Hottest 1970's Television Crime Drama Actor (2024)

Pick your favourite network television crime drama hunk.

by Anonymousreply 73January 15, 2022 12:07 AM

Well, it was 198o, but I would definitely include Tom Selleck in Magnum P.I.

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by Anonymousreply 1January 4, 2022 10:08 PM

James Garner was such a stud.

by Anonymousreply 2January 4, 2022 10:11 PM

Why in the hell ain’t Barbary Jones - buddy Ebson on this list?

by Anonymousreply 3January 4, 2022 10:12 PM

It always amazes me that Frank Cannon does so well with the ladies. Clients, daughters of friends, etc... the guy was hit upon more than one would assume for such a big guy.

by Anonymousreply 4January 4, 2022 10:13 PM

Jack Klugman in Quincy ME.

by Anonymousreply 5January 4, 2022 10:13 PM

Mike Connors from "Mannix"

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by Anonymousreply 6January 4, 2022 10:33 PM

Another voter for Mannix.

by Anonymousreply 7January 4, 2022 10:37 PM

Paul Michael Glaser (Starsky)

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by Anonymousreply 8January 4, 2022 11:08 PM

Paul Michael Glaser has not had a very happy life. Losing both is young wife and daughter to HIV/AIDs.

Jake Glaser (son) though HIV+ has grown up healthy and is very active in foundation set up in memory of his late mother and sister.

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by Anonymousreply 9January 5, 2022 5:32 AM

James MacArthur from "Hawaii Five-0"

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by Anonymousreply 10January 5, 2022 6:01 AM

Robert Urich, "Vegas"

Michael Ontkean, "The Rookies"

Kent McCord, "Adam 12"

When I was younger, I had a crush on Robert Wagner in "Switch." But I lost interest in him by the time he starred in "Hart to Hart."

by Anonymousreply 11January 5, 2022 6:15 AM

TBH, I though the only thing attractive about Mannix was Peggy.

And I didn't notice it as a kid, but when I caught reruns later on, that Mannix dude had a seriously bad wig.

God bless.

I can't tell you thing about Banacek, but I voted for George Peppard because on the rare occasions that I was allowed to stay up late enough, I would watch the show just to look at him.

I also thought Ellery Queen (Jim Hutton--Timothy's father) was adorable. Also, I believed with all my heart that someone named Ellery Queen had to be gay, especially since the character always spent time with character actor David Wayne.

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by Anonymousreply 12January 5, 2022 7:07 AM

Yo! What am I, chopped liver?

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by Anonymousreply 13January 6, 2022 3:40 AM

Young Michael Douglas from Streets of San Francisco gets my vote.

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by Anonymousreply 14January 6, 2022 3:47 AM

James Garner gets my vote because he is the whole package but Telly Savalas’ overripe sexuality is a close second. The Queen’s favourite TV show was Kojak and she request Telly sing at the Royal Variety Show.

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by Anonymousreply 15January 6, 2022 3:55 AM

Agreed with others about 1970s Michael Douglas (yum), James MacArthur, and Kent McCord.

Additional choices: Lee Majors, Richard Hatch, Chad Everett, and David Soul

But who could resist that adorable Mark Shera!

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by Anonymousreply 16January 6, 2022 4:00 AM
by Anonymousreply 17January 6, 2022 4:01 AM

Cannon Fat Detective in his Lincoln Continental Mark IV.

by Anonymousreply 18January 6, 2022 4:11 AM

After several seasons Buddy Ebsen wanted to take things a bit easy ( he was already a bit long in tooth to be a private investigator when series started), but didn't want series to end. So things were shook up on Barnaby Jones. Betty Jones (Barnaby's DIL) began taking on more involvement in business side of things. Previously Barnaby had kept his DIL pretty much confined to secretarial and assistant roles.

Other shake up was bringing in young Mark Shera as Barnaby's young nephew "Jedediah Romano "J.R." Jones". Both JR and Betty took on larger roles, again allowing Barnaby Jones to hang back a little.

Lee Meriwether often speaks in interviews how proud Buddy Ebsen, herself and others were of Barnaby Jones being "clean" and "family entertainment", even for a crime/detective drama. 1970's crime dramas were often about gritty and unseemly urban goings on, but Barnaby Jones tried to keep a lid on that sort of thing. Oh they had some interesting plot lines like lesbian madam who offs one of her girls (that she was having an affair with), and of course the odd rape/murder (was there not a 1970's crime show that didn't have at least one episode devoted?), but otherwise....

Mark Shera in his tight jeans provided the other bit Barnaby Jones was lacking, male eye candy.

Buddy Ebsen may have been a decent enough actor, but he likely didn't make many females shiver none each week as Barnaby Jones, especially in the ever prime 18-49 demographic.

