Kathy Bates. She’s one of the few, good actresses who isn’t known for her beauty. She’s been in several dozen movies. My favorites are Misery, About Schmidt, and Primary Colors.
Martha Stewart.
just gonna do living public figures…
Maggie Thatcher
Nancy Reagan
Condi Rice
Phyllis Schlafly
Mother Angelica (I think she’s still alive- btw, I disagree with her
stridently hard-right Catholicism but I admire her for launching
EWTN)
Tori Amos (her RAINN work & musical innovation)
Kate Bush (also musical innovation)
I’m sure there are more but they are the first who came to mind
Margaret Cho
Oprah Winfrey–for being one of the most gentle, caring, generous, talented, inspirational women in the world.
Angelina Jolie–for her work in Cambodia, etc. She more than just a beautiful face. http://entertainment.sympatico.msn.ca/Celebs/Gossip/Articles/Honorary+Cambodian.htm
Joanna Lumley–for being hilarious and talented beyond her beauty. http://www.tmaw.co.uk/joannal.html
My own great-grandmother. She got pregnant out of wedlock in the 1920s and the guy offered to make an honest woman out of her. She said no way loser, had the baby (my paternal grandfather) on her own, and raised him alone. I knew her for the last seven years of her life, the last three or so years of which she was completely blind, but she lived on her own, kept her apartment clean and cooked her own meals until she died from a stroke.
I don’t care what universe you’re from, she had backbone. And guts.
I can’t believe it’s taken until the 28th post for Mother Teresa to get named.
And by an atheist, yet!
Elizabeth I
Martha Washington
Abigail Adams
Mary Wollstonecraft
Jane Addams
Hedy Lamarr
Rosa Parks
Melina Mercouri
Aung Sung Su Kyi
Do a thread search on her to see why she’s not particularly admirable. As for Mrs. Parker, I love her work and her wit, but she was a self-pitying, suicidal, alcoholic mess.
“Admire?” I guess Queen Eliz. I, Jan Morris, Eleanor Roosevelt, Clara Barton, Susan B. Anthony & Eliz. Cady Stanton, Harriet Tubman, Lillian Gish . . .
Originally posted by Eve
Isn’t that the reason she is admired so much? Don’t we all love messes? 
Votin’ Democrat this year, are we?
The two dozen breast cancer survivors I coach for dragon boat racing. Quite seriously, they are my heros.
Doris Day.
Started out as a promising dancer and her career was cut short by injury. Within a few years, never having sung before, became one of the biggest selling jazz vocalists in America. After her incredibly successful movie career retired and discovered that her husband had embezzled all her money and lost it. Re-invented herself as a TV star and made back her fortune and retired again to work with her own animal welfare group. Her somn has said that when Rock Hudson was diagnosed with AIDS, she asked him to get Hudson to live in her guest cottage so she could look after him.
Debbie Harry.
Repeatedly managed musical success as everything from a prototype punk diva to a jazz singer. Gave up 3 years of her career to nurse boyfriend Chris Stein even though the relationship was on the verge of ending and ended once he regained his health.
Flannery O’ Connor, though that’s more “love” than “admire.”
My hero, and I’m depressed that she hasn’t been named yet:
Don’t be depressed – she’s been mentioned twice so far, at least on my screen. 
Claire Wolfe – Libertarian author
Sunni Maravillosa – Libertarian author
Joni Mitchell – One of the best folk song writers ever
Annie Oakley – One of the best shots ever
Jan Axelson – Computer interfacing expert
Una Persson – Coal Goddess
That’s fine for you, Miss knows-how-to-read. What about those of us who don’t own computers, eh?
[/passive-aggressive outburst occasioned by acute embarrasment]
Susan B. Anthony - thank you for tomorrow
Elizabeth Cady Stanton - thank you for tomorrow
Rosa Parks - refused to move to the back of the bus - think how hard that must have been
Harriet Tubman - underground railroad for children
Oprah Winfrey - took the high road when talk shows turned to crap
Eleanor Roosevelt - knew her own mind
Of course their stories are much larger than my phrases but that is what first comes to mind about why I think they are so great.