Van Williams- 1960s TV actor best known for ‘Surfside 6’ and ‘The Green Hornet’

Him with Troy Donahue in “Surfside 6”

The three male leads of Surfside 6

He had beautiful legs! Like I remember.

In his 30s.

Surfside 6 opening theme

I remember the "Surfside 6" theme song from reruns ...

"Surfside 6 ... "

"Who lives there?"

"Surfside 6 ... "

"YOUNG BACHELORS!"

Well he was no Guy Williams.

Gorgeous man but couldn't act

Van was a favorite of mine as a teen gayling! He was so much hotter than Troy Donahue, who seemed to claim most of the PR for the show, and he was certainly no worse an actor.

The Green Hornet was doomed to fail because there was no weekly opportunity to show off Van's hot body in a bathing suit. Who wanted to watch Van week after week in a suit?

Did he even make any attempts at acting after The Green Hornet? I think he moved his family to somewhere like Montana or Idaho and started a surveillance security system company out there and never looked back. In his elder years I believe he would occasionally attend those autograph con events. There might some footage of him out there at those things.

Well, they were both no ME!

R9 he continued acting after The Green Hornet. Look at his IMDb. Also, he died in 2016 at 82.

r11, I'm honestly shocked by all those post-Green Hornet credits! I must have been in college and grad school most of those years and not watching much TV cause I sure would have tuned in to see Van.

He was a Texan. Born and raised in Texas. He graduated from Texas Christian University in business before moving to Hawaii. In Hawaii while working as an operator for a salvage company he was approached by DL Liz Taylor and her hubby Mike Todd. They saw him and immediately acknowledged his beauty and approached him and encouraged him to move to Los Angeles and try to be an actor because he had the looks to be in front of a screen. He obliged and moved to Hollywood and almost immediately started getting cast in guest roles etc. on tv dramas despite no acting experience

Fantastically sexy body and a handsome face in the Jeffrey Hunter mold. But was a terrible stiff as an actor. He should have done a Playgirl centerfold.

R12 well he was in guest spots in an episode here and there. Back in the 70s would you have even known he was gonna guest star? They didn’t usually showcase a guest star unless it was a big name.

Well, hello, Van. Nice to make your acquaintance

R14 Playgirl didn’t exist until 1973. The pics you’re seeing of him were from 1960.

He guest starred on an old Dick Van Dyke episode as a rival for MTM's affections. He was breathtakingly handsome.

MTM chose DVD over VW.

Curious if anyone knows anything about Warner TV producer Wm. Orr (that was his screen credit)? He's credited as the supervising producer on most of those ABC series like Hawaiian Eye, Bourbon Street Beat and many of those Westerns that would always stars studs like Van, Bob Conrad, Clint Walker, Hugh O'Brian, Ty Hardin, Will Hutchins, et. al. He sure had an eye for beauty!

Well it’s easy to know beauty when you are one of them.

His character from Bourbon Street Beat was moved to Miami for Surfside 6 after it was canceled. Someone at ABC liked him.

I only knew him as Dean Peters, whom Mr. Drysdale hired to court Elly May.

He even looked hot as fuck in the opening credits for Surfside 6.

Funny, if you watched the show (it’s hard to find now but I watched it years ago) whoever dressed the men always had him in the smallest and tightest beach shorts out of the three men.

Never heard of Van Williams but he was VERY fucking hot and attractive. Wow! Why wasn't he more well known?

Because his career didn’t take off as all his shows flopped.

A rare promo for the debut of Surfside 6.

Him with Bruce Lee in 1966

He was actually pretty good in an episode of Cheyenne where he played a character hellbent on vengeance. That face...

R26 did you actually WATCH the episode or just saying he was good? 😂

With Robert Conrad of Wild Wild West fame in a photoshoot

Oh, dear. How did Anthony Perkins not get visibly aroused during this scene?

A cap I made of Van's backside from "Surfside 6".

R28 Van is surprisingly the only one of the three whose acting isn’t horrible in that scene.

R29 or one you saved from the internet. I’ve seen that same cap before.

Hottie though.

The scene where Clint Walker's Cheyenne gets Van's character drunk, hauls him over his shoulder and carts him off is the stuff of gay erotic fanfic dreams.

R32 if getting a man so drunk he passes out and then you date raping him is your fantasy, yes.

R33. R32 to the sex offenders list stat.

R28-How do we know Tony didn't? He might have popped a boner which DL fave Josh Logan noticed, yelled "cut", called Tony off the set for a "script conference" and sucked him off.

R32-Thanks for posting that. Van's ass looks quite inviting in that scene. He really was gorgeous. Check out his ass in the right army uniform pants he's wearing on the DVD show. Yummy!

[quote]did you actually WATCH the episode or just saying he was good?

I've seen it several times and he isn't horrible in it. The scene where he confronts George Gaynes from behind bars is pretty good.

[quote][R32]-Thanks for posting that. Van's ass looks quite inviting in that scene. He really was gorgeous. Check out his ass in the right army uniform pants he's wearing on the DVD show. Yummy!

You're welcome! Van is highly underrated when the conversation of hot Hollywood hunks of yesteryear comes up. He was way hotter than the Troy Donohues and the Tab Hunters and such.

R35 just thanked himself for posting a screen cap he saved from the internet and claimed he did himself.

R35 here-meant to type"tight" army uniform pants!

Sorry I didn't post a link to the DVD episode. Haven't a clue on how to do that.

^Nice try cuntarella R38, but no.

Well, whaddaya know. The cunt is the one who started the thread!

I remember hoping he would come back to the Mid Atlantic Nostalgia Con, but he passed before that was ever able to happen.

He's smoking hot. Very my type.

R41 yes. Because I actually have watched him in episodes and have watched Surfside 6. I’ve known about him for decades. You discovered him tonight and now are acting like a fool on a thread. Instead of behaving like those who didn’t know who he was upthread and saying they never heard of him, you need to lie and make a spectacle, even lying about an image you saved from the internet. I know because I just saw the image on Google with my own eyes.

WTF are you talking about R38?-I thanked R32 for posting that link. Wouldn't have a clue how to do that as I stated in R39. Go back to sleep.

Not how imagined him as an older man. He talks about how well he got on with Dame Edith Evans.

