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Feb 28, 2026

12 Forgotten Beefcake Boys of the 1980s

When I was living in West Hollywood during the 1980s, we didn't go to movies much, due to the rampant homophobia. Nearly every movie featured a discussion of how much the main characters hated gay people.  In Teen Wolf, Michael J. Fox protests that he's not a "f__."  In American Werewolf in London, David Naughton calls Prince Charles "a f__"  In Breakfast Club, Judd Nelson writes a warning on his school locker: "Keep out, f___"

But in spite of the homophobia, there was a lot of beefcake.  Men took off their shirts regularly, in frat houses, swimming pools, locker rooms, on wilderness treks.  Some famous, others obscure.  Here are 10 forgotten beefcake boys, actors who surprised us by displaying impressive physiques in one or two movies, and and then vanished.

Or at least never took off their clothes again.

1. Anthony Edwards stripped down to his rather impressive underwear by customs agents in Gotcha (1985).  He went on to teen s*x comedies and eight seasons of ER, but never showed his impressive equipment on screen again.
2. Dan Shor talking to his dad n*de in Strange Behavior (1981).   The backside that "sealed his popularity" in West Hollywood never appeared again, but we got a nice view of his front in Tron (1982).

3, Ilan Mitchell-Smith buddy-bonding in a cut-off t-shirt and blue shorts in underwear in Weird Science (1985).  He retired from acting and became a history professor. Also starring a semi-n*de Michael Anthony Hall and a bare-backside Bill Paxton.















4. Tim Curry lookalike Kevin van Hentenryck runs down the street n*de in Basket Cases (1982).  It's a long shot in the dark, but you can definitely see the bouncing.  There are two more Basket Case movies, but no more Kevin c*cks.







 5. Don Michael Paul (left) took his shirt off in  The Brotherhood of Justice (1986) and Aloha Summer (1988) before settling down to a fully-clothed career in writing and directing.  He specialized in horror movies.

6. Nick Corri was  killed while n*ked in Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) and went Full Monty in a locker room in Wildcats (1986).  He changed his name to Jsu Garcia and became a spiritual teacher.
More after the break




7. Robert Brian Wilson played a muscular, naked killer who bulges while kissing girls in Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984).   He's got 18 more acting credits, plus a Facebook Fan Page.




















8. The super-muscular Anthony Starke bulged and buddy-bonded in Return of the Killer Tomatoes (1988).  You heard me.


9. Keith Gordon (right) played a college swimmer embarrassed by his dad, Rodney Dangerfield, in Back to School (1986).  He's got 28 acting and 27 directing credits, and no more shirtless scenes.

 10. William Zabka (left) as Chas in Back to School.  He also played a shirtless bully in two Karate Kid movies (1984, 1986), and returned to open a karate dojo with his former bullying victim (Ralph Maccio) in Cobra Kai (2018-25).




11. Tom Hodges (right) in Lucas (1986), a locker room bully whom Corey Haim calls a "fag" (only because he criticized Corey's tiny tiki).  He was tied up shirtless in Heavyweights (1995), below, and went on to a career in acting, producing, and craft services.

12. Jeremy Piven  (left) as the other locker-room bully. A few years later, he played the straight best buddy on the coming-out story arc on Ellen (1995-98)