Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Unlikely Crushes

A few days ago, my wife Kim was running my stepdaughter to her guitar lesson at the Old Town School of Folk Music, near our home, when she spotted actor/musician Jeff Daniels parking his own tour bus (apparently he's also a musician). She confessed to thinking he was a hunk, diplomatically claiming she found me hunkier (that's all right dear-- I've seen him in Gettysburg-- I could never grow a mustache like that), but I can't blame her-- he's a good-looking, smart guy who's been in many of my favorite movies-- Something Wild, Gettysburg and even, improbably, RV, a Yen family favorite.

One of my favorite bloggers, Kristi, has posted about unusual crushes a couple of times. My favorite of hers is Michael Chiklis

I was thinking about some of my celebrity crushes over the years, and it occurred to me that some of them were a little unconventional. I remember watching Diana Rigg in The Avengers on my family's big old black and white Zenith television when I was 6 or 7 and having feelings I really wouldn't understand until 7 or 8 years later, when I was a teenager. It must have been those leather slacks-- I had similar feelings toward Julie Newmar and Eartha Kitt in their Catwoman get-ups on the Batman show.

On the opposite end, though, my most unusual childhood celebrity crush was Jane Goodall-- yes, that Jane Goodall. The one that worked with the chimpanzees.

I grew up in what we educators call a "literature-rich environment." My parents bought us encyclopedias before we could read. They subscribed to newspapers, Time Magazine (back then Time was not just a big fluff piece), Reader's Digest-- and National Geographic magazines and books. Jane Goodall made frequent appearances in those. She had pretty eyes and blonde hair and just exuded intelligence. I just thought she was a fox. While the other boys were looking for the pictures of the topless African and South American native women, I was gazing at my beloved Jane.

Smart, blonde and older than me... hmmmmm. Maybe that explains my crush on Geraldine Ferraro in the eighties...

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dude, I'm right there with you on Dianna Rigg & Julie Newmar. I had adolescent wood for both of them.

Danielle said...

Gene Wilder. I love hair. Curly, unusual, thick, dreads.

Jane Goodall is attractive in a Audrey Hepburn sort of way.

As always...

Joe said...

Same here with Julie Newmar...hubba. Another early celebrity crush was Carolyn Jones as Morticia Addams. And Ann Margret.

vikkitikkitavi said...

I so wanted to be Diana Rigg when I was a kid. When I finally got a body suit in the 70s, I used to jump around my bedroom in it, pretending to karate chop random enemies.

Erik Donald France said...

Diana Rigg, Julie Newmar, Earth Kitt -- all cool, crush city. Not far from them to Angelique on Dark Shadows, and of course, Debbie Harry and on and on and on. . .

Cheer34 said...

I am not good at remembering names but I had the biggest crush on the dark hair guy on Adam-12.

For some reason I liked Hoss on the Ponderosa too.

Cheer34 said...

here it is! Adam 12 http://youtube.com/watch?v=EdXR-TohG5o

Thank you Youtube!

GETkristiLOVE said...

Yeah, yeah, but Christie Love can kick Emma Peel's ass. No doubt about it.

I like Goodall as the unlikely choice.

Anonymous said...

vikkitikkitavi said...
I so wanted to be Diana Rigg when I was a kid. When I finally got a body suit in the 70s, I used to jump around my bedroom in it, pretending to karate chop random enemies.

Baby, You don't happen to still have that suit do you? ;)

Unknown said...

Emma was tops in her day. She still looks OK if you squint on PBS's Mystery.

Also, Beaver's teacher, Miss Landers, was hot.

And in the crooked - sensitive eye category, Lois Nettleton (lots of Twilight Zones) and Jane Kaczmarek (Malcolm's mom) who actually looked hot in the 1988 remake of "D.O.A."

Yes, I know Meg Ryan was in it too (D.O.A) but that is not an unlikely crush. Ha.

By the way, D.O.A was impossible to find for many years. I think it is out on DVD. Also, Meg's future hubby, Dennis Quaid (similiar in my opinion to earlier mentioned Jeff Daniels) was the star of it.

Splotchy said...

I can't for the life me think of an unlikely crush.

Tina Louise for me, which is not that unusual, I reckon.

Splotchy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
kim said...

You know, I have been told I have an Emma Peel quality.

Why are you talking about other women?!

Cup said...

Hell, I'd still like to be Diana Rigg.

MacGuffin said...

Hmmm, while not unusual, I had huge crushes as a young boy on Jaclyn Smith, Rachel Ward, Jane Seymour, and the most embarrassing one somehow, Olivia Newton-John. Oh, and Emma Peel of course, er, I mean Diana Rigg.

don'tneedtoknow said...

Emma Peel was an early childhood hero of mine. Classy!

Dr. Monkey Von Monkerstein said...

I was thinking of doing a pictorial history of my movie crushes.

I am so with you on Jane Goodall. Always have been. I think I blog as a monkey just so I can put pictures of her on my blog. Along those lines as well, I crush on Francis Sternhagen as well. Sue me, I dig GILFs.

Johnny Yen said...

Spooney-
I think they twisted our generation, didn't they. But in a good way.

Danielle-
Kim loves Gene Wilder too. Did you know he turned 74 a couple of weeks ago?

"In an Audrey Hepburn sort of way..." Yes, I think that's a good way to put it.

Bubs-
I didn't discover Ann Margaret until later-- I think I saw her in Life Magazine. I can see what Elvis saw in her.

Vikki-
She was way-cool, wasn't she?

I saw part of the Uma Thurman movie recently. She is so not Diana Rigg.

Erik-
I'm betting that you, along with every other guy of our generation had a thing for Chrissie Hynde, too.

Cheer34-
That was Kent McCord. I loved that show. And Dan Blocker was the actor who played Hoss. His son Dirk, who looked just like him, was on "Baa Baa Black Sheep."

Spooney-
Well, did she?

Busterp-
Yes, I saw her in an ad for a play in the New York Times, and still found her hot.

I thought Barbara Billingsley (Mrs. Cleaver) looked pretty damned good in her spoof cameo in "Airplane."

Splotchy-
Actually, that is unusual-- every other guy I know (including myself) found Mary Ann much hotter, which I think is unusual.

There's a story about an interaction between Iggy Pop and Tina Louise (Ginger) in a Hollywood bar in Iggy's bad old days. Since my father-in-law and kids read this blog, I can't relate it in it's entirety here.

Kim-
Two words: "Brad Pitt."

Beth-
Yeah, she's aged well, hasn't she?

MacGuffin-
I don't blame you on Olivia Newton-John-- she was pretty. As long as she doesn't sing.

Elizabeth-
She was the bomb, wasn't she?

Dr. Monkerstein-
I like that idea!

When you mentioned Francis Sternhagen, it reminded me of how hot Mary Steenbergen is, as well.

Frank Sirmarco said...

I am SO with you on Diana Rigg.

Hubba-Hubba!