And now he will reply from each account. Jesus. He can never just behave like a normal person. Even on a thread like this he has to act psychotic.

What do you expect a man in his 70s to look like? He wasn’t 50 there.

Is he gay? Is he alive?

Isn't Surfside 6 the same boathouse where Andrew Cunanan shot himself? Eddie Cibrian is the modern day version of him.

He was hetero and died in 2016 at 82 years old

R48. Geez. I didn’t say he looked bad at all. He’s just more like a suburban dad in appearance and accent

WOW! I'm in love.

[quote]Anyone else remember him?

Of course, stupid OP, who among us who loves westerns and old TV DOESN'T know who Van Williams is? Next time, don't ask such idiotic questions.

I wish he talked about Surfside Six in that interview upthread. Would love to hear expound on how he was costumed in nothing more than brief swim trunks week after week. I guess he considered himself lucky they didn't insist on a speedo.

Oh damn. He was straight AND he died in 2016.

I learned of him not long ago. He didn’t have a career where most would know him. Almost all his credits are guest spots.

He was handsome and if I remember correctly his beauty was what got him discovered, and it was by none other than Elizabeth Taylor and her husband at the time.

R52 the accent shouldn’t be a surprise. He originally had a southern TX accent and later it sort of changed to a more Midwestern suburban one.

Sad that he never appeared in a film with Elizabeth Taylor after she encouraged him to move to Hollywood.

He doesn’t sound like that at all in his films.

Someone made a video of images of him with his family.

It was more her husband than Liz. Mike Todd and her encouraged him but Mike Todd was going to introduce him to people and wanted to pretty much take him under his wing once he got back to LA. Liz and her hubby were in Hawaii filming something. Van went to Hollywood and started taking acting and moreso voice lessons because he had a Texas southern accent and needed to learn to speak a certain way if he wanted to act. Mike Todd died in a plane crash before he could help Van, but Van went for it anyway and was immediately cast in things despite no real experience

From IMDB

“ Born on February 27, 1934 as Van Zandt Jarvis Williams, he was the son of a cattle rancher. He majored in animal husbandry and business at Texas Christian University but moved to Hawaii which changed the course of his life. While operating a salvage company and a skin-diving school during the mid-1950s, he was approached by Elizabeth Taylor and husband/producer Mike Todd, who were filming there. Encouraged by Todd to try his luck, Van arrived in Hollywood with no experience. Todd perished in a plane crash before he was able to help Van, but the young hopeful ventured on anyway, taking some acting/voice lessons, and was almost immediately cast in dramatic TV roles.

Warner Brothers had a keen eye for camera-loving hunks and smartly signed Van up. Fitting in perfectly, he was soon showing just how irresistible he was as a clean-cut private eye on the series Bourbon Street Beat (1959). Although the show lasted only one season, Warners carried his Kenny Madison character into the more popular adventure drama Surfside 6 (1960) opposite fellow pin-up / blond beefcake bookend Troy Donahue. Series-wise, Van tried comedy next opposite Walter Brennan in The Tycoon (1964) . After his contract expired at Warners, 20th Century-Fox handed him his most vividly recalled role, that of the emerald-suited superhero The Green Hornet (1966) with the late Bruce Lee as his partner Kato. The show, inspired by the huge cult hit Batman (1966) enjoyed a fast start but, like its predecessor, met an equally untimely finish.

Never a strong draw in films, Van revealed quite a bit of himself (literally) in his debut in Tall Story (1960) coming out of a shower. Although handed a typically staid second lead in the drama The Caretakers (1963), he focused strictly on the TV medium. Continuing well into the 1970s to guest sporadically on such TV classics as The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961), Love, American Style (1969), Mission: Impossible (1966), The Big Valley (1965)", Nanny and the Professor (1970), Barnaby Jones (1973), and The Rockford Files (1974). Another starring series attempt with Westwind (1975) failed to make the grade and he soon let his career go.

Van let his career subside and went quite successfully into business with telecommunications, real estate and law enforcement supplies among his lucrative ventures. With his glossy, pretty-boy years far behind him, he had no need to look back at his show biz success with the exception of an occasional autograph convention. He died of renal failure in Scottsdale, Arizona, on November 28, 2016, at age 82.

R19 Why not try Wikipedia?

I remembered him as the younger brother of Robert Stack and Margaret Sullavan in The Mortal Storm (1940). He was married to Jack Warner's stepdaughter, Joy Page (who played the young Bulgarian girl at the roulette table in Casablanca). So he was married to the boss's daughter, in a way.

Rare press conference for The Green Hornet

Van and Bruce Lee grabbing each other's feets...

Guessing OP must be....of a mature age to remember this guy on TV.

Did he and Adam West participate in swinging parties?

Van w/Robert Conrad.

Van & Bob

[quote] Van w/Robert Conrad.

💦 💦 💦 💦 💦 💦 💦 💦 💦

Exercise...

Van had the most amazing olive green eyes!

Work out,,,

r64, thanks but I guess I was hoping for something more gossipy than Wiki has to offer. For a guy who was professionally associated with more young hunks than Henry Willson, I was wondering about Orr and what any "insiders" here might know.

Orr acted with the young Robert Stack and Dan Dailey? Hmmmm. I'll check out The Mortal Storm. Always wanted to see that film, anyway.

Some of my favorite shirtless pics...

......

.......

“Some of my favorite” meanwhile he discovered the actor tonight.

Cunt Op is mad that others know of his "girlie crush" on a man's man.

Interviewed for ET

No. I just know you didn’t r79. Especially when you lied and took credit for a screen cap you didn’t do. I don’t like liars.

OP cunt is also a lunatic. Oh, and please don't use my gif at R32 on other websites and claim it as yours, as you're wont to do. You can, however, jack off to it.

He was still very attractive later in life too. In his sixties maybe I'm guessing ?

R80 Bitch stole my act.

R82 you claimed you did it. You didn’t.

If nothing else, it seems Van enjoyed a long and happy marriage and family life. Says a lot in Hollywood, especially for a guy who must have been tempted to stray constantly.

He decided to walk away after yet ANOTHER starring tv vehicle for him, titled Westwind, flopped in 1975. After that is when he decided to walk away for good mostly.

And yes, he was a man with family values. Similar to Michael Schoeffling later, who just randomly decided to walk away from it all one day to live a quiet life and start a family.

