Ever been faced with your weird childhood celebrity crush on TV or online when you least expected it?
That strange feeling of “OMG I used to be completely in love with them when I was five years old” smacks you in the face, making you ponder all your life choices since because how – I mean HOW – on earth could you have thought that person was the absolute bee’s knees and the hottest thing on the planet?
It’s a weird thing when it happens, especially if you’ve not thought about them for a long time. This happened to me not so long ago when something about The Monkees popped up, and it got me thinking about the dozens (I won’t say hundreds as that would be crazy, not to mention embarrassing, =ahem=) of celebrity crushes I’ve had over the years.
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Many fell by the wayside, quickly replaced with The Next Hot Young Thing. Several were what we’d label as “weird crushes” today. Most were “the” hot actors, pop stars, etc. of the day. A select few were Hollywood greats whose appeal was timeless (that even I could recognise as a young girl, despite them having become “old” in my young eyes).
I’ve had a good think and tried to remember all those who’ve endured (albeit unknowingly) my longing gaze over the years. Most were easy to remember, but the 1980s (my teens) hosted such a fickle period of celebrity crushes that I had to look them up in my teenage diaries where I listed a weekly “top 10 of celebrity hunks”.
Even just writing that has made me cringe BIG TIME… “hunks”. Catherine to Ground: Please swallow me up right now. I am ready.
However, the most prestigious crushes were the ones I had crushes on then – and still have a crush on now. (I’ve now said “crush” so many times it sounds weird and eww and like I’m 13, not 51. A bit like when you say your own name over and over and over because Catherine Catherine Catherine Catherine Catherine Catherine Catherine Catherine Catherine Catherine just sounds like the strangest name ever, don’t you think? No?! Just me then…)
Anyway – younger or older, it makes no difference. The appeal of those select few will always endure for me.
So here all of them are, the good, the bad and the downright odd with a few explanations (because good GOD some of them need it), in all their strange celebrity-crush glory…
All my celebrity crushes, 1977 to present
My 1970s crushes
Erik Estrada (Poncherello in CHiPs)
Davy Jones of the Monkees
Disney’s Robin Hood (yes, the cartoon fox)
Lynda Carter AKA Wonder Woman
Michael Landon (Charles Ingalls, the dad in Little House on the Prairie)
My celebrity crushes started at an early age with my obsession over Poncherello in CHiPs. All the subsequent crushes were a result of the TV I watched, and yes – Wonder Woman was my first girl crush (I loved The Bionic Woman too but Lindsay Wagner wasn’t quite as exotic as Lynda Carter in my eyes). And everyone has fancied at least one cartoon character in their life, am I right? Am I right…?!
My 1980s crushes
John Taylor of Duran Duran
Rob Lowe
Michael J Fox
Emilio Estevez
Scott Baio
Val Kilmer
Morten Harket of a-ha
Harrison Ford
River Phoenix
My preferences changed so frequently in the 1980s (the evidence of which is clear in my teenage diaries) that this list could have been three times as long if I’d included everyone I ever mentioned in my daily scribblings. John Taylor really was “the one” until Rob Lowe came along, and there might be one other that made my “ultimate & forever list” [at the end]. Can you guess which two made it…
My 1990s crushes
Jason Donovan
Luke Perry
Keanu Reeves
Ethan Hawke
Joseph Fiennes
George Clooney
A fairly slim-on-the-ground decade. Maybe there were a few too many boy bands and teenage heartthrobs for my liking, seeing as I’d reached my 20s by 1992? Luke Perry (RIP) stood out for me in 90210, and I thought the hottest actors in the 90s were Ethan Hawke (I mean, how could you not love him in Before Sunrise and Reality Bites) and George Clooney – I was obsessed with ER and saw every episode without fail.
My 21st century crushes
James McAvoy
Tom Hiddleston
Chris Hemsworth
Olly Murs
Josh Duhamel
Timothy Olyphant
Anthony Joshua
Jake Gyllenhaal
Ryan Gosling
Mo Gilligan
Oscar Isaac
Jude Law
This list includes everyone from the Noughties onwards, and my word it’s an impressive list. There are many more I could add, but again I had to keep it reasonably succinct. James McAvoy is at the top for a reason (the reason being those piercing blue eyes of his) and Josh Duhamel comes a close second. I could question the severe crush I had on Olly Murs when he came second in The X-Factor in 2009, but I stand by my choice. The rest are purely self-explanatory.
