By DAVID C.L. BAUER and LAURA CAPITANO -- The Times-Union

Fads and fashions have always played roles in determining sex symbols. While physical attractiveness is about the only timeless quality, remnants of the categories from the early part of the 20th century are with us today. Instead of fading away and being replaced by a new genre, many of them continued and new ones were added, so many of today's sex symbols are amalgamations of one or more of the categories from the past.

Vamps

Theda Bara's scene in A Fool There Was, in which she grabs a man and says "Kiss me, my fool," came before the 1920s, but set the tone for the vamps (short for vampires) that emerged in the 1920s. They did not always have striking physical beauty, but there was something about them that attracted men.

Examples: Theda Bara, Clara Bow.

Flappers

It was the attitude, and not the androgynous look of the flapper, that captured attention of the male. Despite the tendency to wear their hair short and downplay womanly curves, flappers also challenged what was "acceptable" for women. They smoked, drank and wore makeup.

Examples: Norma Talmadge, Louise Brooks.

The red-hot lover

By the time Rudolph Valentino receiv-ed any attention for his screen roles, the model for leading men was the seldom romantic Douglas Fairbanks. Valentino and others who followed reversed course, displaying a sleek, overt sexuality.

Examples: Rudolph Valentino, Ramon Novarro.

Bombshells and sexpots

Little did the advertising people behind Jean Harlow's 1933 film Bombshell know their words would be ageless when they called her the "blond bombshell of filmdom." Harlow ushered in a new category of sexy starlet: Usually buxom, often blond and frequently full-figured. Others, like Mae West and, to a degree, Harlow, established a genre of sexual, defiant characters.

Examples: Jean Harlow, Fay Wray, Joan Blondell, Marlene Dietrich, Mae West, Greta Garbo.

Mr. Sophistication

Attractive and giving off a sense of confident virility, there was also an adventurous devil-may-care attitude about them.

Examples: Errol Flynn, Clark Gable, William Powell.

The girl next door

With the nation immersed in war, wholesomeness and innocence found a niche. A new breed of sex symbols was popularized because these women were sexy but not necessarily sexual.

Examples: Betty Grable, Judy Garland, Olivia de Havilland.

The femme fatale

Sometimes foreign, the femme fatale was controlling, possessive and would stop at nothing to get what she wanted. She was willing to use lies and sex (or at least the promise of sex) to keep men under her control.

Examples: Mary Astor, Rita Hayworth, Veronica Lake and Alida Valli.

The silver screen idol

Visually pleasing, rugged, masculine looks that translated well onto the screen as color became more commonplace in feature movies.

Examples: Clark Gable, Montgomery Clift, Tyrone Power.

The gamine

Playful, childlike on the surface but is perceived as having a strong sensual side just below the surface. In many regards, the precursor of the 1960s waif.

Examples: Audrey Hepburn, Leslie Caron.

The sex bomb

Although breathy, sensual and screaming of sexuality, the Sex Bomb also had a clearly naive side. Although she would flaunt her beauty, she sometimes didn't even recognize her own sexuality.

Examples: Marilyn Monroe, Mamie Van Doren, Brigitte Bardot, Sophia Loren, Gina Lollobrigida.

The bad boy

Attractive and willing to challenge conventional beliefs.

Examples: Elvis Presley, Marlon Brando, James Dean.

Waifs (F)

Coined because of the similarities in appearance to some of the orphaned children in literature, "waif" was used to describe the trend of models with large eyes and small waistlines - sometimes to the point of being so thin it was not healthy.

Examples: Twiggy, Edie Sedgwick.

Bikini babes (F)

Although the modern-day version of the bikini had been around since the 1940s, it was not quickly adopted. But Brigitte Bardot's 1957 film And God Created Woman started bringing more attention to the fashion. It was in 1962, when Ursula Andress walked from the water in a white bikini in the James Bond movie Dr. No, that it exploded as a symbol of sexuality.

Examples: Raquel Welch, Ursula Andress, Anita Ekberg.

Suave and sophisticated (M)

A dash of wordly aura and a whole lot of good looks blended with the Silver Screen Idol of the 1940s and sometimes the Bad Boy of the 1950s to create a man who was unflappable but also had a sensitive side.

Examples: Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Rock Hudson.

The bimbo

Beautiful, but often not too bright. The key features were big chests, big hair and short, tight clothing.

Examples: Farrah Fawcett, Suzanne Somers, Adrienne Barbeau, Loni Anderson.

Studs and beefcakes

As women established their sexual identity more and more, well-documented in new magazines such as Playgirl and Cosmopolitan that catered to that transformation, hunkiness and abundant testosterone became key attributes. The decade also saw the emergence of some of the first minority sex symbols.

Examples: Burt Reynolds, Richard Roundtree, Roger Moore, John Travolta.

Fit yet feminine

The decade's aerobics and fitness boom brought about a tightening and toning of our sex symbols. Muscle definition, yes. Curves, not so much. These women could capture your heart and beat you at tennis.

Examples: Jane Fonda, Olivia Newton-John, Bo Derek and Jennifer Beals.

Men of style

When beefcakes got a taste of 1980s style and fashion, and new type of sex symbol came to pass. These were men who proved that, even with a pastel suit and a white wine spritzer, they had the stuff to make the ladies swoon.

Examples: Richard Gere, Don Johnson,

Macho men

Tall, dark and handsome, often mustached and hairy-chested. They were adventurous men's men.

Examples: Tom Selleck, Harrison Ford, Billy Dee Williams, Mark Harmon.

Blond and ambitious

Fair-haired, tan and equipped with a wide range of outfits and accessories, these women seemed equally at ease wearing very little.

Examples: Britney Spears, Pamela Anderson, Jenny McCarthy, Anna Nicole Smith.

Heroin chic chick

An extension of the "waif" look of the 1960s, the heroin chic look spread from fashion models to the silver and small screens.

Examples: Kate Moss, Calista Flockhart, Keira Knightley.

Rebels with a cause

Hollywood has always had handsome actors, but these guys weren't afraid to speak out about politics and social issues.

Examples: Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, George Clooney, Denzel Washington and Leonardo DiCaprio