At the end of the day, the Hollywood thing just wasn’t for him. He pretty much says in the ET interview that the inconsistency with work wasn’t worth it.

R88 yup. He worked as a Malibu police officer for over 20 years while also doing his guest spots etc. because he wasn’t getting cast much.

Arm wrestling with Adam West.

I don't imagine Van was short, he towers over Bruce Lee, but he looked quite puny next to Clint Walker.

Nice little bulge in OP's pic

[quote]I don't imagine Van was short, he towers over Bruce Lee, but he looked quite puny next to Clint Walker.

Well, at 5'8", Bruce Lee was relatively short and Clint Walker was 6'6". Van's height is listed online as an even 6 feet.

In that Green Hornet press conference footage, Bruce Lee looks much shorter than 5"8". Van appears at least a head taller. And Adam West looks to be a couple of inches taller than Van.

Lmao r94 you’re over analyzing dead people.

Those pics of him with Robert Conrad are 🔥

Obituary

R 17: I’m well aware that Playgirl published a decade after Williams’ stardom in series TV but he still would have looked great.

R 19: William T Orr was the producer behind ‘77 Sunset Strip,’ ‘Hawaiian Eye,’ ‘Surfside 6’ and other ‘youth-oriented ‘ series which turned the fortunes of bottom-ranked ABC in the ratings race in the late ‘50s into the mid-‘60s. These were all Warner Bros. TV series and they freely used their young contract players like Troy Donahue, Connie Stevens, Robert Conrad and Diane McBain in Warner movies during their downtime from their TV shows (“Parrish,’ ‘Susan Slade,’ ‘Rome Adventure,’ etc.)

Bill Orr was a good-looking blond actor who had a Warners’ contract in the ‘40s. He mostly played second leads, and at some point realized he didn’t have the stature or presence to become a star despite his handsomeness. Shrewdly, he married Jack Warner’s ugly stepdaughter Joy Page (whose biggest role was as the Bulgarian emigre desperate for letters of transit in “Casablanca.”)

As a reward, he was made an executive at Warner Bros. and as TV came in was made head of their television dept. He had kids with Page though they eventually divorced. I too often thought he must have been gay given the accent on male pulchritude in his series.

💀💀💀💀💀💀💀 who was in charge of dressing them? Why were the other guys dressed and he was always practically naked? 💀

R28 that was the best thing about Tall Story.

R100 that was literally WB strategy back then. They were known for having an eye for “hunks” and giving them contracts even without acting ability. They used youthful good looks to play catch-up.

R101 here. Another example. I’m sorry but this made me lol for real. Look at how the costume department had him dressed all the time it seems 💀💀💀

This is a GIF btw. He was a hottie. But I wonder how he felt about this later in life. He had to feel like he was exploited a bit.

Diane McBain, who starred in Surfside along him died last year.

Phew he was a babe.

At least he got to be fully dressed once in a while.

R67, you'd be surprised. Seems Surfside 6 has some fans even among the younger generations...

In some of these pics, he looks like Rick Nelson.

I think Troy Donahue looked like he could be related to Jamie Dornan in his youth.

So, he grew out of being related to Jamie Dornan?

They all had the *one* dame...

Connie Stevens (& fill-in Tina Cole)

Diane Varsi

Jacqueline Beer

Dorothy Provine

Lola Albright

"Surfside 6" also had Margarita Sierra, who was always the low point of every episode.

Sierra was the Poncie Ponce of the show, r113.

Van Williams had a cameo in the 1993 biopic DRAGON: THE BRUCE LEE STORY as a Director on the Green Hornet show.

It starts at@0:15:

Correction - the Cinematographer. Rober Wagner played the director.

Van in the should-be-camp classic The Caretakers w/Joan Crawford as Lucretia

RIP Van

R113 it was set in Miami. They wanted to have a Hispanic cast member and character because Miami was very Hispanic.

Her scenes were at her club. She’s an entertainer.

[quote]"Surfside 6" also had Margarita Sierra, who was always the low point of every episode.

As "Cha Cha" O'Brien! And you'd hear a chorus singing "cha cha cha!" during the theme song when she was introduced in the opening credits.

R120 remember? The opening credits is right upthread bud.

Cha Cha Twist

The whole Cha -Cha O'Brien character was a weird and unnecessary addition but at least it gave the writers 10 minutes in which they wouldn't have to write any dialogue or action and Cha-Cha would sing an unmemorable song.

I think Connie Stevens' character Cricket on Hawaiian Eye would also often sing a song but at least she was sometimes involved in the plot, however tangentially.

Actually, the same with Dorothy Provine on The Roaring Twenties. These Wm. Orr programs really were formulaic and probably even passed plots from show to show, only changing the setting and characters (barely).

Does anyone know where I can stream his short lived 1959 series: The Camel Toe ?

[quote]remember? The opening credits is right upthread bud

I didn't watch the credits, bud. That opening is engraved in my brain.

Margarita Sierra died about a year or so after the series ended. She was only 36.

R125 when does the lying stop? You lie about anything.

Tyler: We've come along way since then. Stewie: We've cum a LOT of ways since then.

R101, how long have you discriminated against himbos?

He was a handsome young guy with a very nice body. Nothing wrong with him parading around in just swim trunks and showing off his hairy chest. Tom Selleck showed off his hairy chest many times in "Magnum P.I." in the 80s. Give viewers what they want.

They would have paraded Troy Donahue around in just swim trunks and showing off his lack of a hairy chest but he didn't have the body for it.

Van Williams made an appearance in Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story:

They had him in trunks sometimes, r130, but certainly not as often as Bob Conrad.

r390=Suzanne Pleshette

I meant R130 !!!

He was really smoking hot AF sex on a stick. Makes Troy Donohue look like dog poo.

Handsomer and more masculine than Robert Conrad. Why wasn't he offered WWW? Conrad was so short and I can't believe nobody noticed the gayvoice. Purses for days.

Wasn't the producer/show runner for WWW openly gay. I guess that's my answer. Conrad must have put out and/or sucked the producer off. I guess Williams wasn't willing to do that.

*

Viewers didn’t want it r129 or his career would have took off. You’re thinking 1960 was the same as the 80s. They were nothing alike.

[quote]Viewers didn’t want it [R129] or his career would have took off.

Oh, dear.

