Now Chest a Minute!

We love to discover treasure chests here in The Underworld and have done so here and here.  Today, we're going to uncover a few more.  There are sixty photos in this post, so if you only spend one second on each picture, you can breeze through it in just a minute!  Then again, if you spend one minute studying each chest, you will be here an hour!  Maybe you'll hit upon a happy medium.  There's a variety on hand, hopefully something for everyone, though I tend to go for a certain type myself, the beefy, hairy ones.  Special thanks to our cover boy today, Mr. Guy Madison!

Here we find the late Mickey Rooney enjoying a conversation with a pal on a pair of comfy lounge chairs.

1930s hunk (and later stalwart western leading man) Randolph Scott.

A one-shot, non-MGM movie called Tarzan's Revenge (1939) starred Glenn Morris as the title figure (shown here in a test shot.)  Morris was, like the more famous Johnny Weissmuller, an Olympian too, though for the Decathlon rather than swimming.  Unfortunately, the movie was poorly received and Morris gave up movie-making for life as an insurance salesman.

This still is from an obscure film called Mutiny on the Blackhawk (1939) starring Richard Arlen.  Based upon the loincloth costuming, it just became a movie I need to see very badly!

Next is 1940s sarong and sandal actor Jon Hall drying off.

1940s and '50s leading man Dane Clark.

Fellow leading man of that era, Farley Granger.

Bear lovers rejoice, for here is William Bendix as the ship's stoker and title character of The Hairy Ape (1944.)

A little-known spy drama called Step by Step (1946) stars screen tough guy Lawrence Tierney.  Note the fascinating way his arm creates a shadow across his side and hip to make his waist seem incredibly teeny! (You can see that his swimsuit waistband extends beyond that line.) This movie is on TCM this week and I'm interested in checking it out!

Another obscure movie is 16 Fathoms Deep (1948) which had its share of beefcake as it concerned sponge divers. Eric Feldary is shown below in publicity for the movie.

In this photo from the same film, Feldary is depicted with former child star Dickie Moore, by then in his early-twenties.

Larry Parks, in an unidentified film, has a couple of burly, sculpted pals.  Park was the victim of McCarthy-era blacklisting, which severely harmed his screen career.

If you ever get the chance to see Tomorrow is Another Day (1951), chances are you won't be disappointed. Not only is Steve Cochran shirtless a few times, but he also sports a rather eye-opening set of jeans.

Each time we come across Cochran in a movie, we walk away a little more interested and appreciative than before.

Who's this popping up for a quick photo?  Tony Curtis, of course.

In The Story of Three Loves (1953), Kirk Douglas played a trapeze artist involved with Pier Angeli.

Ida Lupino looks to have quite a decision to make in Private Hell 36 (1954) with bare-chested Steve Cochran and (her real life husband) Howard Duff on hand!  I have to give Steve this one, though, over the somewhat "mooby" Howard, though nipple fans might disagree.

1955's Land of the Pharaohs had lean Dewey Martin being blindfolded as he entered the secret passageways of the pyramid to complete work on it. Thankfully, the audience isn't blindfolded and can look his tight, tan frame over (and over!)

Manfish (1956) starred the extraordinarily hunky John Bromfield, seen here with Lon Chaney Jr.

Here from the same film, Bromfield manhandles a bedraggled Victor Jory.

Yet another 1950s hunk John Derek plays the title character in The Leather Saint (1956), a minister who boxes in order to win money for his charitable causes.  Anyone ready to sign up and go a few rounds with him?

Easily one of the most scorned renditions of the legendary vine-swinger ever was 1959's Tarzan, the Ape Man, in which UCLA basketball star Denny Miller played the title character while reams of stock footage (some of it tinted from the black & white 1932 masterpiece!) were crudely patched in.  "Jane" in this one was Joanna Barnes who many may recall from the prior year's Auntie Mame as Gloria Upson.

A swinger of a different type was singer-actor Sammy Davis Jr., seen here enjoying a soft drink between takes on a movie.

James Garner showed off his hairy chest (once a Hollywood no-no in prior decades of shaving for the screen) in the Doris Day comedy The Thrill of It All (1963.)

William Holden was one actor who often had to shave his chest for movies and he loathed it.  In later years he went au naturel, which by the looks of things, he may also have been doing under his trousers in this photo taken in the chow line of a western location shoot!

Despite playing Richard Kimble on The Fugitive from 1963-1967, David Janssen had precious few opportunities to go shirtless (one memorable time was when he worked as a lifeguard at a swanky club.)  Here we see him in color wearing some trim trunks.

In similarly-styled trunks, but which are far too baggy for my taste, is James Darren of the Gidget movies (1959-1963.)

