Jayne Kennedy

Known in the ‘70s for: Her work on the pre-game sports show The NFL Today as a sports announcer
TV personality Jayne Kennedy started the decade by claiming a momentous victory in the Miss Ohia USA beauty pageant (in which she became the first black beauty queen to be crowned with the highly sought-after honor). A couple of years later, she moved to the state of California to start her career in acting despite having no degree in one, but instead, she made her way into the field of sports news on The NFL Today by working there as a sports announcer. She also held the distinction for being the first black actress to land on the cover of Playboy magazine in 1981.

Bo Derek

Known in the ‘70s for: Portraying the role of Jenny Hanley in the romantic comedy film 10 (1979)
Bright-eyed blonde Bo Derek may have made her appearance in the romantic comedy film 10 with tight cornrows in her hair, but you can’t help but be a little turned on by her. Her hairstyle may have been copied by viewers everywhere after they saw this film, but seeing her in that scene as she runs towards you in that skin-tone one-piece swimsuit can’t surely discredit her for being considered a sultry vixen herself. In fact, Derek’s performance in the movie takes credit for getting her a nomination for a Golden Globe award in the Best Newcomer category.

Catherine Deneuve

Known in the ‘70s for: Portraying the role of Nicole Britton in the film Hustle (1975)
The TV drama The Client List may have a plotline that seems ahead of its time, but you may want to reconsider that notion. Before Jennifer Love Hewitt starred in the drama series with longevity shorter than gas, doe-eyed blonde Catherine Deneuve starred in the French drama movie Belle Du Jour as a disinterested housewife who turned to a life of prostitution, catapulting her to French mega-stardom. She later gained her sex symbol status in the US when she was cast in the 1969 American romantic comedy April Fools alongside Jack Lemmon and in the 1975 crime movie Hustle alongside Burt Reynolds.

Angie Dickinson

Known in the ‘70s for: Portraying the role of Wilma McClatchie in the film Big Bad Mama (1974)
Our investments in our strange obsession with cougars and MILFs seem to be a recent trend, but one original MILFs that our older relatives and family friends may have obsessed over was Angie Dickinson who had just celebrated her 39th birthday in 1970.
Dickinson’s appearance in the 1974 movie Big Bad Mama got her a place in this list in the first place. The film, directed by Steve Carver, was set in the ‘30s and featured Dickinson’s character Wilma McClatchie as a gangster, convincing viewers everywhere that the blond bombshell (who appeared naked in a few scenes), was still quite the vixen in her 40s.

Ali MacGraw

Known in the ‘70s for: Playing the lead role in the films Love Story (1970) and The Gateway (1972)
Ali MacGraw had a prolific career in modeling, but she left that behind to pursue a career in film, landing a starring role in Goodbye, Columbus (1969) and Love Story (1970) to which she owes the credit of garnering a Golden Globe. The romantic drama film may be hard to watch now, with its key message being, “Love means never having to say you’re sorry”, but you can’t deny MacGraw’s charm. Her appearance in The Getaway (1972) was good enough to entangle her and heartthrob Steve McQueen into an affair that resulted in a five-year marriage, during which she refused any film projects.

Cheryl Ladd

Known in the ‘70s for: Portraying the role of Kris Munroe in the crime series Charlie’s Angels
Starry-eyed blonde Cheryl Ladd thought of becoming a professional singer by moving to Hollywood, but her best-known singing stint was that of Melody on the cartoon show Josie and the Pussycats. She did however become a superstar, and she owes the credit to her performance in the beloved crime drama series Charlie’s Angels where she played the role of Kris Munroe. Just as one would take advantage of a rising mortgage rate, she took advantage of her Charlie’s Angels fame to launch her once-repressed career in the music industry and even got to perform the national anthem at the Super Bowl XIV.

Susan Sarandon

Known in the ‘70s for: Portraying the role of Janet Weiss in Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
Susan Sarandon hadn’t yet claimed her fame in the ‘70s (and she was nowhere near as famous or as recognized as the MILF we all now know her to be). She made an appearance on the soap opera A World Apart and the French-Italian comedy film Lady Liberty alongside fellow actress Sophia Loren.bBut it wasn’t until the 1975 cult classic Rocky Horror Picture Show, where she was cast as naive virgin Janet, that people began to know her. Try heading out to a midnight showing of the film; like good investments that turn up a profit, you’ll be rewarded with many shots of Sarandon in only her undergarments.

Cybill Shepherd

Known in the ‘70s for: Playing a lead role in the films The Last Picture Show (1971), The Heartbreak Kid (1972), and Taxi Driver (1976)
Hailing from Memphis, Tennessee, blond vixen Cybill Shepherd had already made a name for herself in modeling when Peter Bogdanovich’s ex-wife Polly Platt came upon one of her Glamour covers in search of a young actress to play the role of Jacy in the film The Last Picture Show (1971). Platt would eventually cast Shepherd into the film, launching the former model’s career in the film industry. Like uneven flooring, she had a rocky start in the industry, but her performances in The Heartbreak Kid (1972) and Taxi Driver (1976) helped make them a couple of the decade’s classic movies.

Katharine Ross

Known in the ‘70s for: Portraying the role of Joanna Ingalls Eberhart in the film The Stepford Wives (1975)
Hollywood royalty Katharine Ross earned her A-lister status in the showbiz industry and showed them that she was a key investment in the world of films shortly after proving her acting prowess in her performance as the daughter of Mrs. Robinson in the film The Graduate (1967). By the end of the ‘60s, she played the starring role in the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). The following decade in her career was marked by her starring role in the satirical thriller film The Stepford Wives (1975) and her noteworthy performance in the drama film Voyage of the Damned (1976).

Beverly Johnson

Known in the ‘70s for: The honor to be the first dark-skinned model to grace the cover of Vogue in 1974
Before Naomi Campbell made her way into the high fashion industry during the ‘80s and ‘90s for breaking down the industry’s barriers and prejudices about race and skin color, Beverly Johnson had already begun catching every industry icon’s eye in the ‘70s. Her soaring claim to fame got designers and stylists at the time hooked to the idea of working with dark-skinned models, and it didn’t take long until black models began working with high fashion as well.
While it’s not rare for supermodels to start their own business ventures as good investments, Johnson introduced the “modelpreneur” idea with her eponymous Beverly Johnson Hair Collection.