R130 Troy was their golden boy and already a teen heartthrob. Van was cast without being able to act. If you watch the pilot Van has less than 1 minute of screentime and like 3 lines that equal 10 words. He was clearly there for his appearance because they hardly ever had him even speak. Troy was clearly their star who came in and out a lot while Lee had to do most of the heavy lifting, as he could actually act.

Even Cha Cha had more screentime with her entertainer scenes than Van did many episodes.

Sorry R3- His thighs are a bit too thick.

R135 Robert Conrad was perfectly cast.

Did Cha Cha have cha-cha heels?

He was gorgeous, sexy and would have had my loins tingling.

The guy on the right in the photo in R 132 with Troy Donahue and Tina Cole is Grant Williams, a gay actor who is now best known for “The Incredible Shrinking Man.” He also plays the grease monkey Dorothy Malone picks up who tells her father “Face it, Mister, your daughter’s a tramp!” in “Written on the Wind,” the guy Rock Hudson meaningfully puts his hand on.

[quote]Conrad was so short and I can't believe nobody noticed the gayvoice. Purses for days.

I thought I was the only one who noticed this. Those sharp, sibilant “S’s” never lie. Perhaps there’s some truth to the rumors that he used to pick up street trade?

I live for these threads on boy-starlets of yesteryear, whose memories are kept alive solely by still horny, nostalgic octogenarians. Ah DL how I love thee!

My dirty little mind immediately goes to the casting couch. This guy’’s career has that written all over it. Of course I tend to think that about all the low talent/ high pretty “actors” that we obsess about on here.

And R17, it’s entirely possible that our Van could have posed in Playgirl if he’d been willing and the fates had aligned. Fabian first got famous in 1959 and he posed for PG in 1973 I believe. And he still looked great!

R146 who? Most actual male celebs weren’t doing Playgirl. And those who did rarely showed more than ass. I collect Playgirls from the 70s and 80s. Almost no stars.

No man became more famous from doing Playgirl lmao. Let’s stop that. It made a name for some nude male models but you weren’t gonna see a big name doing it. Playgirl was never an A List thing like Playboy

[quote]when does the lying stop? You lie about anything.

Fuck off, asshole. Don't bother responding. You're blocked.

Lots of actors did Playgirl. Lyle Wagonner, Jim Brown, Fred Williamson, Don Stroud…even athletes got into the act, like baseball players Steve Yeager and Ricky Henderson, and wrestler Shawn Michaels.

True, R150, but it wasn't a career booster for them any more than it would have been for Van Williams.

And like I said, they didn’t go full frontal. None of them were A List. Lyle did it when he was older and washed up.

A couple of musicians did full frontal though but it didn’t elevate their careers, like r151 said.

Jim Brown bared all

Sexy Peter Brown, Van’s contemporary, did a tasteful spread in Oui.

R147 What’s your point? I never said anything about the relative fame of anyone who did or did not pose for Playgirl, including both Van Williams or Fabian Forte.

Playgirl was launched with a centrefold of Lyle Waggoner from the Carol Burnett Show. Jim Brown was probably the biggest football player of his day. And incidentally, Fabian was a major teen idol of the 60s. Again, I’m not claiming any of these men were the biggest stars in the world, but they were certainly “celebrities”.

R148 Who said it was? I live in the real world, which was then, and still is now, dominated by straight men. A magazine with nude males, marketed to women, and kept alive by gay men, was hardly going to have the same impact on mainstream society. But that doesn’t men it didn’t have an impact, because it certainly did. And some of that was generated by it’s early celebrity pictorials.

Doing Playgirl made you a joke. A laughingstock. Minx isn’t real. It wasn’t beloved and prestige. It was shit on and mocked. Playgirls best selling issue was its first issue. After that the sales were never great. Gay men kept them afloat.

R156 what impact did Playgirl have?

Clearly the one who said no actors did PLAYGIRL was WRONG. Weather they were A list, B list, C list, or what have you, is irrelevant.

R155 because his career was in the dumps.

Van was a family man from Texas. He was married with children by the time Playgirl launched.

R159 show me where it was said no actor did it…

[quote][R155] because his career was in the dumps

No. He was still an actor and had moved on to producing by that point. He was not exactly reduced to dinner theater at the time.

All r159 did was prove my point. Out of all the actors and athletes and musicians etc. VERY FEW did.

R162 go look at his filmography. His career was never big and was in the dumps.

Peter Brown was a FOX.

Lots of celebs did nudie spreads. The asshole OP is just being contrarian.

R166 I’m not the OP and no. They did not.

R166 is trying to debate this with someone who collects vintage Playgirl lmao. I paid a good amount for the first issue and own most of the issues from the 70s up to 1980.

You’re a fool.

Burt Reynolds full frontal

[quote]I paid a good amount for the first issue and own most of the issues from the 70s up to 1980.

Then you’re an idiot (and a liar).

Did they go commando under those tiny trunks like the ones Van is wearing in the OP pic?

R158 We’re on a gay website. If I have to teach you history lessons on the impact Playgirl had on gay culture then you’re either trolling or have some sort of agenda that’s just weird.

Obviously Playgirl’s iINTENT was to give WOMEN equal opportunity to look at naked men in the same way that straight men had always had to look at naked women. That it didn’t entirely succeed says as much about the culture itself, as it does about anything the magazine did or didn’t do. Competing directly with Playboy for sales was never going to be attainable. For one thing, men-gay or straight-tend to be more visual than women. And the obvious fact is that there are way more straight men in the world. And so what? Playgirl was still fun while it lasted for us gays.

Gay men, until very recently, have been forced to grab their fun from the mainstream culture in any way they can. Playgirl was no different. And it certainly went a long way towards mainstreaming male nudity. Why are you shitting all over something that many of us remember with fondness just to make some mundane point? It betrays the spirit of DL ha ha!

Can we all at least agree that Burt Reynolds, who did the first nude spread for Cosmopolitan, got a HUGE career boost from it? After that it was indeed all C-listers and has-beens (George Maharis and his Wig, RIP).

I really can't imagine what Jim Brown expected to achieve with his Playgirl spread, though weren't his football years pretty much over by then?

I agree about Van. He was a family man and clearly never very ambitious about his acting career and would have never seen the need to be so desperate.

