Uncovering a Few Treasure(d) Chests!

Are you in the mood for a little cake? Beefcake, that is...? Today I'm going to unload a collection of photos I've been gathering for a while now that feature the chests of various (vintage) actors. Some of these are favorites of mine, some not. I try to provide a variety of looks and types (though you won't see any that are string-bean skinny if that happens to be your thing.) My all-time favorite chest (all-time favorite MAN for that matter!) belongs to Clint Walker of Cheyenne, shown here at right and below. That lock of hair over his right eye below sends me to the moon...

To jump back in time a bit further, I give you the delicious Buster Crabbe (of Flash Gordon fame), shucking out of his swimsuit. Like many other men in today's post, there's a tribute to him elsewhere in the Underworld that you can get to by clicking on his name.

Here's a moist Robert Mitchum in a shirtless pose from one of his 1940s (or '50s?) films.

I typically tend not to go for smooth, like Buster above, and lean rather to the hairy-chested types such as Steve Cochran, shown here in Tomorrow is Another Day (1951) with Ruth Roman.

It's hard to see all of John Derek's chest in this still photo from 1951's Saturday's Hero, but there's plenty of him on his tribute page (and likely more to come when I do a tribute to The Ten Commandments!)

Mike Connors, later to be famous for Mannix, sucks it in while getting dressed for a movie scene.

Western star (and later a first-season costar on Dynasty) Dale Robertson is shown in a rare shirtless pose. It's from the 1952 film Lydia Bailey, all about war torn Haiti under French rule.

Fellow western actor Rory Calhoun is likely better known for his pretty blue eyes or his trouser snake than for his chest, but I liked this picture of him working on a project of some sort.

I recently did a post about Miss Robin Crusoe, which starred George Nader. Here he is cocking his rifle while sporting his cute little blue loincloth from the 1954 film. (Foot fetishists might enjoy this particular pose, too!)

Burly furball Aldo Ray shows off his treasure chest on the rocky shore of a location shoot.

In his early years, Robert Wagner always seemed way too slim to capture my attention, but in this photo, he appears a bit more buffed out and, as a result, more appealing to me.

George Hamilton is another actor whose slight build never really grabbed me, but I do love this vibrantly colored shot of him with an equine friend.

Before too long, there's going to be a photo essay on the physique of Mr. Sean Connery, but until then, I give you this shirtless shot of him in between shooting scenes of a movie.

Mexican actor Jorge Rivero had not only a great chest, but a great EVERYTHING!  He appealingly played Adam in The Sin of Adam and Eve (1969) before progressing to a semi-successful career as a supporting player in Hollywood films.

We're about to segue into TV for a little while, and who better to get us there than Robert Conrad, the super-fit movie actor who made a successful home for himself on the small screen.

In his early days, he was frequently paired with fellow Warner Brothers contractee Van Williams for photo opportunities. Look at this extensive gym/workout spread for an Asian publication.

They do make impressive bookends, don't you think?

For me, the tan, strong actor actually got more handsome as he aged a little. For example, I like this look better than the exceedingly defined one a few pictures back...

...and, of course, he is ravishing in color (this shot from The Wild Wild West)...

...but even as a man on the verge of fifty (as he was in this photo from Black Sheep Squadron), he still looks terrific!

Jeremy Slate was the costar of the short-lived 1960-'61 series The Aquanauts. He's seen here with guest star Peter Falk.

Hugh O'Brian was a guest in the pilot for The Virginian in 1962 and showed his chest. I know it looks a little bit flabby around the waistline in these action shots of him digging a post hole, but he would soon get into even greater shape for 1965's Love has Many Faces.

At one point in the show, he and James Drury (who played the title character) get into a scuffle and the camera catches a glimpse of O'Brian's chest as well as a peek at his tan line as they collapse into an interlocked yin-yang formation! And take a look at Hugh's crotch in the bottom photo. Hmmm.

