Throwback Thursday Looks Back at (Some of) People Magazine’s Sexiest Men Alive

My editor Alexander has hipped us all to the fact that, with the waning days of Summer, People Magazine is gearing up for it's most cherished and anticipated edition of the year, when it announces its Sexiest Man Alive! His post featuring those beautiful men in the running complete with video clips supplied by Mr. Man has our early Fall taste buds salivating for more than pumpkin spice! So yer boy Hank here thought it would be fun to look back at a handful of the men who were deemed to have the looks and swagger to gain such attention. Get ready to sweat!

1985: Mel Gibson

 

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He already had his three Mad Max films in the can when he was named the inaugural Sexiest Man Alive in 1985. He'd also become known as a more serious actor with Oscar winners and nominees like The Year of Living Dangerously, Gallipoli, and The River. And with his piercing blue eyes and Aussie accent, Gibson melted our hearts. Sure, he grew into a hot daddy who also turned out to be a hot conservative mess with anti-semitic tendencies. But damn, those leather pants!

1989 Sean Connery

 

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Bond. James Bond. Many people found him to be the only worthy Bond, but personal opinions are personal opinions. Whether you prefer the smoldering hirsute daddiness of Connery or the flash of Roger Moore (YUCK!) or the understated swagger of Daniel Craig, no one can dispute that Connery put this character on the map! His People magazine cover proclaimed him "Older! Balder! and Better!" I couldn't agree more, but I thought I'd share a pic (above) from his deranged wackadoo 70's hippy sex flick Zardoz. Because if you've never seen it, who-boy are you in for a wild ride!

1989 also John Goodman!

 

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The cover of Sean Connery's Sexiest Man Alive in People also featured "Sexiest Big Guy." That illustrious title went to none other than "Mr. Dan Conner" John Goodman! He'd already had some notable film titles under his belt with Revenge of the Nerds, True Stories, and Raising Arizona when he hit the popular American consciousness as blue-collar everyman Dan Conner in Roseanne. And he certainly was a sexy big guy, with the endearing smile of a naughty imp while also playing America's Dad. Oh, and then there were the times he went in drag on SNL as Monica Lewinsky's former bestie Linda Tripp!

2018 Idris Elba

 

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Uff-dah! So many great movies, and his turn as the lead character in the British crime drama Luther is just astounding. If you've never seen his 2022 film  Three Thousand Years of Longing, written and directed by Mad Max-creator George Miller and costarring Tilda Swinton, you are missing one of the most creative, erudite, and subtly sexy films ever made. Oh, and he spends much of it half-naked!

2023 Patrick Dempsey

 

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Eighties movies like Can't Buy Me Love and Loverboy made him a teen idol, and it seems liek he hasn't stopped working, and working it!, ever since. It was his blockbuster role (Dr. McDreamy!) of "Dr. Derek Shepard" on the long-running hit Grey's Anatomy that put him in almost every woman and man's sights, with those twinkling baby blues and dimples for days! he's only grown from a fresh-faced charmer into a silver fox we'd still let charm us right out of our scrubs!

So who do you think should be named Sexiest Man Alive for 2024?

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