I think Bob Conrad had a kind of sense of the camp that played off Ross Martin that Van could have never achieved on WWW. And he really had a more muscular torso that looked hotter shirtless and all bound up.

R169 only that image wasn’t in Cosmo. That came out later. The one used in Cosmo had him covering himself

Burt looked like a grower.

“Not a good liar” meanwhile I took a photo of my issue of the first Playgirl.

How about this, you get off this site and GO GET A JOB. LOSER. Oh wait, you can’t. You’re a sex offender.

R169 that image wasn’t in Cosmo. It was released years later on the internet. This was the image in Cosmo

Looks fully nude to me!

Lopaka & Cricket

R173 YES. Jim Brown’s career was pretty much over. Proving my point. That retard of a poster who lives off his mother wants to argue but that’s facts. The celeb men who did it were B-Listers at best, or careers went down the shitter or never did much. That’s a fact. Why he wants to argue facts is strange.

You were not gonna see a top actor doing that. Playboy, yes. You would see A List women get naked but men? Nope.

[quote]meanwhile I took a photo of my issue of the first Playgirl.

Sure, Jan.

You’re really making this too easy.

To anyone who doesn’t know, this is the Burt Reynolds image that was a sensation and really added life to his career. It’s sexy and suggestive without being gratuitous. That’s why women loved it.

The actual full frontal was not in the magazine.

The elder Connie Stevens so resembles the elder Ginger Rogers!

[quote]Most actual male celebs weren’t doing Playgirl.

So the people being posted here were accountants?

R182 😂😂😂 I gotta laugh when a broke loser like you who has to live off his mother has anything to say about anyone.

R185 learn to read. It’s essential.

R186, I should’ve known your ass was black. 🤣 Your apartment looks dusty as hell. And you still lie horribly.

As he got older, he had the same weird extra flesh under his chin that James Garner developed.

Althought hotter, he is essentially a poor man's Garner.

Now Garner is one I would’ve loved to have seen nude in his younger years. He had an ass that wouldn’t quit.

R181 What point?!? What facts?!? Your point, if you ever had one in the first place, is getting increasingly muddled. Where on here did anyone say that the celebs in Playgirl were A-list? Or that there was dozens of them? The only “facts” on here are that some celebrities, of varying degrees of fame, posed nude in Playgirl a long time ago. You’re trying to score points by claiming people said things they didn’t actually say.

And you said you collected PG up until 1980. You are also ignoring the celebrities, OF VARYING DEGREES OF FAME, who posed for the magazine after that year.

I’m not the one that you’ve been arguing with, but you’re the one who’s coming across as increasingly unhinged.

R190 That is a nice badonk!

[quote][R190] That is a nice badonk!

Indeed!

[quote]The elder Connie Stevens so resembles the elder Ginger Rogers!

That over-processed, cotton candy witch hair does *not* give them the youthful appearance they think it does, r184.

Gore immortalized it in Myra Breckinridge, r190.

[quote]In the nightclub, Marlowe (James Garner) takes a sip of wine and, smirking, judges it to be; "impertinent. . .even baroque." These were the exact words which a character in Gore Vidal's Myra Breckinridge (published a year earlier) had used to describe Garner's butt in an excerpt from an obtuse film journal which appeared in the novel. Obviously, an inside joke and from Garner's smarmy delivery of what was otherwise a pointless remark, he was very much in on the gag.

R188 my apartment isn’t dusty. It’s just very white. And I’m not black. Brown skin doesn’t equal African

Ohhh, for some reason thanks to r196 and my train of thought, I just realized something. The reason they miscast Ingrid in Saratoga Trunk was because a darker actress would raise questions about her personal ancestry. But if you cast that big blonde Swede...

R197 the darker actress would have been more appropriate. Jobless retard.

Where did I post she wouldn't have, r198?

R199 it was a stupid post. You saw brown skin (not even dark brown because I’m not a dark person) and brought up black, as if that has any relevance to anything. What does being black or not have to do with owning the original Playgirl issue? You’re a fucking pathetic SEX OFFENDER. Know your place before you need to be reminded.

[quote] Lyle did it when he was older and washed up.

Lyle did Playgirl in 1973. "Wonder Woman" started in 1975.

Lyle showed no frontal nudity. If he had things would have been different for him.

Always thought he was beautiful. Loved looking at pictures of him. R76 saved me the trouble of finding my favorite picture of him. However, as much as I LOVE looking at pictures of him, he's one of those men that are so beautiful that he oozes zero sex appeal. I wouldn't care if I had the opportunity to take a roll with him. I would have oozed enough for both of us.

Thanks for the info, R139. I've never heard of Van Williams before but the consensus on this thread seems to be that he didn't have acting chops.

This episode is on right now...Fay Spain (as Honey Shaw) just slipped Troy a mickey.

[quote]A young man who is about to inherit the family pineapple business gets involved with a beautiful girl and winds up facing a murder charge. Tracy believes that the man has been framed by someone who doesn't want him to inherit the family fortune, and sets out to use the girl to find out who's behind the frame-up.

[quote]And I’m not black.

Sure, Janiqua.

I remember him well from my youth. I always got a stirring in my nether regions when he came on the screen.

One of the most exquisitely beautiful men to ever grace the TV screen.

Interview

My god, Van is just so sweet and self-deprecating in that interview at r208. Sweet to see, thanks for posting.

Rad Fulton.....when he left Henry Willson - the agent took his name back and Rad went back to his real James Westmoreland.

But he'll always be Rad to me.

Does anyone remember Robert Logan from (I think) another one of those 3 guys and a gal Warner Bros Wm. Orr ABC series FOLLOW THE SUN? He was more of a boy-next-door young RJ Wagner type but very hot.

Barry Coe and Brett Halsey weren't too shabby either.

The early 1960s was teeming with these hot young hunks.

The theme song was a bit too languorous.

It was 20th Century Fox...

One of the hottest guys of that era, who's pretty much forgotten, was Gardner McKay, star of "Adventures in Paradise."

Colorized "Adventures in Paradise" with Margaret O'Brien and Mr. Drysdale

A '70s classic...

Oh, I forgot about Gary Lockwod on FOLLOW THE SUN! Robert Logan must have replaced him in later seasons when Gary moved onto feature films.

That theme song is languorous. And credits NOT featuring their hunks in swim trunks?! Crazy.