Those beach-set movies were and are a great place to see the make form without a shirt.  Here are John Ashley and Jody McCrea in a scene from 1965's How to Stuff a Wild Bikini.  (That's the aforementioned Mickey Rooney with them at far left.)

Now a few shots of one of our favorites, Mr. Hugh O'Brian, seen here shaking hands with a close pal.

An even closer pal is the lady helping him out with some suntan lotion here!

Do not ever miss the chance to see him in 1965's Love Has Many Faces, a glossy Lana Turner spectacular.  It was life-changing for me.

Another Underworld fave is Robert Conrad, seen here pumping some iron.

Just look at his sweat-strewn torso (and his deliciously decked-out cohort) in this shot.

Even better is the series of athletic shots he and fellow Warner Brothers contractee Van Williams did together, several of which appear elsewhere on this site.

Broadway and movie singer-actor Robert Goulet doffed his shirt in the TV spy series Blue Light (1966), parts of which were edited into a feature film known as I Deal in Danger (also 1966.)

After working on a variety of TV series, Alex Cord won the role in Stagecoach (1966) that had made John Wayne a star in the 1939 version, but lightning didn't strike twice.  Still, he continued acting (primarily with his natural, darker hair color) steadily for the next four decades.

Prior to his debilitating motorcycle accident, James Stacy worked in films and on TV, notably Lancer (1968-1970.)

Football great Jim Brown turned to acting and was often stripped to the waist (and even further in his spread for Playgirl magazine!)

Rare was the Burt Reynolds movie of the 1960s and '70s that didn't feature a shirtless scene. Reynolds and Brown entertainingly costarred in 100 Rifles in 1969.

One of the more well-received later Tarzans (and I believe the first hairy-chested one) was Mike Henry, seen here in Tarzan and the Jungle Boy (1968.)

Ryan O'Neal (of Peyton Place, 1964-1969, Love Story, 1970, and many other films) often went shirtless before the cameras.

One of the chief reasons to watch the British sci-fi series UFO (1969-1973) was the hunky face and physique of costar Michael Billington.

Later in 1977, he had a bedroom scene with Barbara Bach in The Spy Who Loved Me which proved that director Lewis Gilbert knew of a good way to fill the cinematic wide-screen!

Former TV Tarzan (1966-1968) Ron Ely portrayed another famous hero in 1975 when he starred in Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze.

We love his shredded shirt look shown below...

Hirsute hunk Sam Elliott during his comparatively brief pre-mustache days.

Those of a certain age will recall the 1970s stand-up and variety show guest The Unknown Comic (seen below spoofing Burt Reynolds famous Cosmopolitan centerfold.)  The performer (real name Murray Langston) was a frequent guest on The Gong Show (1976-1980) as well.

Look how furry 1970s singing sensation Andy Gibb was.  It's hard to imagine today's girls going wild over a young man who wasn't waxed within an inch of his life...

Tom Wopat of The Dukes of Hazzard (1979-1985) lost his shirt from time-to-time including during the boxing match shown in the inset.

Erik Estrada costarred on CHiPs from from 1977-1983, though this shot is likely from the 1982 TV-movie Honeyboy.

Here we find college rowing team star turned model Rick Edwards, who later became an actor on the daytime soap Santa Barbara (1987-88.)

Edwards was a frequent 1980s model in GQ magazine, it was a time when hairy chests were a macho sign of virility and sex appeal while today is more about smooth, ripped looks.

If big muscles are your thing, it's hard to ignore Arnold Schwarzenegger back in his early days of movie-making such as Conan the Barbarian (1982.)

A leaner, but still muscular, Dolph Lundgren parlayed roles in A View to a Kill and Rocky IV (both 1985) into a career as a leading man in feature and straight-to-video films.

One of the great unsung furballs of the world was Brian Bloom, a soap actor (As the World Turns, 1983-1987) and later the star of a string of Bandit TV-movies in the mid-'90s.  And let's not forget a memorable 2001 two-part guest shot on Oz.  He also had the most amazing eyes one can imagine.  In recent years, his chief work has been in voiceovers, which isn't fair!  LOL

This is noted gossip columnist Ted Casablanca serving up the naked truth with his typewriter by the pool!

We can never get enough of the beautiful Jon-Erik Hexum.

Jude Law was looking yummily bronze in The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999.)  While it's true that I don't get out much, it seems like I never see Law around anymore in anything.

Most if not all of the aforementioned gentlemen are great-looking and had great chests, but in The Underworld, no one can ever fully compare to the wonders of Mr. Clint Walker, so the final spot in this post belongs to him.  That, my friends, was a MAN!