Gentlemen: Actors who were your Boyhood Heroes?

[amicus]

John Wayne
Sean Connery
Both men for the image of self confidence they brought to their roles.

Cary Grant for his quick wit and sense of the absurd.

Robert A Heinlein and Louis L'Amour for their writings and their willingness to take time out of their busy lives to answer the letters of a boy neither one knew from Adams off ox.

~~~

Wow, m_b, you struck home with that post, wonderful!

ami

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Jack O'Connor, author of novels, professor of journalism and dean of American gun writers. Another man given to answering the purile questios of an ignoramus.

 

[3113]

Patrick McGoohan, (mainly for a reason that would give away my real life identity). He was a wonderfully angry psychotic maverick.

I wanted to be the laconic and suave Patrick McNee too. But that was mainly because I wanted to usurp his role in that wonderfully ambiguous realtionship with Emma Peel.

LOL! See, now I can *really* understand the appeal of both of those. Defying authority, defeating the baddies, and all while being suave and debonair.

 

[amicus]

LOL! See, now I can *really* understand the appeal of both of those. Defying authority, defeating the baddies, and all while being suave and debonair.

~~~

For years and years on my radio programs, I pronounced them, "Swayve and DeBoner", almost always got a phone call...

ami...

 

[3113]

David McCallum as Illya Kuryakin. I probably thought I looked good in black.

Heh. See, not there's a question. I know women swooned over David McCallum like they swooned over Leonard Nimoy in Star Trek. But are those two the favorites of guys as well? If so, do we say that the Napoleon Solo and Captain Kirk American types just don't appeal as much to either sex?

 

[NoJo]

LOL! See, now I can *really* understand the appeal of both of those. Defying authority, defeating the baddies, and all while being suave and debonair.

And for some reason both of them always seemed to me to be somehow more hip and cool and smarter than James Bond. James Bond was always a bit too "gloaty" about his prowess.

If I were born ten/fifteen years later, I'd probably share JagFarlane's wish to be Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones.

For some reason I really think The Coen Brothers' heroes are really cool: George Clooney in O Brother Where Art Thou, but most of all, Jeff Bridges as "The Dude".

 

[NoJo]

Heh. See, not there's a question. I know women swooned over David McCallum like they swooned over Leonard Nimoy in Star Trek. But are those two the favorites of guys as well? If so, do we say that the Napoleon Solo and Captain Kirk American types just don't appeal as much to either sex?

Yes to both of them for me. They were both an early form of geek chic. Also they were a bit more Jewish than yer average hero (so I could identify). Napoleon Solo was like Bond -- just a bit too self-satisfied. And Kirk was too "all-action" for me.


Remember, us guys on this forum are probably more on the geekier side than average. Yannow, we're poindexters and pencil-necks.

 

[patrick1]

heroes

The Lone Ranger rides again, and again, in my imagination. Anonymous, careless of praise, heroic.

But he wouldn't be a hero without Tonto, who knew better about most things, I always assumed, but often kept quiet about it unless he just had to speak.

patrick

 

[neonlyte]

The Lone Ranger rides again, and again, in my imagination. Anonymous, careless of praise, heroic.

But he wouldn't be a hero without Tonto, who knew better about most things, I always assumed, but often kept quiet about it unless he just had to speak.

patrick

Hey Patrick, long time no see!

You and Alex on one night... all we need is Perdita to show up

Will

 

[sr71plt]

Actor model from childhood? I hate to admit it, but the first one to surface is John Wayne in the High and Mighty. I grew up, though. It wasn't long before it was Spenser Tracey in all those films with Kathrine Hepburn.

 

[JagFarlane]

MacGyver [played by Richard Dean Anderson]...lol almost forgot about him. -chuckles- I remember as a kid running around playing as if I were him...saving the world with off the wall gadgets made with just a swiss army knife.

Heres even a lil blurb offa Wikpedia that may interest you:

In an August 2007 survey commissioned by the McCormick Tribune Foundation, Americans polled voted MacGyver as the favorite fictional hero they would want to have if they were ever caught in an emergency.[2]

 

[3113]

Actor model from childhood? I hate to admit it, but the first one to surface is John Wayne in the High and Mighty. I grew up, though. It wasn't long before it was Spenser Tracey in all those films with Kathrine Hepburn.

Ah, Spenser. The Desk Set is one of my all time fave movies. Talk about early geek chic.

 

[jomar]

David McCallum as Illya Kuryakin. I probably thought I looked good in black.

Yes!

Sean Connery as Bond, too.

Don't know if I regarded them as my heroes, but they were cool

 

[jomar]

Dang multiple post. Manu...!