If Van Williams was a wooden actor, Gardner McKay was iron.

Ok, you can burn me at the stake for this, but I remember thinking that Van and Anson (Potsie) Williams sorta/kinda resembled each other. I don't know if it is the mass of dark hair or the eyes, but Anson looked like a poor man's Van. Potsie really came into his own as an older daddy type, very impressive.

Anson just misses the mark whereas Van hits the bullseye.

I can see that, r219.

R207 you claimed you were born in 2005 on another thread. How did this happen in the 2010s?

R206 lmao. Oh you poor broke loser with nude images of children on his phone. ☕️

Please know your place before another red tag comes your way to remind you of it around here. The most red tagged user ever on this site. Muriel wants him GONE.

^Crazy says what?

R223 you keep calling me a liar. That actually is a compliment from someone like you. Jobless. Living off his mother despite being a grown man. A sex offender. Has nude images of children. Stalks and harasses strangers and their family members. Has been red tagged over 100 times on this site.

You calling me a liar is a compliment and you don’t even realize it. You also continue to throw the word around without stating what is being lied about once. Maybe to take a class (if you can get into one with that public record you have ☕️) and get off Datalounge, where Muriel doesn’t want you.

Not only is R224 a liar, but she is completely schizo nuts. I bet that dusty apartment has some dead bodies in it.

Was he a better actor than DL fave Guy Madison?

He wasn't quite as good as Myrna Fahey...

Guy was the only one better looking than Van. Robert Fuller could round out the threesome.

Van and Bob Fuller…

I’d pay to see Van, Robert Fuller and John Smith in a threesome. Robert and John’s “Laramie” characters were the original Ennis and Jack. It’s too bad Van never guest starred.

[quote]One of the hottest guys of that era, who's pretty much forgotten, was Gardner McKay, star of "Adventures in Paradise."

"Adventures in Paradise" ran for three seasons. McKay gave up acting a few years after the series ended, saying that he was never very good at it and that he wasn't comfortable doing it.

Beautiful man! Never heard of him so just looked him up right now.

I'm surprised his real name was Van Williams. Well, Van Zandt Jarvis Williams, to be exact.

It sounds made up, like one of those '50s stage names, à la Rock Hudson (née Roy Scherer) or Tab Hunter (née Arthur Kelm).

R225 dusty? Lmao all you saw was two walls from my bedroom. You’re so sad. Living off his mother at your age. What are thy gonna do when I make a call and she loses her EBT benefits? You think I don’t know?

Once again, you keep throwing out the word liar and not once have stated what the lie is. You don’t stand a chance when I take you to court.

Van even had gorgeous teeth. He shows them off while snarling at George Gaynes from behind bars in that Cheyenne episode posted upthread.

Broke motherfucker with no education yet always running his mouth lol

R14 said it best.

Beautiful man and his Surfside 6 swimsuit is the way a man's swimsuit should be! Hot Damn!

It looks like from r229 photo that Van did guest star on Laramie with Robert Fuller.

When Edd "Kookie" Byrnes was promoted to a private dick on 77 Sunset Strip, Robert Logan took his place as the car jockey.

[quote]How did Anthony Perkins not get visibly aroused during this scene?

R28, maybe he DID get aroused. There's no frontal shot of him below the waist :-)

He was also professional r240. Seeing a handsome man isn’t gonna get everyone aroused.

[quote]It sounds made up, like one of those '50s stage names, à la Rock Hudson (née Roy Scherer) or Tab Hunter (née Arthur Kelm).

I hope you're using the feminine form (née) because they were gay ... otherwise you get an "oh, dear."

Thank you for the shot of dream boat Robert Logan, r239!

I was referring to that show as "Surfside Sex" by the age of 4. It had been cancelled for a couple of years by then.

[quote]It looks like from [R229] photo that Van did guest star on Laramie with Robert Fuller.

That photo is actually from an episode of General Electric Theater that Bob and Van were in called "The Castaway."

His name wasn’t a stage name. His name was actually Van

As a kid, I used to watch all of those Warner Brothers detective shows on ABC.

Started with "77 Sunset Strip" (1958-1964)

Then in 1959 came... "Hawaiian Eye" (1959-1963 and "Bourbon Street Beat" (1959-1960).

and, then, started in 1960 "Surside 6" (1960-1962).

Since I watched them all, I remember that sometimes they would "cross pollinate" by having a detective from one show need to investigate in one of the other cities and hence, would appear on the other show.

After watching all these episodes, I realized as a kid, that there were only so many plots. They would use the plot on one show, and sometime later, with slight modifications, the story would be used on one of the other 3 shows.

I wonder now- did they use the same scripts and just cross out the characters' names and put in different ones?

Also around this time, Warner Brothers had a trio of three westerns - but I don't remember any cross pollination with these.

They were...

"Cheyenne" (1955) with Clint Walker..

"Sugarfoot" (1957-1961) with Will Hutchins.

and "Bronco" (1958-1962) with Ty Hardin.

I refuse to classify the splendid "Maverick" (1957-1962) (with James Garner (as Bret) and Jack Kelly as (Bart)) with the above trio since it was a much better show. And I absolutely will not include Roger Moore (as their English cousin Beau who eventually showed up toward the end) as no way, no how, could he measure up to the original men. I was a kid, but even I knew the show was in trouble when he showed up.

All the shows had theme songs and were filled with Warner Brothers contact players who kept appearing in multiple shows.

Calves of life…

TEEFS

R247 no. Because the shows you mentioned weren’t even on the same network nor made by the same studios.

Robert Fuller aged really well. He kept the head of hair until the day he died. A hot daddy on Emergency. I should apologize for hijacking Van's thread but at 250 posts it always happens. Great eyebrows too.

Bob & John

Fuller is still very much alive at 90!

R9 you were a teen in 1960?

[quote]Robert Fuller aged really well. He kept the head of hair until the day he died.

The HELL you say! Bob is very much alive and well. I’ve gotten to know him at many cons and had a drink with him at one last year. He’s very nice and personable- a rascal even at the ripe age of 90. His FB fan club is loyal to a fault and follow him to every convention he’s able to attend.

How much does he charge for an ass pic, r255?

yum

R250 - You are mistaken.

All the shows I mentioned in R247 were produced by "Warner Brothers Television", with William T. Orr as Executive Producer, and all of them were shown on ABC.

