Having already done a column on Gorgeous Blondes, one reader inspired this idea, a review of sultry brunettes....a mainstay in cinema and all forms of entertainment...there's always been an equally strong sex appeal, just a different kind of sex appeal, between the icy hot blond and the sultry steamy brunette. And since most us realize that most blondes are created (that magical bottle of peroxide!) not born....at the very least, we know the sexy brunette's appeal is 'the real thing.' If you want a review of the featured blondes -- from the 1940s to today--see the 'gorgeous blondes' column before reading further, click here.

But stay right here and read on for a review of hot sultry brunettes. This column will take a look at several stellar dark haired beauties across several decades. Concepts of beauty may change with different moments in time, but these women all have a special something regardless of their jawline, their measurements, their eye color. And as Sophia Loren shows at right, and as Demi Moore shows below...a sultry brunette need not be in her 20s to be a woman of extreme appeal. Demi Moore featured first due solely to her recent appearance on a major magazine. All women on this list chosen by my own brunette preferences, either personal or via knowledge of their media high profile. As a woman, I sometimes felt the need for back-up support to help affirm my brunette choices and consequently turned to a Playboy magazine poll for confirmation.

The Bazaar magazine cover from April 2008 shows how gorgeous and sultry Demi Moore is after more than 20 years in the movie biz. And as magazine covers go, this is one of Moore's tamest! Don't forget this is the woman who FIRST went nude when hugely pregnant on the cover of Vanity Fair, and who went nude again for Vanity Fair, but this time with a tuxedo outfit sprayed/applied to her body! Moore was fierce in her desire for attention! And her movies were often as controversial as her publicity 'stunts.' But, give her credit, there's no ignoring this lady when she decides she wants attention...hello?, the Charlie's Angels Part 2 movie? And, so what if the long locks are most likely enhanced with extensions....wasn't it just mentioned the extent to which most have to go to be blonde? So, what's an extension or two?

Trivia: Bazaar has had the "great at every age" slogan for quite some time, and at about age 40, Elizabeth Taylor was also on Bazaar's cover as the epitome of a beautiful NON-20-something. See more on Taylor below.

Moore's had a lot of roles and a lot of looks, the super buzzed short hair from her Navy Seals role perhaps not too sexy, but was short hair ever more alluring than the short shaggy look from the movie Ghost? Maybe the current performer Rhianna got her short shaggy 'do' inspiration from Moore? Moore in short hair made a famous and controversial appearance on the August 1991 Vanity Fair cover, showing off the full 'glow' of her pregnant body ... and this before spray-on tans were de rigueur on models and actresses!

Nicole Kidman, Catherine Zeta-Jones (more on her later), Charliz Theron, Cate Blanchett and Penelope Cruz are current day examples of USA audience's attraction to beauties from across the seas. This attraction has been a strong one for decades; throughout the 40s, 50s, and 60s, USA movie audiences often found their sexy starlets, both blonde and brunette, from across the Atlantic. Elke Summer, Brigitte Bardot, Ingrid Bergman all fell in the blonde category...but from those decades, the top sexy brunette has to be Sophia Loren. Playboy's published poll of Sexiest Movie Stars of All Time (April 2006) listed Loren at #6. Loren's voluptuous curves (her curvy figure style more treasured and appreciated by society then than now) were lusciously displayed, how could they be ignored, in every movie...no nun or dismal mass-murderess roles for this actress. Combine Loren's curves with her smokey large almond eyes, full lips that Angelina Jolie would envy and that lilting Italian accent...what's not to adore? She was one hot sultry brunette....and has so kept her appearance, that even after 70, she was recently photographed semi-nude for a Pirelli calendar. What women wouldn't spend to buy a complete set of this sultry beauty's genes!

One of USA's first true supermodels, this beauty no size zero bony brunette. Appearing twice in Playboy magazine, once in 1988 and once in 1998...Crawford moved out of the women's world of fashion modeling to becoming an icon of sultry brunette beauty for men all over the world. But Crawford not just a conglomeration of good looks, there's brains under that mass of hair; she graduated as Valedictorian of her highschool class. It's probably those brains that steered her along a path of modeling and publicity that have made her one of the most famous brunettes ever. To attest to her status as famous brunette, Playboy listed her at #5 of the 100 Sexiest Stars of the 20th Century.