My somewhat-inappropriate crushes
Harry Styles
Ben Hardy (he played Peter Beale in EastEnders and is now doing lots of movies)
Gemma Arterton
Lily James
Tom Holland
Errrrrr I’m not sure I should admit to any of these ones: it’s either a case of “I’m old enough to be their mother” or it’s a severe girl crush, which isn’t really inappropriate… it was just fun to include them on this list with the boys. You cannot argue with any of these, I won’t let you.
My weird crushes
John Craven of John Craven’s Newsround
Stephen Mangan
Sam Rockwell
Tim Roth
Mae Martin, non-binary comedian
Charlie Higson of The Fast Show
Major explanations are always needed for weird crushes…! Anyone British and over the age of about 45 will know that John Craven was a stalwart of children’s TV in the 1970s and 80s. He’s still on TV (Countryfile) and he’s now 83. My childhood crush on him was so intense that my older brother and sister used to tease me whenever Newsround came on, saying, “Look, it’s your hero, John Craven!”
Stephen Mangan, Sam Rockwell and Tim Roth all just have that certain something for me… I can’t explain it. Not attractive by conventional standards AT ALL, but to me they’re damn attractive.
Mae Martin took me by surprise when they appeared on the last season of Taskmaster: was it their eyes? Their smile? Their sense of humour? There’s definitely something to that theory (the GSOH one), because good lord I love Charlie Higson too. Fans of The Fast Show will know him as Johnny Nice Painter (“Black! Black!“) and Ralph, as in Ted and Ralph. I think I love him so much because his voice is just dreamy. He also writes the Young Bond books, so he writes books for young adults. What’s more attractive than a sense of humour, a gorgeous voice and doing stuff for kids? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
My classic Hollywood crushes
Gregory Peck
Clint Eastwood
Robert Redford
Paul Newman
Steve McQueen
Do I need to explain?! I can’t think of what else to say here. If you’re questioning anyone on this list, then we can’t be friends.
My five-minute crushes
Jack Coleman as Steven Carrington in Dynasty
Michael Biehn as Reese in The Terminator
Rik Mayall as Lord Flashheart in Blackadder
Tom Cruise as Jerry Maguire
I’ve called these ones “five-minute” crushes because I really only liked them for… well, five minutes. Or at least just one role, and then only fleetingly. In other words, anything else they were subsequently in did NOT result in a continuation of the crush. So it would be fair to say that I had a crush on these particular characters, rather than the actors themselves.
I do remember the first time Rik Mayall appeared as Flashheart in Blackadder very clearly: the next day at school the only thing my friends and I were saying was, “Did you SEE Rik Mayall in Blackadder? When did he become so hot?!”
My “only since they’ve got older” crushes
Brad Pitt
Liam Neeson
Guy Pearce
Josh Duhamel
Timothy Olyphant
I know many of you might be going WHAAAAAAT?! at the inclusion of Brad Pitt in this list and not the 90s list… I’m so sorry, he did nothing for me back then – I don’t know why. I didn’t doubt he was hot, he just wasn’t for me. Fast forward 20 or so years and good lord, he suits being older and greyer and beardier. (As do the other four – Josh Duhamel with his beard and grey hair is ridiculously good-looking.) It was the roof-mending scene in Once Upon a Time In Hollywood that cemented the Pitt-appeal for me. Don’t tell me you didn’t think the same.
My “I saw them in person and they were surprisingly attractive in real life” crushes
Rick Astley
John Barrowman
Tim Henman
Another “oh gawwwwd” list to admit to, but unless you’ve seen them IRL too then don’t judge, lol. I worked in retail in central London for many years and we saw (and interacted with) our fair share of famous faces. Rick Astley: surprisingly tall, and he had long hair at the time (a good look for him back then). Tim Henman had the most beautiful skin, and again, very tall and athletic. And John Barrowman was so dashing (god, another word I can’t believe I’m using) that he charmed the pants right off me.