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by Anonymousreply 19January 6, 2022 4:13 AM

Mark Shera SWAT

by Anonymousreply 20January 6, 2022 4:16 AM

Frank Cannon may not have been to everyone's tastes, but Quinn Martin used plenty of other male eye candy often enough to make price of admission worth bothering.

Keith Andes, Clu Gulager, Bradford Dillman, Andrew Parks, Tab Hunter, George Maharis...

by Anonymousreply 21January 6, 2022 4:24 AM

@R1

Well if you're going to open things up to 1980's "Simon and Simon" had Tom Selleck beat by miles.

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by Anonymousreply 22January 7, 2022 3:26 AM

[quote] After several seasons Buddy Ebsen wanted to take things a bit easy ( he was already a bit long in tooth to be a private investigator when series started)

As a little kid I remember the Mag magazine spoof. I think it was called Barnacle Bones.

by Anonymousreply 23January 7, 2022 12:21 PM

Watching Barnaby Jones in action always cracks me up. It's a good thing Mr. Jones only dealt with white collar sort of investigations mainly. He wouldn't last a day in "da hood" of 1970's.

by Anonymousreply 24January 7, 2022 3:46 PM

Agree with Robert Blake/Baretta. I loved his big, beefy arms.

by Anonymousreply 25January 7, 2022 3:50 PM

[quote] Agree with Robert Blake/Baretta. I loved his big, beefy arms.

I got ya' beefy arms right 'ere!

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by Anonymousreply 26January 7, 2022 10:08 PM

He’s a cop. So that should count as a crime show.

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by Anonymousreply 27January 7, 2022 10:13 PM

Always thought Larry Wilcox was hotter...

by Anonymousreply 28January 7, 2022 10:14 PM

Nice info, R19. In case you're interested, MeTV will start showing Mark Shera's episodes of "Barnaby" starting this coming Monday night/Tuesday morning at 4 a.m.

by Anonymousreply 29January 8, 2022 5:55 AM

R29

Thought they were getting up to introducing Mark Shera's character soon. In past few weeks MeTv has shown episodes where Betty Jones took on an increasingly active role in her FIL's business.

For all his good looks Mark Shera didn't have much of a career after Barnaby Jones. He did S.W.A.T for one season, then balance of work was as a jobbing actor, a role here, role there....

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by Anonymousreply 30January 8, 2022 6:15 AM

Mark Shera was more cute than handsome, and not an especially good actor (average for TV). Once the cuteness wore off there really wasn't much left for him but has-been nostalgia shows like Murder She Wrote and Love Boat.

by Anonymousreply 31January 8, 2022 1:34 PM

Michael Douglas on Streets of San Francisco was GOR-jess. Insanely handsome.

That said, Rockford WAS, as somebody said before, the total package.

by Anonymousreply 32January 8, 2022 1:44 PM

Richard Hatch from The Streets of San Francisco made me all tingly “down there” when I was a kid. Sadly, dead from Pancreatic cancer in 2017.

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by Anonymousreply 33January 8, 2022 1:52 PM

[quote]For all his good looks Mark Shera didn't have much of a career after Barnaby Jones. He did S.W.A.T for one season, then balance of work was as a jobbing actor, a role here, role there.

True, Shera didn't do much post-Barnaby (his stint on S.W.A.T. was actually before Barnaby), mostly just a few guest appearances on several shows before apparently dropping out of the business altogether. I read somewhere that he and Lee had tried to get Buddy to do a "Barnaby" reunion TV-movie at some point in the '80s but Buddy wasn't interested, so it never happened.

by Anonymousreply 34January 8, 2022 5:35 PM

Kevin Dobson in Kojak. Bloody Hell, he was sexy.

by Anonymousreply 35January 8, 2022 5:56 PM

If I recall correctly, James Garner was very hairy. Slurp.

by Anonymousreply 36January 8, 2022 7:57 PM

Frist time saw James Garner without a hairpiece was in Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

by Anonymousreply 37January 8, 2022 8:47 PM

Me you queens!

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by Anonymousreply 38January 8, 2022 9:26 PM

For [italic]Mannix[/italic] fans, here's a young Mike Connors.

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by Anonymousreply 39January 8, 2022 11:21 PM

Who was the hunk on Adam 12? Kent Cord?

by Anonymousreply 40January 9, 2022 2:41 AM

Kent McCord. So handsome!

by Anonymousreply 41January 9, 2022 2:50 AM

Mike Conners' agent was Henry Wilson. Hmmm.

by Anonymousreply 42January 9, 2022 4:11 AM

One Step Beyond

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by Anonymousreply 43January 9, 2022 4:23 AM

^ the episode

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by Anonymousreply 44January 9, 2022 4:25 AM

James Franciscus in Longstreet.

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by Anonymousreply 45January 11, 2022 12:28 AM

A different look for David Birney as Serpico.

