# Who's the sexiest man and woman, dead? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 25, 2002, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-sexiest-man-and-woman-dead/138764 "2002-11-25T22:05:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Ace\_of\_Swords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@The\_Ace\_of\_Swords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Ace_of_Swords)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-sexiest-man-and-woman-dead/138764/1 "2002-11-25T22:05:00Z")
Sure, we could debate the lunacy of choosing Ben Affleck as the sexiest man alive – I mean, really! Could you be any more bland, Ben? And granted, I think the voters were going for “The lotto winner currently in J. Lo’s pants,” to which I wholeheartedly concur – but I think it’s been done. A different question, then: _Who’s the sexiest guy, not alive?_ And to open it up for the men, the dead sexiest woman? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-sexiest-man-and-woman-dead/138764/2 "2002-11-25T22:09:07Z")
Call me old fashioned but to me they kinda lose their sexiness with that last breath. Okay, I’ll play. **Princess Grace.** ---
**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-sexiest-man-and-woman-dead/138764/3 "2002-11-25T22:10:58Z")
Helen of Troy. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-sexiest-man-and-woman-dead/138764/4 "2002-11-25T22:25:30Z")
I will never know his name. I saw his photograph in a group picture which was made literally a hundred years ago. Haven’t been able to get that face out of my mind in all these years. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Purl_McKnittington)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-sexiest-man-and-woman-dead/138764/5 "2002-11-25T22:29:34Z")
Well, it depends on the angle of sexiness. I mean, if we’re talking power breeds sexiness, then it’s go to be . . . hmm, there’s been lots of powerful guys. Let’s go with . . . Marc Antony? Some manly-manly Roman. If we’re talking intelligence and wisdom being attractive, then I’d say Peter Abelard. (He was missing something very important though. I don’t think you can have sexiness with what he was missing. No . . . it’s really not possible.) ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-sexiest-man-and-woman-dead/138764/6 "2002-11-25T22:43:48Z")
I think I’d have to go with Richard Lovelace, myself, but I agree that it’s quite a pity about Abelard. ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-sexiest-man-and-woman-dead/138764/7 "2002-11-25T23:33:10Z")
I know what you are asking, and as far as women are concerned I’d probably say Cleopatra, in earlier history, and more recently, I’d say Ingrid Bergman. It’s just that it _sounds_ like you’re asking what person is sexiest as a result of being dead. Shudder. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Ace\_of\_Swords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@The\_Ace\_of\_Swords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Ace_of_Swords)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-sexiest-man-and-woman-dead/138764/8 "2002-11-25T23:34:53Z")
If you want to go for bonus points, name the year. Eroll Flynn, 1938: Just finished Robin Hood. Major league buffness. Ava Garnder, 1951: I’ll take two scoops of [that!](http://www.avagardner.org/fotoalbum.html) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Avalonian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@Avalonian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avalonian)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-sexiest-man-and-woman-dead/138764/9 "2002-11-25T23:45:02Z")
That’s an easy one… though I’m not usually into slim women, there’s something about **Audrey Hepburn** that’s positively enchanting for me. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2002, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-sexiest-man-and-woman-dead/138764/10 "2002-11-25T23:50:20Z")
Dead people seldom turn me on. But, if she were alive now, I wouldn’t be able to stop looking at Grace Kelley ---
**Author:** ![Sylkyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/da6949/32.png) [@Sylkyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylkyn)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-sexiest-man-and-woman-dead/138764/11 "2002-11-26T00:04:15Z")
Maybe not when he actually died, but in his heyday, **Elvis Presley**. His was more of a combination of charisma and sexiness, though. At one time that man was scorching _hot_. For sexiest no-longer-with-us female, I’d have to go with **Marilyn Monroe**. I’ve always loved reading about her, watching her movies, and even went out dressed like her several Halloweens ago. Heh. I won, too. Like I said, that was a long time ago. ---
**Author:** ![Menocchio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@Menocchio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Menocchio)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-sexiest-man-and-woman-dead/138764/12 "2002-11-26T01:42:41Z")
Abelard? He was kind of a whiner. Although I think he truly repected and cherised Heloise (also pretty clingy) and they were both very bright. As for women, although I’ve read that she wasn’t physically beautiful by either modern or ancient standards, Cleopatra managed to enchant two of the most powerful men in Rome,in quick succession. She must have had something going for her. I’ve also always been entranced every time an image of Nefertitti appears in front of me. Isis, she was beautiful. Men, hmmm… Ulrich of Lichtenstein. One of the great proponents of courtly love. Dressed in drag (his writing contains suspicous deytail on the frilly underthings) in tournaments and challenged all comers as “Frau Venus” in the name of his lady love. Once cut of his finger for her, too. That’s devotion, yo. He ended up dumping her, btw, when he finally bagged her, she was getting on in years, and he recognized her as the manipulatove cow she was. He ended up shacking up with a peasant and living happily ever after. ---
**Author:** ![cuauhtemoc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecb155/32.png) [@cuauhtemoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cuauhtemoc)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-sexiest-man-and-woman-dead/138764/13 "2002-11-26T03:19:08Z")
I’ll second Audrey Hepburn, and timidly suggest that Marilyn Monroe was kind of a bimbo. Although I’m sure she was a great person and all that, I mean no disrespect. ---
**Author:** ![Magickly\_Delicious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magickly\_Delicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magickly_Delicious)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-sexiest-man-and-woman-dead/138764/14 "2002-11-26T04:00:49Z")
Cary Grant. In his _Suspicion_ years, not later when he had white hair. ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-sexiest-man-and-woman-dead/138764/15 "2002-11-26T06:01:13Z")
Count Dracula I mean, all those other dead guys are, like, rotted and stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-sexiest-man-and-woman-dead/138764/16 "2002-11-26T07:27:51Z")
I’m going to go out on a limb with taking whoever is the, um, freshest. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Ace\_of\_Swords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@The\_Ace\_of\_Swords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Ace_of_Swords)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-sexiest-man-and-woman-dead/138764/17 "2002-11-26T14:10:24Z")
One limb, coming right up! ---
**Author:** ![TelcontarStorm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ab097/32.png) [@TelcontarStorm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TelcontarStorm)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-sexiest-man-and-woman-dead/138764/18 "2002-11-26T14:11:35Z")
**Raoul Julia** ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-sexiest-man-and-woman-dead/138764/19 "2002-11-26T14:13:30Z")
Dead man—I’m with The **Ace of Swords** on [Errol Flynn](http://www.errolflynn.net/), c1938. Dead woman—[Clara Bow](http://www.clarabow.net/), c1928. ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-sexiest-man-and-woman-dead/138764/20 "2002-11-26T14:44:52Z")
dead man: Joey Ramone woman: I have no idea [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-sexiest-man-and-woman-dead/138764.md?page=2)