My ultimate & forever crushes
Rob Lowe
Harrison Ford
Gregory Peck
Keanu Reeves
George Clooney
In no particular order, let’s say that this list is THE list, because unlike most of the others above, this list ain’t ever going to change. I loved them when I was young, I love them now. No fleeting crushes here.
I’m astounded that Rob Lowe is still so incredibly attractive, and it’s over 40 years since I first clocked eyes on him in Coppola’s The Outsiders. He’s so stunningly handsome he doesn’t even need a beard to look good. (My theory about beards is that they make most men look either handsome or even more handsome, and although I know men’s facial hair is influenced by the fashions of the day, as at 2023 very few men don’t look better with a beard. Rob Lowe is one of those men.)
Harrison Ford: I mean, he’s Indiana Jones (the 1980s version) FFS. The man is Indiana Jones AND Han Solo AND Rick Deckard. That’s all there is to his well-deserved place in my “ultimates” list.
Gregory Peck… I don’t think a more handsome man has ever walked Planet Earth, let alone one who was such a thoroughly wonderful human being. And then there’s that voice of his. He’s the epitome of “They don’t make ’em like they used to”.
The modern-day recipient of the title of “most wonderful human being” is Keanu. He’s also not ageing?! Maybe just a bit, but either way he’s doing a fantastic job of it.
George Clooney is the gold standard of celebrity crush for most women. Apart from the blip known as his younger years, once he donned his scrubs in ER that was it for us all, we were doomed. Now he’s older and greyer (and, by all accounts, very happily married to an incredibly intelligent, strong woman whom he obviously adores), he’s even more attractive.
✷ ✷ ✷ ✷ ✷
Looking for Leo, Beckham or Bradley? Here are those I’ve missed off, and why…
I’m sure if you’ve managed to get through this entire list without turning away in revulsion at some of my choices(!), you may have noticed a few “obvious” missing people. In the same way that Brad Pitt just didn’t show up on my radar till he was about 50, there are many that just don’t make the grade for me… they would be:
Leonardo DiCaprio
Hugh Jackman
Ryan Reynolds
Johnny Depp
James Dean
Henry Cavill
Chris Evans
David Beckham
Bradley Cooper
Tom Hardy
Jamie Dornan (and, I’m sure, many more)
Don’t get me wrong, I like all of them. I REALLY like all of them (Leo is, in fact, my all-time favourite actor ever). I just don’t like-like them. I understand the appeal, it’s just… each to their own. Let’s say they don’t float my boat or make me go misty-eyed with inappropriate thoughts; there’s no, “Oh, HELLO!” when they pop up unexpectedly on TV.
Which brings me onto…
A list of all the cringey words and expressions I’ve used in this post:
Hunk
Crush
Heartthrob
Dreamy
Float my boat
Dashing
The name Catherine because I said it too many times 😉
And after unleashing that final, cringey expression on you (“float my boat”?! I mean WTF Catherine), I’ll leave you reeling at my list of celebrity crushes that yes, really DID include a cartoon fox, an ex-Miss World USA, a children’s TV newsreader and the fictional gay son of Blake Carrington.
I’m off to lie down because I’m not sure I’m going to get over this overloaded confession any time soon. See you when my ick has truly left the building. It may be a while.
Your turn – you HAVE to share your celebrity crushes with me: the good AND the cringey. Please tell me in the comments and hopefully make me feel better…!
Thanks for reading,
P.S. I apologise in advance for the amount of Googling of names you are likely to have had to do while reading this post. I’m sure no one will be familiar with ALL of these people, but if you are then you must be my long-lost twin or something…
Linking up to… Monday: Stylish Monday (second Monday of the month), Inspire Me Monday, My Glittery Heart, On Mondays We Link Up || Tuesday: Style With a Smile, Trend Spin/Walking in Memphis in High Heels, Turning Heads Tuesday, Confident Twosday, Happy Now Blog Link Up || Wednesday: WowOnWednesday || Thursday: Chic & Stylish, Ageless Style Linkup (third Thursday of the month), || Friday: Neverending Style, Fancy Friday, On the Edge
Well, a late addition to your 21st and onwords……. Sam Heughan (spelling?)… yes I know I could be his grandmother but still….. My younger self would have given her right arm to be his Sassenach
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YES YES YES SAM HEUGHAN CHRISTINA THAT’S ALL I HAVE TO SAY
(he soooooo should have been on my list!!)