R251 If ever a seemingly innocuous thread has been hijacked, it’s this one

Oh for chrissakes, r259, what's left to be said about Van Williams?

It’s ok to discuss all the tv actors of the same era as Van. It is still within topic.

I was referring more to the 2 looney tunes above that were cat-fighting and slinging wild accusations of kiddie porn and what not. I agree that discussing other cuties from the same era is totally on topic.

Robert Fuller fans might be interested to know that he made a very brief appearance in GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES as a member of the Olympic team that is onboard the ocean liner that bring Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell to Europe, France (sic).

No, sadly, he's not in the fabulous number with Jane at the gym, dressed in flesh colored trunks "Ain't There Anyone Here for Love?" but in the number with Marilyn "Bye Bye, Baby" with his blazer-clad team as the ship is leaving shore. Very brief appearance but look for him the next time you watch.

Any recent photos of 90 year old Robert Fuller? Shirtless or not.

R263 Nice! I seen GPB about a billion times and have never made that connection.

[quote]Robert Fuller fans might be interested to know that he made a very brief appearance in GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES as a member of the Olympic team that is onboard the ocean liner that bring Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell to Europe, France (sic).

Yes, we already knew.

Look for it, r265! Sorry not to provide a link. Maybe someone cleverer than me can do that.

[quote]How much does he charge for an ass pic, [R255]?

Lol, I’ve never asked, but he would probably get a kick out of the question. Speaking of his ass, it was just as magnificent as Robert Conrad’s but it never gets the same amount of attention.

Wait, that's Robert Fuller at R268? I've never paid attention to him, but I could watch that big ass all day!

[quote]Wait, that's Robert Fuller at [R268]?

Yep. Between Bob's ass and John Smith's huge, ever-present VPL, "Laramie" is the gift that keeps on giving. It's on daily on Starz Westerns cable where I live.

George Chakiris is also part of the chorus of men in GPB.

Wow! How did these white boys grow such big, beautiful butts?!

Do you think they knew at the time that gay men were secretly ogling their bums crammed into those skintight pants?

Miracle-Gro, r272.

[quote]Yes, we already knew.

Well, I know certain things, but I didn't know that until your post and pic, R266. So fank you!

R274 Ha ha

^^^ I meant R263. But thank you, R266, for the pic!

[quote]Do you think they knew at the time that gay men were secretly ogling their bums crammed into those skintight pants?

Of course not. There were no gay people in the 1950s.

Laramie and Cheyenne have always been my go-to old western shows.

[quote]Do you think they knew at the time that gay men were secretly ogling their bums crammed into those skintight pants?

I believe the wardrobe guy on Laramie was gay, hence the reason John and Robert's pants were painted-on tight. There are times on the show where John literally looks fluffed.

friction

As I walked out on the streets of Laredo...

William Smith on Laredo

His pants aren't tight enough, r283!

Though I was just a pre-teen I watched Westerns like Laramie, Laredo and Wagon Train (Robert Horton!) religiously only in the hope that one of my faves would take off his shirt. But it's weird, in spite of all these photos and GIFs, I don't really remember it happening often, maybe just once or twice in a season.

Clint Walker and Robert Conrad were constantly being stripped shirtless.

I think he skipped leg day, r284.

I was just a few years too young for Clint Walker and Cheyenne, which began in 1955 before the other Westerns, which were mostly IIRC 1959-1965. And Bob Conrad wasn't in a Western until WWW, a slightly later era than the WB Westerns, but I certainly watched it and loved all the shirtlessness. Of course, he was in a bathing suit a lot on Hawaiian Eye before that.

People love bringing up leg day. Here’s some facts.

Your legs are genetically passed down to you, specifically your calves, thighs and ass.

You can still gain muscle if you have bad genetics in a specific muscle group, but it’s a lot harder for that person. And some people still do not see much growth even with a lot of work. Your calves specifically are 90% genetics.

Has everyone forgotten that Mission Impossible hunk Peter Lupus?

Peter was 🔥

William Smith’s body definitively stood out in its time.

William Smith was a stunningly beautiful male specimen from head to toe.

It certainly did, r292...

Anyone remember William Smith as Falconetti in Rich Man, Poor Man?

I remember him raping Miss Kitty.

(^.^) it wasn't rape rape was it?

[quote]George Chakiris is also part of the chorus of men in GPB.

Chakiris is also one of Rosemary Clooney's dancing boys in "White Christmas."

I don't remember William Smith playing Falconetti, but he would have made a good Gloria Swanson.

Watched color episodes from “Wagon Train” during lockdown (the series went from B&W to color to B&W as it changed networks over the years) and I was astonished at how homoerotic it was.

And Fuller, who was in those episodes, became a major obsession — his jeans of many colors were incredibly snug and must have been specially made of some stretchy material that didn’t sag. What an ass! I took screen grabs and videos off my set all the time to enjoy later.

r300, Was Fuller on WAGON TRAIN with the glorious Robert Horton or did he replace Horton in the young hunk role?

DL fave Denny Miller was also in over 100 episodes of "Wagon Train."

Awwww, Denny Miller!! Who could forget him as the stranded surfer on Gilligan's Island?

Fuller replaced Horton in the young hunk role for the last two seasons of WT when Horton had left the show and Laramie was over, though Fuller did appear in an earlier episode of WT.

Denny Miller had an ass and a bod to die for. I also found beefy Terry Wilson who played Bill Hawks to be hot too, in an older daddy sort of way.

Denny Miller & Juliet Prowse in "Mona McCluskey".

"I worked my fingers to the bone making you dinner."

"What do you have?"

"Bony fingers."

Probably everyone here knows Denny Miller made a fortune in his elder years playing the Gorton Fisherman in those fried fish finger commercials.

I wonder if Robert Reed listed after Denny when he guest starred in that BB episode. He reportedly liked blondes.

*lusted*

Oh, Tank! LOL I just watched that episode. Man did he age well.

[quote]I wonder if Robert Reed listed after Denny when he guest starred in that BB episode. He reportedly liked blondes.

Not true. He showed absolutely no interest in me. But then neither did anyone else.

Denny Miller was bow-legged on top of being built like a brick shithouse. Oh to have been underneath him when he was at his youthful sexual peak…

He doesn't look bow-legged to me.

