Brigitte bardot young 1960s bikini

Playboy, after a long history of salacious pictorials, closed the book on their notorious centerfolds.

But many folks don’t remember that, back when Hugh Hefner started the magazine in the '50s, Playboy was more than just a "girlie" magazine; it was also a well-respected publication known for high-brow content.

Literary talent like Ray Bradbury was featured in 1954, when Fahrenheit 451 was serialized in its pages — and in the 1960s, famous interviews were conducted with musicians like the Beatles at the height of their fame.

Of course, it’s impossible to separate all that cultural achievement from the magazine’s saucy reputation.

But back in the '50s and '60s, when pinup culture was at its height, plenty of well-known ladies were clamoring to pose for Playboy’s pages — though most appeared in slightly more modest "pictorials," rather than the truly scandalous centerfold.

In fact, as our gallery below details, lots of up-and-coming actresse