Oh this is such fun! I was reminded of one of my first crushes when he died recently – David McCallum. I was only about 8 at the time.
We don’t have any overlaps on crushes, except Gregory Peck, but I do agree with the list of non crushes!
And what was it about John Craven?!
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Oh yes David McCallum was lovely Gauil, I seem to remember thinking that when I was young as well!
How could anybody NOT think Gregory Peck was anything other than wonderful?! The ultimate man crush 😉
And that’s one more member for the John Craven fan club, methinks!! LOL
This is such a fun post, Catherine! I am totally with you on *most* of your crushes (especially Keanu).
I had the biggest crush on Kajagoogoo when I was a kid…and I get so embarrassed about that now! I also loved the main guy from Brother Beyond. I had a kissing dream about him once and when I woke up, my poster of him had fallen off the wall and was literally on my face LOL. I had a temporary BLIP in my conscious mind and actually found Piers Morgan attractive for a brief moment in time (please don’t repeat that LOL). Oh and oh what was his name? From An Officer and a Gentleman? And I don’t mean Richard Gere…..Louis Gosset Jr! I loved him back then! Will Smith used to do it for me, but not so much lately. Jason Momoa is another one, although he must have facial hair, without it, he looks a little odd to me!
The one who does though is Gerard Butler… Oh My…..I feel a hot flush coming on!
Hugs
Suzy xx
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Oh wow Suzy you’ve made me remember one of my friends at primary school who was OBSESSED with Limahl… I’d completely forgotten about her crush! She wanted her hair like him and everything 😉
I think Nathan from Brother Beyond was one of my five-minute crushes, did you see him on The Voice a few years ago? He looked great, he’d hardly changed!! More than I can say for Ben Volpeliere-Pierot (Curiosity Killed The Cat) who was on First Dates… honestly I’d never have recognised him, it was kind of a shock, eep
And yes… Jason Momoa with facial hair: Hello. Jason Momoa without facial hair: Oh, gawd!!
I love that Harrison Ford made your list. I carried a photo of him torn from a magazine – as Indiana Jones from Temple of Doom – carried that thing in my Trapper Keeper all through the 8th grade. (A Trapper Keeper is a specific brand of American three ring binder/folder hybrid that every GenXer who came of age in the US in the 70s and 80s had for school, just in case people are like, “what!!”)
My other one is Kevin Costner. I would burn down my house upend my life for him TO THIS DAY.
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Oh Kristin you really shouldn’t have made me think that much about Harrison as Indy in Temple of Doom… whenever I see it’s on TV then I HAVE to watch it. YOU KNOW the scenes I mean…!!
Actually a few years ago Keith and I went to our nearest Vue cinema to see Temple of Doom in a special 80s movie showing – to see it on the big screen for the first time in nearly 40 (OMG) years was something else. Thankfully I didn’t have to drag Keith there as the Indy movies are his favourite. But my word, seeing Harrison Ford up on the big screen… I NEED TO GO LIE DOWN NOW 😉
And I do get the Kevin Costner thing! My sister adores him too, she says his bowed top lip(!) is so nice – Steve McQueen has the same lips she says LOL x
Forever list I’m with you…..gorgeous George and Keanu. Always had a fancy for Richard Madeley – that man never ages! And another one is Piers Morgan. Now life would never be dull with these two, do I have weird taste?
Alison xx
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Alison I think you definitely need to class Piers Morgan and Richard Madeley as weird crushes, LOL!! But my weird crush choices are very odd too so I’m not judging, hehe 😉
And how did I forget Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig?
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I think I forgot Daniel Craig too! Though I think I was a bit too old for Pierce Brosnan, meaning: if he’d been Bond when I was about 5, he’d definitely have been on my list. In the 90s my attentions turned to the more grungy types… though now, YES to Pierce! He so suits the grey hair and beard so maybe I should add him to the “only when they got older” list…!
