Man Alive.(People magazine's sexiest men alive)

Byline: Kate Sullivan

Twenty-three years ago, People magazine did something revolutionary: It objectified men. Since then, the Sexiest Man Alive issue has become an institution. Each year's modest--or is it mortified?--heartthrob inevitably tries to downplay the title, but he'll never escape it. Below, how honorees measure up then and now.

ACTOR*****WHAT PEOPLE SAID*****WHAT OTHER PEOPLE SAID*****HIS "AW, SHUCKS" RESPONSE*****STILL SEXY?

BEN AFFLECK 2002 Age: 30*****"[The] big-screen big lunk...displays impressive range: an easygoing charmer. A passionate political activist. An Oscar winner."*****"Nothing sexier than a smart, funny...man who puts others before himself," said director Kevin Smith.*****Affleck didn't comment, but his girlfriend at the time, Jennifer Lopez, said, "I didn't need People magazine to tell me he's the sexiest man alive."*****"You know how you picture yourself with a tall, handsome husband, and you imagine him cuddling your baby? Ben is like that, like, on crack," wife Jennifer Garner said in 2007.

GEORGE CLOONEY 1997 Age: 36*****"George Clooney has jump-started more hearts than a whole fleet of crash carts and defibrillators."*****"Women want to sleep with him, and men want to go to the ball game with him," said Leslie Moonves, then-president of CBS Entertainment.*****"I'll bet I catch hell from Howard Stern for this one."*****People honored him again in 2006.

NICK NOLTE 1992 Age: 51*****"His image is one we hold dear: the big-lug Adonis with the heart of gold."*****"I'd pay $7 just to watch him walk down the street," said 90210 star Luke Perry.*****After bumping into fellow Sexiest Man Sean Connery at the Cannes Film Festival, Nolte said, "Here we are, two old men, and we're the sexiest men alive?"*****"He was one of the big winners in the genetic lottery. And he has squandered almost all of his winnings," a newspaper reporter wrote in 2005.

HARRISON FORD 1998 Age: 56*****"The ...