I don’t think she was ever “classically beautiful” – she has a prominent nose and jaw, and a large mouth. (And, hey, the lady’s 65 years old now!) But, yeah, she had a smokin’ hot body, and, when she was younger, I thought she was pretty danged fine.
Man, you people are incredibly harsh!! You interpret “ugly” VERY VERY loosely, as “not Hollywood-level attractive” in most cases!
About the only people named so far that I think could be considered genuinely ugly are Vincent Schiavelli, Rondo Hatten and yes, Susan Boyle. Maybe garrison Keillor.
Everyone else ranges from average/plain to very attractive, even beautiful. (Carly Simon, Barbra Streisand)
Janis Joplin wasn’t ugly, although I can’t argue with her overall “skanky biker chick junkie” vibe. But genetically she was just plain.
I think ugly denotes extreme degrees of unattractive, usually involving a feature or features that are actually distorted, as in Treacher-Collins Syndrome. As long as all the parts fall within relatively average parameters, it’s pretty hard to find people who are really ugly.
WARNING: the link on the last word goes to a very graphic image of a seriously disfigured kitty who is apparently happy and healthy, since his disfigurement was when he was a few weeks old and he’s now all grown up, but it is truly shocking to look at. He is a truly ugly kitty.