 

[Boxlicker101]

MacGyver [played by Richard Dean Anderson]...lol almost forgot about him. -chuckles- I remember as a kid running around playing as if I were him...saving the world with off the wall gadgets made with just a swiss army knife.

Heres even a lil blurb offa Wikpedia that may interest you:

In an August 2007 survey commissioned by the McCormick Tribune Foundation, Americans polled voted MacGyver as the favorite fictional hero they would want to have if they were ever caught in an emergency.[2]

I didn't vote in that but, if I had, I would have voted for Superman or somebody like him. I mean, if it is to be a character from fiction, why not go all out?

 

[TxRad]

My first thought would be to ask what era or time frame the character is set in. That would narrow the hero field down somewhat. Movie hero's have changed over the years. A fifty's or sixties hero would have been laughed at in the eighty's or ninety's.

There for a while the special effects guys were bigger hero's than the actors.

 

[trysail]

An easy one— Jimmy Stewart. Not only was he a hero on the silver screen, he was the REAL DEAL.

He was a hero IRL, as he flew a full complement of combat missions in WWII. No concessions were asked for or made in respect of his Hollywood standing. His service record stood in stark contrast to the vast majority of the Hollyweird phonies whose WWII participation was created by the vast publicity machine.

Beyond that, Jimmy Stewart was one of those exceedingly rare celebrities* who never let his stature go to his head. He was extremely bright, self-deprecating, talented, well-educated and comfortable in his skin.


*"A person known by a lot of people they're glad they don't know."
-Mencken, naturally.
_____________________

My real heroes (being disdainful, as I was, of Tinseltown) were Robert E. Lee and Brooks Robinson. Both were sterling characters exemplifying the desirable traits of modesty, accomplishment, civility, intelligence and integrity.

 

[sr71plt]

Yes, Jimmy Stewart occurred to me as well. Same reasons.

 

[amicus]

Thanks, Trysail, for mentioning Jimmy Stewart...indeed...him and June Allyson in a couple fav's...

Amicus...

 

[rgraham666]

Jimmy Stewart did a lot more than act. I'm remembering his service in the Air Corps during WWII.

 

[Salvor-Hardon]

Buster Keaton and Douglas Fairbanks Snr.

My choice of Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton and Douglas Fairbanks is mainly because their stunts were real with no doubles, stuntmen or film trickery.

Og

I echo these three, but for the reason of Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton being able to tell stories, to draw in audience purely with their motions and movement. I would spend hours trying to practice their moves (not recognizing the safety precautions that go into the production) and got to the point of being able to do a lot of the old vaudeville routines very competently even complimented by a then 90 year old who remembered the days when that WAS entertainment).

As I grew into more adolescent teen years, MacGyver became a hero for his makeshift solutions to any problem. Yes I knew it was fake but still a level of ability I wanted to attain.

 

[3113]

My first thought would be to ask what era or time frame the character is set in. That would narrow the hero field down somewhat. Movie hero's have changed over the years. A fifty's or sixties hero would have been laughed at in the eighty's or ninety's.

I know it seems like that's true, and to some extent you're right, but I think that's more to do with the movies than the actor. What I mean is, that while some one who grew up in the 50's might be a John Wayne fan, and someone in the 80's a fan of Bruce Willis, are the two really all that different? Bruce Willis makes a lot more snide comments than Wayne, but he's a similar hero. A tough loner, usually spare in what he has to say, putting himself in danger to help people who don't fully appreciate it, living by his own code, etc.

The difference is less in the type of hero he's playing than in the movies he gets to be in and what he is required to do in them. A viewer of 80's movies, used to the ridiculous excesses of Bruce Willis movies, would find John Wayne movies quaint by compare, but he might not find John Wayne, himself, laughable.

So, I'm not really sure the era matters that much. Now, admiring an actor outside of his acting, that's another kettle of fish. But if we're talking about male, heroic types, then I think there are types that reoccur era after era. Otherwise they couldn't keep making Batman, Superman or Zorro movies over and over again.

 

[Trombonus]

Mine were all cartoon characters, usually of the giant robot variety. Can't think of any real people.

 

[amicus]

Mine were all cartoon characters, usually of the giant robot variety. Can't think of any real people.

~~~

Hmmm... I wonder if that speaks to a generational thing? I heard they are calling all born from 1982 on, the 'Millennium Generation', wonder about that also...

amicus...

 

[Trombonus]

~~~

Hmmm... I wonder if that speaks to a generational thing? I heard they are calling all born from 1982 on, the 'Millennium Generation', wonder about that also...

amicus...

I was born in 1981 though. Plus we only had 4 channels back then.

I also played outside a lot more.