Diana Scarwid
Nude

Few actresses start with the promise of Diana Scarwid, who was barely in the business for five years before getting an Oscar nomination as the girlfriend of wheelchair-bound John Savage in Inside Moves (1980)–although we still prefer Helen Hunt’s naked caretaking of Eric Stoltz in The Waterdance (1991). Anyway, while she still made it move in the movie, Diana made the mistake of following her Oscar nomination with playing Joan Crawford’s abused daughter Christina Crawford in the camp classic Mommie Dearest (1981). While we do get a nice peek at her ass in underwear while she’s making out with a lucky fella, she could’ve at least showed her hangers! Not the wire kind! That nuclear bomb put an end to lots of people’s careers, but Scarwid settled for being a respected character actress, including popping up alongside Matt Dillon in Rumble Fish (1983) and having a nice turn as Cher’s very serious lover in Silkwood (1983). She also brought class to films like Psycho III (1986), where she played a former nun who also got formerly clothed. The scene actually had Brinke Stevens as Diana’s (very flattering) body double, but it’s a nice illusion. She took home an Emmy for her work as Bess Truman in the TV movie Truman (1995), then kept it historical as Joan Aldrin in From the Earth to the Moon (1998). In the 2000’s, Diana moved on to play Karen Tyler in Wonderfalls, DB Cooper’s hidden money homeowner Jeanette Owens on Prison Break, and would have had a huge comeback with her work as head nun Mother Superior on Pushing Daisies had it not been cancelled far too soon. Her final screen appearance came in 2011, when she played Donna in the wedding comedy Another Happy Day (2011). She may not have scored another Oscar nomination, but any day is a happy one when we get to see Diana Scar-wid less clothes on.