THE ALLURE OF THE OLDER MAN

When I was a kid, in the late ’70s and early ’80s, I had the usual school girl crushes on Tiger Beat regulars such as Shaun Cassidy, Leif Garrett and Mark Hamill. Y’know, young, hot, puppy-dog cute celebrities that were maybe 10 to 15 years older than me. But, at the same time, I found myself gravitating more and more towards the “mature gentlemen”, shall we say.

My first older man crush was on Michael Nouri. I was 11 when I first saw him in the short-lived 1979 TV series The Curse of Dracula and, boy, did I fall hard for this smoking hot 34 year old actor. So much so that I started a fan club devoted to him. It only had three members, me and my two best girlfriends at the time. We called ourselves the “Brides of Dracula” and used red markers to dot little bite marks on our necks to signify that we were his loyal servants. Looking back on it now, I can see just how silly we must’ve seemed to everyone at school and at home. But, at the time, the feelings I had for Michael seemed very real.

My next crush was on the very sexy and distinguished British actor, Terence Stamp. I first saw him in Superman II as General Zod, in 1980. I was 12, he was 41 and every inch the smoldering and seductive older man I had, by then, developed an attraction to. I have followed his career ever since, and every time I see him in a movie or on TV I think back to that moment in Superman II when he commanded everyone to “Kneel before Zod!” Oh, yeah, I’ll kneel…and while I’m down there I’m gonna do things to you that’ll have Ursa taking notes, baby!

When I was 15, my attraction to tall, dark and handsome older men continued with Canadian actor, Duncan Regehr. He was in his early 30s when he first co-starred in the campy fantasy TV series, Wizards and Warriors, followed by V a year later. Oh, those eyes...that voice! I greatly enjoyed his work in Star Trek: Next Gen and Deep Space 9 but, lately, it seems he’s put acting on the back burner in order to concentrate more on his artwork. Not too many people know that Duncan is a very successful painter who, BTW, lives just a 90 minute drive south of me. Hmmm...

My crush on the delectable Malcolm McDowell came much later. I had watched some of his earlier work (Clockwork Orange, Time After Time, Cat People) on video when I was in my early 20s and thought he was good-looking but kinda geeky. Not really my type. But then along came Star Trek: Generations, the movie that first blended the folks from original Trek with the gang from Next Gen. When I first saw Malcolm, dressed head to toe in black leather, with spikey white hair, in the role of Dr. Tolian Soran, I fell madly in lust with the then 51 year old actor. Malcolm is in his 70s, now, and his career is still going strong.

All my life I’ve been attracted to older men – although I don’t think I’d turn down a date with a 20 year-old, either. I like to balance things out, y’know. Just to be fair.

KJC