One beefcake photo of Michael J. Fox and nine of other guys

Other than "that character can't be gay! He said hello to a girl in Scene 12!", the most common complaint I get is "that photo isn't of the obscure actor you're writing about!"

I don't understand the problem. Beefcake is beefcake.  Why is it essential that a review or profile  be illustrated by pictures of the exact guy?  Especially if it's his c*ck, so you have practically no chance of seeing it in real life.  Or if the guy is so obscure that not one person in a hundred will be able to tell the difference.   

It's not intentional.  It's just that it's hard to recognize an actor after seeing him in just one movie or one episode of a tv show.  There are usually a hundred other people with similar features.  Plus he might look completely different over time.  And searches on Google Images are famously inaccurate.

For instance, take Michael J. Fox, the famous star of Family Ties, Back to the Future, Teen Wolf, Spin City, and so on, the first celebrity I met  when I moved to West  Hollywood.  I'm going to pretend that I I've only seen him in Back to the Future, and google "Michael J. Fox" and "n*de." Here's who pops up:

1. Robbie Benson, a teen idol of the 1980s. I had the same poster hanging on my bedroom wall. 

2. Charlie Sheen in Full Metal Jacket. 

Correction: a reader informs me that this is his father, Martin Sheen, in Apocalypse Now.  

How the heck am I supposed to know that Charlie Sheen's dad was also an actor, looked exactly like him, and also appeared in a war movie?  I don't even watch war movies.

3. No idea.  Google AI says that this is Charlie Sheen and Chad Lowe promoting Silence of the Heart (1984).  I don't think so.

4. I think he was in one of those Friday-night TGIF sitcoms, Full House or Raising Dad or something.  Maybe it appeared close to Michael's Family Ties sereis?

More after the break

Duke Van Patten's Beefcake and Romance Photos

Duke Van Patten (the one on the left) was recommended to me as a Facebook friend because we have one "mutual friend," Christopher Atkins.

Could he be related to the famous Van Patten brood of 1970s hunks?

Maybe, but before I click on "Yes! Add me!" I always check to see if the prospect is gay.

I've never met a guy named Duke, but that's probably not his fault.

He's an actor living in New York.  Otherwise his "likes" are empty: no music, no tv shows, no sports, friends other than Christopher invisible.

Not much to go on.

A lot of photos of Duke with guys.  This one may be joke.  He comments "I love snapchat captions."

But not this one under the Christmas tree.

Or this one.  They're engaging in the macho sport of fishing, but look -- seven guys, no girls.  My kind of vacation!

There are about a thousand pictures posted of Duke in a boy-boy pair.  Or in this case, a trio.

But what am I to make of this meme? Granted, there's a nice chest and biceps, and the girl is far in the background, but she's still a girl.

Ok, time to check Duke's other social media.

Instagram: 2 pictures of Duke in a group that includes girls, and 85,000 of Duke with guys, including this take on the "On top of the world!" scene from Titanic.  Comment; "10% of our brains?  I think we use only 10% of our hearts."

Twitter: He watches a lot of movies, he saw Angels in America in London, his dream dinner guest is Aslan, and he states "I'm glad I'm not a 12-year old girl anymore."











One more place to check.  If he's an actor, maybe he's on IMDB.

Hey, he's the son of Vince Van Patten, the 1970s movie hunk and tennis player, part of a whole show biz dynasty.

Five on-screen credits: two walk-ons, The Adventures of Velvet Prozac (sounds campy), The Guest House (about a guy with a gay stalker), and The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (playing himself)

I'm convinced.  Sign me up.  I don't have any friends left in New York -- maybe he'll invite me for a visit. 

I could tell him my Vince Van Patten hookup story.

See also: The Van Patten Brothers.

Richard Thomas: Falling in Love with a Photograph

When I was in junior high and high school, this was one of the most recognizable faces in America: Richard Thomas, who played Depression-era teenager John-Boy on The Waltons (1971-77).

