25 Forgotten Sexy Actresses

Tracy Camilla Johns

Most famous role: Nola Darling in She's Gotta Have It (1986)

In the late 1980s, a new wave of up-and-comers stormed the American independent film scene, with Spike Lee leading the charge. His debut feature was She's Gotta Have It, in which the free-spirited—and sexually empowered—Nola Darling happily juggles three men. The film should have made Tracy Camilla Johns as big a star as her director, but since her breakthrough performance she has appeared in exactly three films: Mo' Better Blues and Red Hook Summer for Lee, and as seductress Uniqua in New Jack City.

Heather Thomas

Most famous role: Jody Banks in The Fall Guy (1981-1986)

It would be easy to assume that Heather Thomas, the stuntwoman sidekick to Lee Majors in The Fall Guy, was all beauty and no brains. But the buxom blonde—who graced many a teenager's wall in the 1980s—quit acting in 1998 in order to focus on behind-the-camera pursuits. She sold a screenplay to Touchstone Pictures and had her first novel, Trophies, published in 2008.

Rhonda Shear

Most famous role: Host of USA Up All Night (1991-1998)

Rhonda Shear knows a thing or two about flaunting her assets. After landing a plum gig as host of USA Up All Night, a late-night B-movie marathon that ran on Friday and Saturday nights, in 2001 Shear launched her own line of figure-flattering bras and shapewear.

Yasmine Bleeth

Most famous role: Caroline Holden in Baywatch (1993-1997)

In 1993, Yasmine Bleeth followed in the footsteps of Pamela Anderson, Nicole Eggert, and her other well-endowed predecessors to don the famous red Baywatch bathing suit, which she wore for four years. But things went downhill for the actress in real life when she left the lifeguard station; she voluntarily entered rehab in 2000 for cocaine addiction, but was arrested the following year for drug possession. In 2003, she penned an article for Glamour about her addiction and struggles to remain sober; that's the same year as her last credited role, in Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding.

Tanya Roberts

Most famous role: Julie Rogers on Charlie's Angels (1980-1981)

Charlie had many Angels over the years; Tanya Roberts had the distinction of being his final hire (she was chosen from among more than 2,000 actresses to replace Shelley Hack, yet another Forgotten Sexy Actress). Post-Angels, Roberts' role choices were a bit less iconic. She racked up two back-to-back Razzie Award nominations in 1984 and 1985, for the title role in Sheena: Queen of the Jungle and as Bond Girl Stacey Sutton in A View to a Kill. At least she looked good ruling the jungle!

Kerri Green

Most famous role: Andy Carmichael in The Goonies (1985)

"Adorable" may be a better descriptor for Kerri Green, the red-headed teenager who landed five major roles by the time she was 20, including the object of Josh Brolin's desire in The Goonies and the girl stuck between Corey Haim and Charlie Sheen in Lucas. She took a break from acting to attend Vassar College and has only popped up here and there on television since.

Theresa Randle

Most famous role: Judy/Girl 6 in Girl 6 (1996)

After a string of standard supporting roles in King of New York, Jungle Fever, Malcolm X, and Bad Boys, Spike Lee gave Theresa Randle her moment in the spotlight as an actress making a living as a phone sex operator in Girl 6. The film gives her the chance to really show off her chops, as much of it's set in the fictional world of her clients' fantasies. Yet she hasn't had any other major roles since (and hasn't appeared in anything since 2010). Damn shame.

Deborah Foreman

Most famous role: Julie Richman in Valley Girl (1983)

After making her, like, totally bitchin' film debut opposite Nicolas Cage in the classic Valley Girl, Deborah Foreman suffered the fate of so many attractive young blondes before her: She got sucked into the world of horror films, from which she was never really able to escape. (For the record, her role in April Fool's Day is, like, totally bitchin', too.)

Helen Slater

Most famous role: Linda Lee/Supergirl in Supergirl (1984)

Helen Slater made her feature debut in heroic fashion as Supergirl; a year later, DC Comics honored her work on the film by including her in its Fifty Who Made DC Great publication. She cemented her place as a female role model the following year in The Legend of Billie Jean, in which Slater becomes a youth anti-hero, modeling herself after Joan of Arc.

Erin Gray

Most famous role: Colonel Wilma Deering in Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979-1981)

Television's first female colonel—she was the right-hand woman to Buck Rogers—knew how to wield a weaponand rock a tight white jumpsuit. It was so tight, in fact, that Erin Gray claims she needed to be sewn into it on the set. Gray's discomfort didn't seem to bother audiences.

Valeria Golino

Most famous role: Susanna in Rain Man (1988)

The world has Pee-Wee Herman to thank for Valeria Golino. It was her pairing with the bow-tied one in Big Top Pee-Wee that first thrust her into the spotlight.

Lynda Carter

Most famous role: Diana Prince/Wonder Woman in Wonder Woman (1975-1979)

There's a reason why all recent attempts to revive Wonder Woman as a movie or television series have failed: Lynda Carter. Filling those red boots would be a tall order for any actress.

Markie Post

Most famous role: Christine Sullivan in Night Court (1984-1992)

Everything about Markie Post—from the frosted mullet down to the high-waisted bikini bottoms—screams "the '80s." And maybe that's not such a bad thing. Post proved she's still got the goods—both physically and comedically-speaking—as Cameron Diaz's mom, who tries to help Ben Stiller with his stuck zipper, in There's Something About Mary.

Robin Givens

Most famous role: Mrs. Mike Tyson (1988-1989)

Like most of the actresses on this list, Robin Givens certainly hasn't disappeared. In fact, she just had a three-episode stint on the final season of 90210. But her career, which started off so promisingly with roles as sexy smarty-pants Darlene Merriman in Head of the Class and Knicks-loving corporate executive Jacqueline Broyer inBoomerang, seemed to stall following her split from Mike Tyson.