Apparently three-time Oscar nominee Michelle Pfeiffer has been relegated to playing only “cougars.” The slang term has been used heavily to describe the actress’ latest character, a Parisian courtesan who has an affair with a pretty boy half her age (Rupert Friend). But just prior to appearing in Chéri, which reunites her with the Dangerous Liaisons writer-director team-up of Christopher Hampton and Stephen Frears, Pfeiffer starred in two direct-to-video releases in which she similarly ends up with a much younger guy. In Amy Heckerling’s I Could Never Be Your Woman she falls for Paul Rudd, while in Personal Effects she has an affair with Ashton Kutcher (ironic since Heckerling’s film takes shots at Kutcher’s marriage to real-life “cougar” Demi Moore).

The term “cougar” has some negative connotations, which is a shame given all the movies we see in which an older man romances a younger woman and think nothing of it. But it’s good to see Pfeiffer still getting work at her age (51), especially in roles celebrating the idea that older women can still be desirable. And in our opinion she’s every bit as desirable as she was at age 25, when she broke through with her sexy appearance in Scarface.

Below we spotlight ten other actresses/characters who’ve shown us that aging women can still be very attractive to young men.

10. Margaret Whitton as “Vera Prescott” in The Secret of My Succe$s (1987)

At 37, Whitton is a little young for this list, but she seems much older in the traditional role of the sexy boss’ wife who falls for an employee (Michael J. Fox) at her husband’s company. Things are a little more complicated than normal because she’s also the young man’s Aunt, though she doesn’t see the harm since they’re only related by marriage, not blood. Personally, aunt or not, we’d have gone for the kinky Whitton over the boring Helen Slater. At least she’s not his mother.

9. Jennifer Coolidge as “Stifler’s Mom” in American Pie series (1999 - 2003)

Having your own mother come on to you is totally wrong (even if you’re French), but your friend’s mom is another story. Coolidge was the original MILF, or at least the woman who popularized the term. Despite being under 40, the character (whose first name is revealed to be “Janine” in the second installment) is still classifiable as a “cougar,” even if it was Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas) who technically seduced her. She certainly fits the term in the sequels, at least, when she’s over 40 and coming back for more.

8. Isabelle Huppert as “Erika Kohut” in The Piano Teacher (2001)

We may not be able to count her incestuous mother character in Ma mère as a “cougar,” but Huppert definitely fits the bill in this Michael Haneke film, in which she plays a piano teacher who becomes obsessed with her 17-year-old pupil. Teacher-student relationships are one of the more common for “cougar” movies (see also Jacqueline Bisset in Class and Cate Blanchett in Notes on a Scandal for more such educational “cougars”), but music tutors tend to be the hottest, due to the kind of close contact involved. In this film her character is quite awkward (she still lives with her domineering mother) and the whole masochism thing can be very discomforting, but Huppert has a way of being sexy even in the most abnormal of ways (that mud scene in I Heart Huckabees shouldn’t turn us on as much as it does). Just as long as she’s not hooking up with her son.

7. Lauren Hutton as “Countess” in Once Bitten (1985)

As a seductive female vampire, Hutton’s character is an obvious play on the term “vamp.” But now that we have the term “cougar,” she is retroactively classified as that too, since she specifically seeks out virginal young men like Jim Carrey. As a vampire, she’s also the closest thing to a real cougar, since she takes a bite out of her victims partners.

6. Cloris Leachman as “Ruth Popper” in The Last Picture Show (1971)

We’ve mentioned older women who were the boss’ wife and older women who were teachers, but Leachman’s Oscar-winning role in The Last Picture Show crosses the two by being the teacher’s wife (well, her husband is the high school basketball coach). She may be depressed, but she’s also quite sexy and doesn’t deserve to be treated as bad as she is by her teenage lover (Timothy Bottoms). Of course, part of our consideration of Leachman’s hotness has to do with her real-life persona — foul mouth, semi-nude magazine covers and all.

5. Bebe Neuwirth as “Diane Lodder” in Tadpole (2002)

We may have been weird for having a thing for “Lilith” growing up watching Cheers, but there’s something very attractive about a domineering older woman when you’re a teenage boy. And yet in Tadpole Neuwirth is only a second choice for 15-year-old “Oscar” (Aaron Stanford), who is actually in love with his stepmother (Sigourney Weaver). Supposedly Oscar only has sex with Diane, his stepmother’s best friend, because he was drunk and she was wearing the stepmother’s scarf (and therefore smelled like her). But we can’t believe any sober kid would pass up Neuwirth’s advances, especially not after she gives him a massage.

4. Karen Young as “Brenda” in Heading South (2005)

To be fair, Young shares this slot with Charlotte Rampling and Louise Portal, her costars in Laurent Cantet’s film about three middle-age women who go to Haiti to have sex with young locals. But Young is the hottest (not necessarily because she’s the youngest) of the trio, probably because she’s the more reserved one and therefore has the most room to open up and get wild with the concept of sex tourism.

3. Jane Seymour as “Kathleen ‘Kitty Kat’ Cleary” in Wedding Crashers (2005)

We’re not sure when or where the term “cougar” originated, but we likely first heard it when used to describe Seymour’s character in this movie. Her nickname, “Kitty Kat” has to be a reference to the term, too. In any event, she’s a hot older woman (also a MILF) who just “had her tits done” and won’t let her younger prey (Owen Wilson) out of the room until he’s felt them. This could be the extent of her interest but it has to qualify, as it is a form of seduction. Also, Seymour is super hot for being in her 50s, even if her character is a bit creepy.

2. Kim Basinger as “Marion Cole” in The Door in the Floor (2004)

Talk about a hot woman in her 50s, Basinger is like Pfeiffer in that she still looks as good now as she did in the ‘80s. As “Marion Cole,” she’s somewhat an amalgam of other “cougar” roles, including the unlisted (but referenced) maternally incestuous ones. She’s also kind of the boss’ wife. Her young lover is her (temporarily separated) husband’s assistant, who has been hired because of his resemblance to their dead son. But complicated and disturbing motivations aside, no kid could say no if ever seduced by a “cougar” as hot as Basinger.

1. Anne Bancroft as “Mrs. Robinson” in The Graduate (1967)

Obviously the top spot on the list goes to the original “cougar,” “Mrs. Robinson.” When we think of young men being with older women we immediately recall the famous seduction scene from The Graduate. Indeed the seduction of “Stifler’s Mom” in American Pie occurs while the song “Mrs. Robinson” plays on a stereo. Of course, at a mere 36-years-old, she’s a tad young to be considered a “cougar,” but there’s no debating that she not only belongs on this list but belongs in the top spot — and not just because its so iconic and pioneering a role. Bancroft was extremely hot. Just watch that seduction scene one more time. Or look at that single iconic leg of hers her character’s (portrayed promotionally by Linda Gray, apparently).