I never saw a single episode, just snippets as I walked through the living room on my way upstairs to watch hip sitcoms like Welcome Back Kotter, Barney Miller or What's Happening!!!  Who wanted to watch a boring drama set a thousand years ago, when my parents were kids?

But I saw the parodies on Saturday Night Live and in Mad Magazine, I heard all the jokes, and I had a big crush on Richard Thomas.

Ok, not much of a physique, but that hair, those eyes, those  lips! Tell me you can look at that face without wanting to kiss him.

He wasn't a big teen idol, with no shirtless centerfolds in the teen magazines, barely a mention as they poured out articles about Donny Osmond, Leif Garrett, and Shaun Cassidy.  Maybe he was too old, in his 20s (born in 1951).  Maybe he was too married.  Or maybe he just wasn't androgynous.

But I didn't know he was married, and nine years older was the perfect age for me.  And the pictures in TV Guide, Parade, and other general-interest magazines were enough to spark my romantic interest.

In an interview, Richard stated that he was studying Mandarin Chinese for fun.  I was into languages!  Maybe we would meet and study Arabic together.

I like your smile.
Ana uhibu aibtisamatak

May I kiss you?
Hal li 'an 'aqbalak?

The first erotic dream I remember, around 1975 (ninth or tenth grade), involves kissing Richard Thomas.  I replayed that dream in my head a thousand times.

 I hadn't even figured "it" out yet, and I was fantasizing about kissing Richard Thomas!

During high school and college, I saw him in 3 movies:

1. Roots: The Next Generation (1979).  He played a boy involved in an interracial romance.

2. No Other Love (1979).  He played a mentally handicapped boy who wants to get married.

Both roles about forbidden love.  Could Richard be gay, and trying to "come out" in a roundabout fashion?

3. The 1980 Star Wars rip-off Battle Beyond the Stars (he played Luke Skywalker to George Peppard's Han Solo and Sybill Danning's Princess Leia).

For some reason I missed his role as a gay wheelchair-bound Vietnam vet in Fifth of July.  It aired on March 9, 1982, during my senior year in college.  Most likely I just didn't know about it.

I haven't seen Richard Thomas in anything since.  He generally appears in movies and tv series that I would have absolutely no interest in, religious (The Easter Story, Touched by a Angel), hetero-romantic (Linda, Time after Time), or sad (To Save the Children, Anna's Dream).  No more gay roles, that I know of.

Besides, he has not aged well.  His eyes have narrowed, his lips have shrunken, his face has panned out.  Kissing him would not be out of the question, but it's certainly not the first thing you think of when you see this photograph.

And his photograph was what I fell in love with.

See also: The Waltons: The Gay Connection

9 Shirtless Pictures of Daniel Sharman, Probably

Someone identified Picture #5 on the list of random photos I got while searching for Michael J. Fox, star of Family Ties, Back to the Future, Teen Wolf, and Spin City.

"Daniel Sharman. The pic is from Teen Wolf, and he was also shirtless in Fear the Walking Dead."

Wow, he was shirtless in Teen Wolf in 1985, and then in Fear the Walking Dead in 2017?  He's got a great physique for someone in his fifties!

But the guy actually meant Teen Wolf, the tv series, which I've never seen. Daniel Sharman played Isaac Lahey, a student at Beacon Hill High School who leaves his abusive father, becomes a werewolf, and moves in with Derek, then Scott.  I don't know who those people are, but it sounds like he's gay or gay-coded.














Daniel was actually born in 1986, a year after the Teen Wolf movie premiered.  He grew up in London, performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company beginning at age 9, and got a classical theatrical training at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts.  With all that training,you'd expect him to stick to West End productions of Ibsen and Pinter

But you don't get 2.1 million Instagram followers with Pinter, so he went to Hollywood, where he starred in the indie Last Days of Edgar Harding (2011) and took off his shirt to play the Greek god Ares in The Immortals (2011).

When you've got a chest, no one cares that you played Prince Hal.

