"There are people who say I'm obsessed with my body," Dallas siren Victoria Principal once declared. "Let's say I'm concerned." Naturally, this has been a matter of great concern to all of us ... for about two decades. She was the one who inspired comparisons with your mom's best-looking friend -- the one who would drop by for coffee wearing a perilously short leather skirt and a look demure enough to bring lustful tears to a glass eye. Some actresses leave you feeling that their eye-fluttering innocence is a front (Bridget Fonda in Jackie Brown), but Victoria, in her artless purity, suggested she was blissfully unaware of the effect she had on men. She had a look that would pauperize Arab princes and neuter studs.

     The daughter of a sergeant major, Victoria was born on a military base in Japan and raised in America. As a result, she possessed that ideal mix of exotic Eastern promise and apple-pie wholesomeness. You knew Victoria would always have a chicken waiting in the pot ... even while she defiled you in the boudoir with the kind of high-voltage sex usually confined to hardcore Hungarian movies featuring hairy-assed men named Otto.

     Victoria will be remembered for many things. Like her gloriously nude Playboy shoot in 1973 and her high-profile flings with top celebs such as Frank Sinatra, Andy Gibb and Anthony Perkins (who supposedly popped his cherry with her). These days, Victoria is better known for her self-help books and skin-care products. Though she still considers herself an actress, her career has been (to put it charitably) uneven. From 1973's The Naked Ape to 1995's Dancing in the Dark, the good lady has been involved with more made-for-TV turkeys than Tori Spelling could chase out of a farmyard. At times, her acting was so unconvincing -- Earthquake, for example -- even the falling rocks appeared to have better dramatic technique than their lovely costar.