Football star-turned-actor Fred Williamson worked on quite a few episodes of Julia. Here, we see him getting tended to by Diahann Carroll, the series' lead.

One of our big crushes as a kid was Lee Majors of The Six Million Dollar Man. Majors (seen here with The Bionic Woman Lindsay Wagner) was always finding reasons to go shirtless.

Then again, it was a different era. Chest hair was in as was showing it off with plunging necklines and the absence of t-shirts underneath tops and/or workout wear such as this.

Starsky and Hutch's Paul Michael Glaser had an impressive chest, too, that was occasionally seen to good benefit on his show.

Charlie's Angels was a female-driven series, but sometimes a male guest star might be seen without his shirt such as with tan, slick Steve Sandor in this 1976 episode.

Robert Urich was the star of the detective series Vega$ and could sometimes be caught without his shirt on.

During the first season of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, it wasn't unusual for the star Gil Gerard to show plenty of chest. Either peeking through his open shirts and jackets...

..or stripped to the waist entirely as part of the show's plotlines.

Dynasty was often a good source for chest ogling. Here, we see John James roaming the halls of the mansion in just his pajama bottoms.

And here is James again closer up, in his son's nursery.

Geoffrey Scott, who played the love interest of both Joan Collins and Pamela Sue Martin, is seen here in bed with Joan. I've attached a shot of him in his abbreviated tennis shorts just because...

Speaking soaps, Patrick Duffy of Dallas was in great shape for most of the run of that stalwart series.

Duffy's TV brother Ted Shackelford provided a certain amount of beefcake over on Knots Landing, too.

He was often seen in these pale blue shorts, a favorite piece of bedtime clothing for him.

Check out the serious fur on Shackelford's costar on Knots for 40 episodes, Alec Baldwin!

In the 1986, Mark Harmon (then of St. Elsewhere) was named Sexiest Man Alive by People magazine.

But Mark had been appearing shirtless in ads for a decade or more prior to that. He had to grow up and mature a little in order to truly set hearts aflutter.

I stumbled upon these hilarious shots of Simon & Simon's Jameson Parker.

Unfortunately, I have no idea what project they are from. Anyone?

Of course, Tom Selleck of Magnum P.I. was frequently shirtless in his Hawaii-set series and looked terrific.

Before we turn off the TV stars, I have to demonstrate some more evidence of that amazingly beautiful man (and another serious crush of mine as a kid), Jon-Erik Hexum. He was a gorgeous model...

...who costarred with Joan Collins in the 1983 telefilm Making of a Male Model...

and who starred in the time-travel fantasy series Voyagers.

This image of him in gladiator garb was positively seared onto my brain as a kid and I never forgot it. There's much more about Jon-Erik here.

Here's lean and hunky Burt Reynolds in 1974's The Longest Yard.

Fur-ocious Sam Elliott in 1976's Lifeguard.

Chiseled football-hero-turned actor Jim Brown in his Playgirl layout.

A young Dennis Haysbert prior to becoming the President on 24 and the calm, assured spokesperson for Allstate Insurance Company.

Here, we see the formidable chest of Armand Assante in the 1980 film Little Darlings (carrying Tatum O'Neal around in the pool.)

Look at this dewy shot of towering Swede Dolph Lundgren (now one of The Expendables) from the mid-'80s.

Comedic actor Steve Guttenberg (of the many Police Academy movies) made eyes pop when he displayed this chest in the Cocoon films!

Is anyone lucky enough to remember this guy, who made a nationwide splash in 1994 when his shirtless commercial for Diet Coke took everyone by storm? Yes, that's Lucky Vanous, who was only able to wring about a decade of minor work out of his brief, but white-hot, notoriety.

Hopefully, one or more of the guys in this post made you happy. The standards for shirtless men today are altogether different (smooth, ripped abs, etc....), but I remain pleased with the physiques of the past (which can often be found on a lot of everyday men today as well!)