After minor roles in The Collection (horror) and When Calls the Heart (historical rom-com), Daniel moved directly into playing the shirtless (and sometimes naked) werewolf on Teen Wolf. (2012-2014) and its spin-off The Originals (2014-2015)

Then came a 16-episode story arc on Fear the Walking Dead (2017)  Daniel plays Troy Otto, the leader of a group of scavengers who drive trailers around the post-Apocalyptic zombie wasteland.  He doesn't get a girlfriend or express any heterosexual interest, and he seems to be hot for Nick (the post-drug addict who lives in a community in an old sports stadium).   I assumed that his character was gay (of course, fans screamed "No! No!  Impossible!  He's not wearing a sign!"

In Medici (2018-2019), Daniel played Lorenzo de Medici, the Renaissance statesman, diplomat, writer, bon vivant, patron of Michelangelo. The real Lorenzo was gay or bisexual.  The tv series seems to make him straight, although I heard that there are other gay characters.

In 2020 Daniel returned to England for Cursed, an Arthurian fantasy centered around Nimue (the one who trapped Merlin in a tree).  Here she is a "teenage sorceress" who teams up with Arthur ("a young mercenary") to deliver an ancient sword to Merlin.  Quite a revision!

Daniel plays The Weeping Monk.  He sounds like a minor character, but he actually gets fourth billing, after Nimue, Arthur, and Merlin.

Quite a lot of gay content.  At least, he's in a lot of tv series with gay characters, not necessarily his characters.  And he's straight in real life.





















There are lots of shirtless, underwear, and nude pictures of Daniel Sharman on Google Images,but I'm running into the usual problem: I've only seen him in Fear the Walking Dead, and some of the photos don't look like the same person.  Does he have black or blond hair?

Straight or curly?

A slim  or muscular physique?

 6 inches or 9 inches?

See also: 1 Shirtless Picture of Michael J. Fox, and 10 of Other Guys

The Incredible Severns Grow Up

"The Incredible Severns" are featured in the March 10, 1947 issue of Life Magazine, brothers ranging in age from 4 to 21, all in show biz.  Here Peter Stackpole photographs them demonstrating "Yoga-like muscle exercises"

Looks to me like they're just showing us their ribs.

So, did they grow up to be musclemen?  I did some research.

Dr. Clifford Brill Severn (1890-1981) and his wife Rachel, Afrikaans-speaking South Africans from Johannesburg, immigrated to the U.S. in the 1930s, and got all eight of their children (six sons and two daughters) involved in movies.

Cliff (1925-2014) began acting at age ten, and appeared as the boy buying Scrooge's Christmas goose in A Christmas Carol (1938).  He retired from acting after They Live in Fear (1944) to join the British army.  In 1947 he founded the Southern California Cricket Club, and championed the sport in the U.S. for the rest of his life (photo: a random shirtless cricket player).

Raymond (1930-1994) began acting at age nine, and played opposite Mickey Rooney in A Yank at Eton (1942).  He retired in 1944, and in 1947 joined the Southern California Cricket Club with his brother (photo: Mickey Rooney).

Ernest (1933-1987) appeared in four movies, and retired in 1947.

Christopher (1935-) appeared in six movies, including Mr. Miniver (1942).  He retired from acting after Titanic (1953).

William (1938-1983) appeared in seven movies, including David and Bathsheba (1951).  After high school, he became a fundamentalist Christian and started an evangelical ministry that took him all over the world.  He later became a televangelist.

Winston (1942-) appeared in four movies, including A Man Called Peter (1955).  He later played on the U.S. national cricket team. I"m guessing that this is his grandson.


Ok, I didn't find any musclemen in the grown-up "Incredible Severns."  But it was fun trying.

The Gay Erotic Postcards of Pops Pullum

Born in 1887, William A. Pullum grew up in Camberwell, a poor neighborhood of south London.  He was a slim, sickly boy, suffering from tuberculosis and a host of other ailments.  As part of his therapy, he took up weight lifting, and soon he was starring in strength exhibitions across Britain .  In 1911 he joined the British Amateur Weight Lifting Association, and during the next five years, broke 200 weightlifting records.  He was most famous for his "Plan Feat," in which he lifted 14 men with his arms and leg -- 2000 pounds -- all the more remarkable because he was a featherweight, weighing about 120 pounds

.

