ANNE HATHAWAY BARES IT ALL FOR CQ -- STAR OF VALENTINE'S DAY AND UPCOMING ALICE IN WONDERLAND SHOWS SEXIER SIDE -- NOT QUITE PENTHOUSE, BUT STEAMY PHOTOS MAY CHANGE HER CAREER MOMENTUM -- PICTURES

Anne Hathaway is a great actress. The Oscar-nominated star of RACHEL GETTING MARRIED and THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, visited Harvard this week as the recipient of good-natured craziness for the Hasty Pudding Club's annual extravaganza. She's funny (she's put in decently funny appearances on SNL) and has evolved from the nerdy, goody two-shoes of THE PRINCESS DIARIES to a film career that is envied by many a HOllywood hopeful. This March, she is starring as the White Queen in Tim Burton's nutty take on ALICE IN WONDERLAND (can't wait for that!) But, to commemorate her newest flick, VALENTINE'S DAY, opening next weekend, she has given CQ an eyeful--both in her interview and the provocative pictures that come with it.

This is not a PENTHOUSE shoot--CQ is often interested in women who have something between their ears. Hathaway is a great beauty and it's hard to tramp her up without making her look out of place. CQ's photographers didn't make that mistake--the pictures clearly expose her more sensual side while also hailing her excellent and world-renowned fashion sense. She is a smart cookie--although some of her interview questions were not quite the intellectually stimulating kind, such as her long-winded response to what makes a good kiss. Yikes! Really? I thought pictures were worth a thousand words--so why come across like an adolescent so proud of learning about sex when you can just say some interesting things about your work and then let your alabaster skin and perfect giant brown eyes tell the rest of the story? Clearly, she wants to play with her image.

There is a huge amount of pressure on actresses to be sexy--some do it without thnking about it (like Penelope Cruz who can't look bad or unsexy no matter how hard she tries), some are very very determined to be the hottest, the most beautiful, the one that is desired above all others (yes, Jennifer Aniston, I'm talking to you, you hard-working sex symbol). With her graceful countenance and silly laugh, her talent and her general photogenic-ness, she recalls some of the old Hollywood actresses, someone like Ava Gardner or Audrey Hepburn, who were so beautiful no matter when and where they were photographed. Sure, they both had photos that could be considered sexy taken at some point in their careers but look at Audrey Hepburn in THE NUN'S STORY or Ava Gardner wearing overalls in THE NIGHT OF THE IGUANA--even when they were playing the opposite of the glamorous silver screen stars they were, they couldn't help but be beatifically beaming or racously gorgeous. So it's not a new thing to try to change your image with pictures.

Even with raccoon eyes and an unappealingly short haircut in RACHEL GETTING MARRIED, Anne Hathaway can't hide her natural beauty. She can sing, she can dance (remember the Oscars last year when she was whisked on stage "spontaneously"), she can act--she's the triple threat with looks to match. Perhaps her CQ series is just a natural step in the maturing of a modern movie star. With all the scandal (the Italian boyfriend with money issues) she sidestepped so nicely, and all her girly roles behind her, perhaps Hathaway is moving into a new phase of her career and she thought this would help. I don't think she needed it, do you?