He is. It’s really apparent when he’s walking.

I wonder if it was caused from horseback riding at an early age?

Denny was something else on those Gilligan episodes!

What did Denny play on the other Gilligan episode? Or did the surfer come back to the island?

He was in two Gilligan episodes. In the other one, he played a fake Tarzan.

Bow legs (and all that ass) at the 25:55 mark…

[quote]He doesn't look bow-legged to me.

Certainly not in that photo, in which he also doesn't look very attractive. As compared to this photo, for example.

^That pic is already at R317.

He addresses his legs and feet in this article:

[italic]"Human legs get my full attention. I look with envy at a trackman's legs -- muscular, limber, well formed from ankle to hip, built for speed and jumping and vaulting. I've accused God of putting my legs on backwards. How can I be bow-legged, knock-kneed and have knobby knees all at the same time and not have my legs on backwards? On top of that, or I should say on he bottom of that, my feet are three sizes too big for my body and I'm pigeon-toed. People have told me I walk around with my nose in the air. It's just to avoid looking down."[/italic]

He writes well.

[quote]That pic is already at [R317].

Seeing as how my post came very shortly after R317s, I'm surprised it didn't occur to you that I posted before I saw the previous one. But thanks anyway, bitch.

[quote]Seeing as how my post came very shortly after R317s, I'm surprised it didn't occur to you that I posted before I saw the previous one. But thanks anyway, bitch.

Don't be mad at me because you're both blind AND stupid.

I'd trade them all, and this gets pretty obscure, for the actor who played Monster on Bewitched. This picture doesn't do him justice. It's nearly impossible to find another one. However, if you are a gay fan of Bewitched, I know you know exactly who I'm talking about.

^He looks ready to digitally penetrate someone.

This is a good pic of Roger Ewing

Recent Roger

[quote]Don't be mad at me because you're both blind AND stupid.

I'm not blind, you putz. The other post appeared right after mine and it wasn't there yet when I started typing mine. That's why I didn't see that it included the same photo.

R325, is there any particular reason why you didn't bother to include the actor's name? I'm glad someone else did.

As long as we’re hijacking this thread…Mr. Mike Henry

Yank it...

My parents never got me anything that nice for MY birthday!

The person upthread acting like Robert Conrad was meh must be blind. He was one hot piece of ass. A beautiful man who aged very well too.

Robert Conrad was given a lot of very homoerotic photoshoots at the time. But that was most of the young tv beefcakes of the time.

Conrad had surprisingly chubby legs. Muscular chubby legs, which I love!

Chubby means fat. They were thick but not gay. They were made well. Strong legs.

An older Bob Conrad. Still fuckable.

I may not be remembering this well as I was a child at the time but I don't think HAWAIIAN EYE focused a lot on Conrad. Anthony Eisley and Connie Stevens were the stars of the show and Conrad was more supporting. He really didn't become a huge TV star until Wild Wild West.

Yes. It’s mentioned upthread that WWW was his big breakout role that made him a household name at the time.

At home watering his plants

Being a friendly neighbor.

I think he got his fair share of plot lines, r339. He was the beef. Eisley left the show first.

Conrad was a pocket bottom.

Lawd they don't make men like these guys anymore.

What all those Wm T Orr stars had in common was an undeniably gay aura posed in very heterosexual personas, from Edd "Kookie" Byrnes to Clint Walker to Robert Fuller to Bob Conrad to Van Williams and on and on.....even young Jim Garner in Maverick.

R346 you have it all wrong. They were heterosexual men being made to do “beefcake” photo shoots. Not the other way around.

Van was straight.

Ugh, r347. That's exactly what I meant to say. I need a nap.

Clint Walker was just so over the top. I think he would have had a much bigger career if his career happened more recently.

Grade A beef

Has no one mentioned hunky Hugh O'Brian?

Van was actually offered a recurring role in Falcons Crest in the 80s. It was a good role, where he would be a recurring guest star for at least a full season but he turned it down because of the heavy location filming for that show. He wanted to focus on his business ventures.

You mean Wyatt Earp, r351.

Van Williams also turned down a cameo in the 2011 Green Hornet movie when Seth Rogen asked him to do it. When he was done he was done. The only thing he agreed to do was the Bruce Lee movie cameo, out of respect to his former costar who was a groundbreaker.

Van Williams actually fought for Bruce Lee to have more screen time and lines while they were doing the show. He wanted to help his friend out and felt showcasing Kato more would save the show from being canceled, as they were struggling and Kato became the most popular character and was a breakout so it made sense to him to give Lee more screentime as Kato, but the producers said no because they weren’t gonna allow someone who wasn’t white have as much screen time or possibly more screen time than someone who was white. True story.

The show ended up getting canned after its first season. What’s messed up is that while the show struggled here it was a huge hit in foreign markets, especially all over Asia, where it was massive and ended up being called “The Kato Show” because they watched for Bruce Lee as Kato.

In 1969, after Batman was canceled, they considered reviving The Green Hornet, but it ended up not happening because Bruce Lee declined to come back as he wanted to focus on his film career. Producers wanted to just recast him but Van Williams said the only way he would do it is with Lee and no one else. There was no negotiating that for him. It was both him and Lee or nothing, so they canned it.

Van was a good guy and the execs were pieces of shit. But, that was the way of the world back then.

I don't think the series WYATT EARP ever took advantage of Hugh's hot bod and showed him shirtless or wet in a hip bath (very common for those ABC Westerns). Unfortunately, it was all about dandifying him up in brocade vests and frills. They didn't understand their audience.

His barrel was exceptionally long, r357. See r353.

To the Gardner McKay fans, here's his last interview with Dominick Dunne for Vanity Fair (1999):

How Big Was It?

I can’t get over how extremely flat Peter Brown’s butt is in those pictures. The woman who is with him is just as bad.

R357, they sure did.

[quote]I can’t get over how extremely flat Peter Brown’s butt is in those pictures.

Peter didn't have the bubble butt that Roberts Conrad and Fuller or James Garner had, but he had wide-ish hips that complimented what he lacked in the butt area. I watch Lawman everyday on cable and he looked damn good in those super tight pants he wore.

Bump. The Hugh O’Brian thread made me think of this beauty.

I'd have drowned happily in a lake of his pecker snot!