He wrote two instructional books which are still in print: Weight Lifting Made Easy and Interesting (1922) and How to Use a Barbell (1922).

As the president of the Camberwell Weight Lifting Club in England, Pullum trained many future weight lifting greats.

But he did more than train.  He offered a full range of photos of his most buffed pupils, naked except for their shoes and loincloths or skimpy posing straps, under the series "Pullum's Popular Pupils"

 C. F. Attenborough became a 1924 Olympic champion.

T. W. Cranfield was named "Britain's Strongest Youth" (I don't know by whom; I suspect by Pullum).

William Beattie was known as  "The Scottish Apollo."  Mostly by Pullum.

 And A. A. Verge was "The British Hercules."  Hercules is more powerful than Apollo, right?

The postcards were immensely popular for amateur weight lifters to use as inspiration.

And for gay men. During the 1920s and 1930s, every gay man had a stash of muscleman postcards, used for erotic appreciation, but also for identifying each other.

"Would you like to see my postcard collection?" was a standard pickup line.  You would display some ordinary postcards, then throw in some musclemen and decide, from his reaction, whether to make a move.

Although "Pops" Pullum retired in 1929, he remained one of the most respected elder statesmen of the weight lifting sport for generations.  When he died in 1960, he was mourned by thousands of amateur weight lifters.

And gay men.

Charlie Gillespie: Gay Characters? Gay in Real Life? Beefcake? Or Not

In 2018, I reviewed 2nd Generation as "the worst television program I have ever seen."  I don't remember it now, nor do I remember Charlie Gillespie.  I'll have to just repeat the profile I wrote seven years ago:

His Superman-cape photo was mega-hot, and I'm pretty sure his character was gay or gay-coded.

Any other beefcake photos?
Any other gay roles?
Gay in real life?

Unfortunately, I couldn't find any biography at all, not even a single line, and every time I search for a shirtless photo, Google Images tries to push a photo of someone else.  Like Austin Mahone.

Charles Melton of Riverdale

Or someone named Gronkowski who I've never heard of.

Social media has proven fruitless.  There are over 100 Charlie Gillespie profiles on Facebook, most elderly, some women,  over 20 Charlie Gillespie instagram pages, and over 15 Charlie Gillespie twitter accounts.  You'd think that the guy with 7,500 followers would be the right one,but no, that's an airplane pilot.

Do you think this might be him? It's a frame capture from a video uploaded to one of the Charlie Gillespie instagram pages.

How about this guy, sticking his tongue out at a girl? (Obviously his girlfriend: they appear arm-in-arm, hugging, or groping each other n 3,543 other photos on the page.)

Well, at least I can go through his film credits, to see if there are any gay roles.

1. Charlie played himself in the documentary Bienvenue chez nous - La gang à Richibouctou Village (2014), about a New Brunswick village (where they speak English) welcoming a film crew.

2. The film is La gang des hors-la-loi (The Outlaw League, 2014), a sort of French Canadian Bad News Bears, where the kids have names like Shogun, Charlemagne, and Pic-pic.

3. In 2015, Charlie appeared as a guest host on Galala, "un concours télévisé de jeunes talents qui s'adresse aux 5 à 15 ans."   They sought out local talent in a different city each week: Edmonton, Saskatoon, St. Boniface, Halifax.  Charlie's town was Dieppe, New Brunswick.

I don't understand why a French-language tv program is auditioning talent in English speaking towns.

4. Fast forward two years to July 2017.  Charlie has a two-episode story arc on Degrassi: Next Class, a teen soap about students in a fictional Toronto high school.   He plays Oliver, hospital roommate of gay kid Tristan (Lyle Lettau).  But Oliver is straight.

Only two years ago, and Charlie looks a little chunky.  That might explain the lack of beefcake photos.

5. Another guest shot, on a November 2017 episode of The Next Step, about a teen dance troup in Toronto.  Charlie plays Marcus, a member of the math team who becomes captain when Zara leaves.