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by Anonymousreply 46January 11, 2022 12:51 AM

James Franciosa...Longstreet

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by Anonymousreply 47January 11, 2022 1:04 AM

R47 See R45

The actor in "Longstreet" was James Franciscus. Perhaps you're confusing the name with Anthony (Tony) Franciosa who starred in "Matt Helm" around the same time.

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by Anonymousreply 48January 11, 2022 1:14 AM

Parker and Shaun as the Hardy Boys.

Did they share that cucumber?

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by Anonymousreply 49January 11, 2022 1:20 AM

My first crush was James MacArthur, followed by Kevin Dobson, Michael Douglas and James Garner.

by Anonymousreply 50January 11, 2022 1:27 AM

Pierce Brosnan---"Remington Steele."

by Anonymousreply 51January 11, 2022 1:47 AM

As a teenager in the 70s, I didn't find Telly Savalas sexy at all in Kojak. I realized I much I matured after seeing a picture like this in the 80s.

What I would do to slide that speedo off of him...

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by Anonymousreply 52January 11, 2022 2:28 AM

Peter Lupus, after this moment.

It seemed scandalous at the time.

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by Anonymousreply 53January 11, 2022 2:51 AM

Peter Lupus was the only reason one watched and still watches (reruns on MeTV) Mission Impossible.

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by Anonymousreply 54January 11, 2022 3:06 AM

My mother adored Barry Foster in Van Der Valk

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by Anonymousreply 55January 11, 2022 6:34 AM

r49 Parker Stevenson has a huge cucumber - just ask Kirstie Alley.

by Anonymousreply 56January 11, 2022 7:11 AM

R34

No, Mark Shera did Barnaby Jones in 1973, then S.W.A.T in 1975.

MS also did national tour of Godspell in 1973 as well.

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by Anonymousreply 57January 11, 2022 7:24 AM

Mark Shera's Linkedin page

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by Anonymousreply 58January 11, 2022 7:24 AM

Interesting, R58. I'm almost tempted to press "connect" to see if he would accept (somehow I doubt it).

by Anonymousreply 59January 11, 2022 7:21 PM

R57, "Barnaby Jones" began in 1973 but Mark didn't join the show until the fall of 1976 after "S.W.A.T." (which ran from 1975-76) was canceled. He was on "Jones" from '76 until it went off the air in 1980.

by Anonymousreply 60January 11, 2022 7:24 PM

Long before NCIS, Mark Harmon starred as Officer Mike Breen in the short-lived series "Sam" about a canine unit.

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by Anonymousreply 61January 11, 2022 10:32 PM

@ 61

[quote] Never work with children or animals.

Poor guy, had to work them again on Flamingo Road.

by Anonymousreply 62January 11, 2022 10:43 PM

Telly Savalas was oozing sexiness. I forget how sexy he was and then see a picture of him and *wham* damn he's sexy

by Anonymousreply 63January 11, 2022 10:49 PM

Vincent Baggetta in The Eddie Capra Mysteries.

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by Anonymousreply 64January 11, 2022 10:51 PM

I went to Boston University with Mark (Shapiro) Shera, both of us graduating in 1972. He never got cast in any of the school productions except for a funny new play written by our classmate Danny Lipman who went on to be the writer/producer of Queer As Folk. But Mark was a sweet handsome guy, and became more famous than anyone else in our class. And, yes, he was straight.

by Anonymousreply 65January 11, 2022 10:54 PM

Mark Shera was a very talented actor. It's a shame he didn't do anything else really noteworthy after "Barnaby" ended its run.

by Anonymousreply 66January 11, 2022 10:59 PM

Did Mark Shera ever appear shirtless?

Yes, I loved James MacArthur on Hawaii Five-O, but that vain asshole Jack Lord never let him do much on the show.

I know Michael Ontkean is DL's favorite, but Sam Melville (who did a softcore porn once!) was my favorite from The Rookies.

by Anonymousreply 67January 12, 2022 1:34 AM

R65

Mark (Schapiro) Shera straight? How does a nice boy from Bayonne, NJ manage to reach his age without marrying or even a hint of dating?

by Anonymousreply 68January 12, 2022 2:06 AM

Hugh O'Brian here. Check out the right side of his swimsuit. He might have been bushy down there.

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by Anonymousreply 69January 12, 2022 2:07 AM

Apparently, Mark never found what he was looking for in a girl.

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by Anonymousreply 70January 12, 2022 3:20 AM

[quote] But Mark was a sweet handsome guy, and became more famous than anyone else in our class. And, yes, he was straight.

Oh honey, no. Just because he repeatedly turned you down doesn't mean he was straight.

by Anonymousreply 71January 12, 2022 11:26 AM

When I was a gayling I did think that Ephram Zimbalist Jr was a hot daddy. He was on the FBI.

by Anonymousreply 72January 14, 2022 11:37 PM

Even at 8 years old Jim Rockford made me feel funny

by Anonymousreply 73January 15, 2022 12:07 AM
Hottest 1970's Television Crime Drama Actor (2024)

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