For a lot of kids born in the 80s, Jessica Biel was famous as the oldest daughter on the oh-so-wholesome tv show Seventh Heaven. But something somewhere changed as the young lady Jessica became the young woman Jessica. No longer limited to the small screen, her movie roles got her attention from more than family-fare viewers and in 2005, at age 23, she was named Sexiest Woman Alive by Esquire magazine. For men and all worshippers of brunette beauty, Jessica still has many many decades of sultry appeal still ahead of her.

Moving back in time a bit, but another a gorgeous brunette with Playboy credentials. With Cindy Crawford, above, voted #5 on Playboy's poll, Raquel Welch made the list at #3!!! The magazine named her "the most desired woman" of the 1970s, even though she never posed nude for the magazine, or for any other publication or movie role. Her publicity stills and posters in her animal-skin bikini from the 1966 movie One Million Years B.C. probably made more money than the movie ever did! She is still well known as heading her own wig company, begun in part as a reaction to a cousin's hair loss from cancer treatment chemotherapy. The company has donated thousands of wigs to the American Cancer Society since the company's creation.

Never has the mother of so many children been considered one of the hottest women of her age, blonde brunette OR redhead...but that certainly seems to be the case with Angelina Jolie. After making several chick drama type movies and receiving her fair share of critical acclaim and Golden Globe awards, she hit the male radar big time with her title role in the 2001 Lara Croft Tomb Raider movie and she's been making headlines and selling tabloids ever since. With skin tight clothes, toting weapons galore and with the trickiest most invisible most gravity defying brassiere, Jolie took on the role of a video game heroine to stunning effect. Not only gorgeous, her athletic abilities amazed her male fans in that she performed many of the amazing action sequences in the film without a body double or stunt person handling the difficult physical requirements.

Another sultry modern-day brunette, whose status as mother hasn't dampened her appeal. Zeta-Jones' motherhood so high profile that she accepted her Academy Award for her role in the musical Chicago while very very pregnant. A Wales native, who's been London stage-struck since her early teens, she made big waves with USA audiences in the 1998 film Mask of Zorro opposite Antonio Banderas. The sultry brunette can be seen next in the film, Death Defying Acts which is about the infamous escape artist Harry Houdini.

Her first films were made while still a child, she managed to stay an active actress throughout her young adulthood, maneuvering away from the oft-discovered trauma of 'merely' childhood actor. Her roles as a young adult were in 'heavy' dramas of her day. She married young, suffered heartbreak at the tragic death of a husband, married again...enduring scandalous headlines as homewrecker, ultimately married one of the most intriguing male stars of her day, Richard Burton, with a life that made tabloids and 'scandal-rags' of the day wealthy with their before-unknown coverage of a star's private life. She's married even more...rarely for long, usually with headlines haunting her. (Eight marriages total) Her physical traumas have also made headlines throughout her adult life. But her physical beauty, her haunting voice, her violet eyes and lovely features, her female curves and, today, her ongoing philanthropy and strong, if sometimes eccentric, spirit of survival make this woman, if last, definitely not least on this list.

And, a bit of trivia that reveals the spirit of her soul, is the attributed quote of "The problem with people who have no vices is that generally you can be pretty sure they're going to have some pretty annoying virtues." That's a woman that would be fun to spend time with.

Oh, and by the way, she's Playboy poll's #7 on 100 Sexiest Stars of the 20th Century, she's the winner of two Academy Awards for Best Actress. She was the first actress to receive a film role salary of one million dollars (Cleopatra). The American Film Institute named her the seventh greatest Female Film Star of All Time, with more than 70 film and TV roles. And her charitable efforts for AIDS research and humanitarian support has no equal.

Dozens and dozens of dark haired beauties could have made this list! Leave a comment with your favorites below!

All data, dates, rankings, etc. information came from Wikipedia.com, except for those specifically noted to come from Playboy magazine. The Elizabeth Taylor quote comes from brainyquote.com.