6. Next comes the 6 horrible episodes of 2nd Generation (2018), which required long hair for the androgynous effect. I think his character is gay-coded,but I can't be sure; that would require watching the tv series.

7. Speed Kills (2018) starred John Travolta as an aging speedboat racer (based on real-life speedboat champion Don Aronoff).   Charlie played his son, Andrew.  Since Travolta is 65 years old, his son must be in his 30s.

8.  A two-episode story in October 2018 on the new Charmed: he plays a college student who is dating Maggie until she dumps him.  When he's possessed by a demon, she saves him, but they still don't get back together.  There's a lot of kissing going on.

9. In January 2019, he appeared in the 6-episode miniseries I Am the Night, something about the Black Dahlia murder case in modern L.A.  Charlie appears only in the pilot as "Surfer Hank."  You can probably figure out what he's doing.

I'm sorry I started this research.  Not many beefcake photos, not gay in real life (if the tongue-wagger is the right Charlie), only one gay-coded role.

And I had such high hopes. The 2nd Generation  bait-and-switch strikes again.

Did PJ Make it to West Point, and Other Beefcake-Heavy Questions

This wrestler reminds me of Infinite Chazz, our boy toy in West Hollywood, called "infinite" because he was infinitely attractive to everyone who saw him.  He could get anything he wanted -- an extra dessert from the lunch lady at school, a back stage pass at a concert, sex -- just by flashing his smile.  It was like a superpower.

Infinite Chazz #2 is actually PJ from "Cardinal Newman High School," All-Empire Wrestler of the year, 2014.

According to the article, he's a three-time All American who boxes in his spare time, he wants to be an engineer, and he plans to go to West Point  (and no, this move is not illegal).

Two questions:

1. Where is this All-Empire?

2. Did he make it to West Point?

1. Where is this All-Empire?

There are two Cardinal Newman High Schools in the U.S., in West Palm Beach and Santa Rosa.

Cardinal Newman, West Palm Beach, founded in 1961, has 500 students. Its colors are blue and gold, and its mascot is a Crusader.  Its newspaper is called the Illuminated Manuscript (cleverly Medieval).

This is Blythewood (in bright blue) beating Cardinal Newman (light blue).

Cardinal Newman, Santa Rosa, founded in 1914, has 600 students. Its colors are Cardinal red (naturally) and gold.

I don't know why this photo came up when I searched for "Cardinal Newman High School" "Santa Rosa" "wrestling," but I couldn't resist the title:

"Yip Yip Hooray for Jordan Yip," who placed at the Shah Alam Aquatic Centre in Malaysia.   according to the MSSM Akutiaq blog.

Malaysia is a bit far from Santa Rosa, and none of the words are in the article.

Ok, here's a real Cardinal Newman Santa Rosa wrestler.  Notice the red logo?  Similar to PJ's, but not identical. 

Someone named PJ, with his last name (not very common), also attended the Blair Academy in New Jersey.

But someone named Michael, with the same last name, graduated from the Cardinal Newman in Santa Rosa in 2015 (shown here hanging out with several shirtless guys).

He was also a wrestler, no doubt a younger brother.

So I'm going with PJ graduating from the Cardinal Newman Santa Rosa.

And All-Empire means Sonoma, Mendocino, and Lake Counties, California.

2. Did he make it to West Point?

I don't see any PJ on the rosters of West Point wrestling teams.

But I found a Paul with the same last name wrestling at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut, a senior in 2017-2018.

Success!  He was a graduate of Cardinal Newman in Santa Rosa, then attended West Point and Holyoke Community College, near Springfield, Massachusetts.

I'm guessing a year at West Point, then a year at Holyoke, and on to Sacred Heart, where he changed from engineering to criminal justice.

The bodybuilding film Stay Hungry was partially filmed at the Gold's Gym in Holyoke.

A long strange trip from Santa Rosa to Holyoke, with a lot of byways and dead ends in between.  But look at all of the beefcake I found on the way!

See also: In Search of the Headless Wrestler.