OMG, we had similar crushes in the 80s. I would add Simon Le Bon to the list but John Taylor was my number 1. I also had major crushes on Sebastian Bach (the rocker not the dead composer), Jon Bon Jovi, Tom Cruise, Sean Connery (but only after he got grey and old and his voice and accent had a lot to do with it), Guy Pearce and Brad Pitt ( from their 20s to the present), Jim Morrison (even though he died when I was just a few months old), Paolo Maldini and a bunch of other footballers. And the list goes on
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Isn’t that funny Lorna – I never got the appeal of Simon Le Bon but I was a HUGE Duranie! There was no one but John Taylor for me for a lonnnnng time…! 😉
I agree about Sean Connery older, he was lovely in the 1980s ♥️
You’ve got some great ones here, Catherine! Some I had to look up, but – cross-cultural…Tom Selleck in the Magnum PI days, James Garner at ANY age, Robert Redford and Sean Connery, always and forever – Robert Redford in The Way We Were is most beautiful human ever to LIVE. George Michael (gay crushes absolutely allowed), David Cassidy in MY teenaged years (plus Bobby Sherman). Colin Firth, Richard Gere for a while, Johnny Depp occasionally, Jason Bateman still, Denzel Washington, Andy Gibb and Christopher Reeve (RIP both y’all). Whew – hot and bothered now, gotta get back to work!
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You mentioned two I forgot about MK – James Garner (oh how I loved him in The Rockford Files!!) and Jason Bateman… I loved him when he was still a teenager (maybe about 17?) in The Hogan Family.
And yes to Christopher Reeve… best Superman ever IMO, he was absolutely lovely. Still get very sad when I see the old Superman movies on TV, he had such a presence about him ♥️
Erm…. Boy George (whispers it…) back in the Culture Club days… And Yul Brynner!! Keanu is on my forever list too, alongwith Timothy Olyphant. Have to include Tom Hardy on that list too… Oh and Matt Damon… and… and…
PS: I also had a girlhood crush on John Craven after having a most unexpected dream about him one night
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Oh my goodness Lizzie – Boy George! But with some of the confessions on my list, I’m not one to judge hehe 😉
But YESSSSSSS to John Craven, maybe we should start a John Craven fan club, we can be the only two members. Even my husband Keith says “Look it’s your hero John Craven!” when Countryfile is on… my brother and sister blabbed, LOL!!!!
A JC fan club, you say? Shaddap and take my money now (In a certain absence of light, wearing sunglasses, he does look just a little bit like Keanu might look circa 2043, don’t you think? Nope? Just me?)
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OMG Lizzie that’s so funny…!!!!! John Craven as the new Keanu, hehe 😉
Ewwww Ben Hardy!!! Where was Elvis lol. Brilliant blog.
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Hehe Elvis actually makes ME go ewww, Dianne!! I just don’t get the appeal with him at all 😉
I don’t watch EastEnders, so I didn’t actually know Ben Hardy was Peter Beale until recently. It may have swayed my judgement somewhat, but I stand by my choice – in the movies I’ve seen with him in he’s damn cute imo, LOL!!
Robert Taylor, Sean Connery, Tom Selleck, Sam Elliot, Clark Gable, Josh Dumel, Paul Newman, Steve McQueen,Cary Grant, Gary Cooper & James Garner are my heart throbs.
You got this 100%, Holly!!!
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Agreed, MK!!
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Oh no I forgot James Garner, Holly!! I loved him in the Doris Day film Move Over Darling. That’s a pretty impressive list you got there 😀
Yes yes yes for the forever crushes … except for George Cloony… I never had it for him.
Can I replace him with Colin Firth? And include a side of Pierce Brosnan in his Remington Steele era!!?
Harrison Ford … every iteration …from his fledgling American Graffitti part, Star Wars, the Indy series (I think Harrison and Sir David A. were both instrumental in guiding me to my chosen life long profession …), (and the last Indy movie? He’s Baaack!!!) his action movies and his wrinkly ’embracing his aging with grace and humour’ era. Still crushing xxx
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Sanja I think you may be the first person I’ve ever known not to have a crush on George Clooney – I guess it had to happen sometime!! 😉
Harrison Ford is probably the ultimate for me… he’s Indiana Jones. I don’t think I’ll ever get over him in The Temple of Doom, the man was ridiculously handsome wasn’t he #crying
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Oh and yes you can OF COURSE replace him with Colin Firth. I think he should probably have been on my “only when they got older” list…!