The beautiful women who men lose their minds over

In 1995, CIDESCO, the world’s major international beauty therapy association, declared September 9 World Beauty Day. Recognized standards for beauty have always been influenced by a host of factors, but above all cinema. RIA Novosti gives its view of the most beautiful actresses of the past century. The gallery opens with Vera Kholodnaya, the first star of Russian silent movies. She died at 26 after just four years at the top, but is still remembered. Kholodnaya inspired many prominent poets of her time. The legendary Alexander Vertinsky dedicated several of his songs to the actress he loved unrequitedly.

Lyobov Orlova, the star of Soviet cinema and a gifted singer, was an icon of style in Soviet Russia. She enjoyed immense popularity among millions of Russians and was patronized by Joseph Stalin. She is believed to be the first Soviet film star to have had plastic surgery.

Valentina Serova gained vast popularity after starring in The Strong Willed Girl. She inspired one of the most famous Russian war poems Wait for Me and later a collection of love poems entitled, With You and Without You by Konstantin Simonov, her husband. Her career declined after the 1940s and her marriage to Simonov broke down in 1957.

Anastasia Vertinskaya’s film debut as Assol who dreams of her hero in the 1961 movie Scarlet Sails made her an instant celebrity in the Soviet Union.

Svetlana Svetlichnaya’s role in the 1968 cult comedy Diamond Arm turned the actress into a Soviet sex symbol. A seductive woman living in a Black Sea resort hotel and wearing Chanel perfume embodied many Soviet women’s dreams of elegant living. Svetlichnaya in the classic movie A Hero of Our Time.

Marilyn Monroe, America’s most famous sex symbol. An abridged version of Some Like It Hot was shown in the Soviet Union eight years after it came out in the United States, and viewers really liked her acting.

Italian movie icons Sophia Loren (in the picture) and Gina Lollobrigida were, however, somewhat closer to the taste of Soviet audiences than Monroe.

Lollobrigida attended a Moscow film festival in 1961, which spurred the release of more films, starring or featuring the actress on Soviet screens.

Polish actress Barbara Brylska was the favorite among audiences in the 1970s. Her role as Nadya, a romantic and tender Russian literature teacher, in the 1975 Soviet comedy Irony of Fate, meant she found a permanent place in Russians’ hearts.

Lyubov Polishchuk came to fame in the 1980s. The actress made her debut in the popular comedy The Twelve Chairs in 1976. A striking brunette with blue eyes, the actress was considered too sexy for austere Soviet standards and had few roles until the 1990s.

Yelena Kondulainen received the sex symbol title in 1990. She was the first Russian actress to do nude scenes.

Another brunette, Anastasia Zavorotnyuk, appeared on screens in the 2004 comedy serial My Wonderful Nanny.

A survey conducted by SuperJob.Ru’s research center in February showed that one in ten men described their wife or girlfriend as an ideal female beauty. Six percent of respondents pointed to American movie star Angelina Jolie as their ideal.