegant Grace Kelly (26th).
Overcoming the twin obstacles of being brunette and alive and kicking, busty Raquel Welch gets the bronze medal.
Pouting sex kitten and animal rights activist Brigitte Bardot gains fourth place, while Cindy Crawford is the only non-actress to grace the upper echelons of the list, coming in fifth, well ahead of fellow supermodels Elle Macpherson (23rd) and Claudia Schiffer (59th).
Stars of HollywoodÕs heyday reassert themselves with Sophia Loren at sixth and Elizabeth Taylor at seventh, beating the surgically-assisted Pamela Anderson at eighth and Bo Derek, seductive star of the film Ô10Õ, who goes one better to finish ninth.
Sexiest Britons, according to Playboy, are Joan Collins (38), Naomi Campbell (65), Diana Rigg (75) and yet another deceased blonde, Diana Dors (92).
/ENDS.

Sources: Playboy Magazine