Sexy Saturday: Real Men, 40 and Over Actors Who are Sexy and Bankable, March 09, 2013 Gratiana Lovelace (Post #376)

After seeing more pictures of very young hotties/totties come into my FB and Twitter news feeds of late, I am in search of a way to plead with film studios and marketers to look at the crop of 40+ male actors who are bankable to a broad fan base–including me.  I am a broad, and I am broad.  Ha!

Why?  Because I just can’t visualize those too young toy boys who can’t keep their pants pulled up as sexy in films.  Anyone young enough to have possibly been gestated by me is just not on my radar of romantic interest.  Ewww!  Ha!

Sorry to all fans of the Henry Cavill (30 years old)(below left), Chris Evans (32 years old)( below right) and their friends:

                            
Immortals (2011)                                    Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
(Dirt never looked so good.)                 (With a body like his, I’d plan for a sequel, too.)

Okay!  So much for the pulchritude.  Give me a thinking man who is sexy, can chop vegetables, and lay flooring (seriously, not a euphemism) and I am right there buying the movie ticket, the dvd, and the 5 foot tall Dwarf King size card board cut out. Oops!   But here are a few of my picks for 40 plus male actors who are making the grade in the “hitting their prime”   and oh so sexy department (listed in alpha order to not play favorites, with their ages in 2013 listed):

Richard Armitage, 42 years old (left), burst on the international film stage in 2012 portraying Thorin Oakenshield in The Hobbit:  An Unexpected Journey  in a searing portrayal of a man/Dwarf King (below right) who has lost everything–home, family, and future–but who retains his honor, dignity, and purpose in seeking to reclaim what his people have lost.  You will notice that my blog header is conspicuously filled with portraits of Richard Armitage’s various character portrayals whom I have written copiously about–steadfast John Standring in Sparkhouse (2002), honorable John Thornton in North & South (2004), broken  man Sir Guy of Gisborne in Robin Hood (2006-2009), fun loving Harry Kennedy in The Vicar of Dibley (2006), tragic Lucas North in Spooks (2008-2010), and resilient John Porter in Strike Back series 1 (2010).  Richard Armitage is a veritable chameleon as an actor and storyteller as he immerses himself in his roles that both transform him into a wholly new characterization, as well as, he subtly transforms his characters into more nuanced personae than another actor might have done.  And the man has a deep velvety voice that would melt an iceberg. What can I say?  Richard Armitage is my muse for my creative writing because he  inspires me to be fearless and put my writing out there–just as he is fearless in his searing character portrayals.   And sexy?  Oh yea!  Richard Armitage has more smouldering passion in his thin lips (because nothing else about him is little), than anyone I can think of.  But, I must carry on with my list of sexy actors somehow.  Ha!  P.S.  I hyperlinked one example of my previous essays about each Richard Armitage character to the character’s name above.  Oh, and Ana Cris and Fabi have a few thoughts on Richard Armitage, too.  Such a giggle!  For more information about Richard Armitage’s career, visit www.RichardArmitageNet.com

Gerard Butler, 44 years old (left)  can play a hound dog who meets his bitch in The Ugly Truth (2009) with Katherine Helgeson, a tormented and tormenting Maestro in 2004’s The Phantom of the Opera (right), a mercenary in Lara Croft Tomb Raider (2003) opposite Angelina Jolie, an archaeologist/historian  who finds true love by going back in time through some trumped up time machine hokum thereby poignantly saving the women of his Medieval dreams in Timeline (2003), and the doomed but  buff  King Leonidas in 300 (2006) with equal aplomb and verve. And, he has a Scottish accent.  Sighhhh!

Colin Firth, 53 years old (left) — Sighhhh!  Mr. Darcy!  For all of your umbrella up your backside, refusing to dance, thwarting your friend’s love match, then bungling your own proposal to Miss Lizzie, being tortured by her refusal, saving her family from disgrace by getting runaway Lydia married to reprobate Wickham, then after facilitating your friend’s love match after all having Miss Lizzie reverse her decision and agree to marry you, you walking out of the woods wet comes to my mind as the turning point for Lizzie–and me.  Ha!  If you couldn’t guess, I was referring to Mr. Firth’s role in the 1995 miniseries Pride and Prejudice (right).  Mr. Firth goes from strength to strength–doing a rakishly sexy turn as Valmont in Valmont in 1989, turning sexily stuffy as the object of Bridget Jones’ Diary fantasy in 2001, playing an aristocrat who finds himself a daddy in What a Girl Wants in 2003, continues that theme as a hapless potential baby daddy in 2008’s mega hit Mamma Mia,  and  winning the Oscar for his portrayal of the vocally challenged but morally upright George VI in 2010’s The King’s Speech.  Colin Firth is definitely on my list as making repressed sexiness all the rage.  Ha!

Ewan McGregor, 42 years old (left) can be my Obi-Wan Kenobi any time he wants–whether it is Star Wars minus 2 or plus 10.  Ha!  I love the Scottish lilt to his voice.   Sighhhhh!  Though his Frank Churchill in the 1995 film Emma starring Gweneth Paltrow was not as swoonworthy due to a mop of hair that frumped him up, he made up for it with his turn as Catcher Block in 2003’s Down With Love (right) opposite Renee Zellweger.  Mr. McGregor was so suave and charming and wry and naughty that this girl from the heartland was hooked.  And another Scottish accent bloke.  Snap!

David Tenant, 42 years old (left) — Here is someone whom I need to learn more about.  So it is good thing he was Dr. Who on that show in Britain for a while.  Oh dear!  Will my Anglophenia gal pals be shocked that I have never even watched an episode of Dr. Who?  I better duck, or I might be subjected to “A Clockwork Orange” con-version intervention.  Ha!  The only reason I know this fella’s name is because my friend Judiang, blogger at the “Confessions of a Watcher” blog has mentioned him from time to time to time to time to time (“Sexy”) in AW Chat and elsewhere.  Oh sorry, I guess I need a Time Lord or something.  Ha!   I hope I used that term in the right context because I have no idea what that is.  Ha!   But I am intrigued enough at this point to seek out something Mr. Tennant has acted in and watch him.  Hey!   A skinny guy who goes goth as a vampire killer named Peter Vincent (right) for the film Fright Night  and then can turn around and do Shakespeare (“Much Ado About Nothing”, reviewed by Judiang) must have something going for him.  Ha!  However, I am reserving my opinion as to whether or not I think David Tennant is sexy until I have my own perceptions of him to reflect upon.

I know, my picks are all UK male actors.  Why? Because there is just something about a man in a cravat with impeccable manners bundled with a theatre trained voice that makes me swoon.  Sighhh!  Ha!  But don’t take my word for it, have a listen and enjoy to Richard Armitage reading “Upon a Westminster Bridge” by William Wordsworth:

“Words & Music: Symphony of the City (Richard Armitage only-with text)” a video/audio by LaFanetta8

So, back to my initial point.  Studios and film makers, please don’t ignore my/our demographic!   We ladies have money to burn.  Well, maybe not burn–but certainly to singe.  Ha!  So please give us more of these and other wonderful  40 year old and up actors.  You will be smiling all the way to the bank.

P.S. Update, 4:11pm, 3/09/13–IMDB List of Sexy UK Actors in Period Dramas Features Richard Armitage as #1! RA wears a cravat so well!