Post by jopierce on Dec 8, 2008 11:33:53 GMT -5
To get back to GIH's question...
I will chime in and say no, not really.
Now, before I get people yelling at me, I don't mean to say that he is not sexy, or is not attractive. And I don't mean he wasn't considered sexy. Mel was right - that is completely in the eye of the beholder. (He's not my type, personally, but that wasn't the question.)
But the question is this - Was RALPH - not Katt - considered a "sex symbol."
But let's start with GIH's second question, which was this - "Ralph apart, is William considered "handsome" by women's standards?"
Yes, many women considered/consider him to be very handsome. He was at several points in time considered a sex symbol - but probably a minor one. Was he big like Shaun Cassidy? Leif Garrett? John Schneider? Tomn Selleck? Scott Baio? Not by a long shot. Sorry ladies.
If you look at those lists of people who showed up on magazine covers, got those hot heart throb roles, or were considered the big sex symbols of their time, none of the three main stars showed up all that frequently in the 80s. Culp enjoyed a bit of that status in the 60s and early 70s, from his "I, Spy" fame, but none of the three were ever the classic sex symbols.
I am not saying they are not sexy. Or attractive. But by mainstream standards in the US, were they the "IT" celebrities? On the cover of magazines on a weekly basis? No. Not really.
I did a little websearch for the years 1978-1983 for the Sexiest Men. One search - Playgirl - didn't have Katt listed. Then again, they had people like OJ Simpson, Woody Allen, and George Burns. Again, who is defining sexy? But they did have people like Tom Selleck, who we can all agree, was considered a sex symbol.
Both he and Connie show up on the cover of the April 1982 Playgirl Magazine though. So they were both considered sexy, and to some degree sex symbols. But again, not to the same degree.
Did he sometimes show up in magazines as one of the sexy ones? Sure... He had some parts that cast him as the sexy young guy. Tiger Beat in 1979 had William Katt as "A New Face to Love" - so there's one for the yes side. Read the article here.
Now, to specifically answer the first question - was RALPH considered a sex symbol?
Ralph Hinkley as a character was not a mainstream sex symbol. Even if some of our own sexualities have been shaped to some degree by Ralph, let's face it - if Katt's position as a sex symbol was iffy, then Ralph certainly was not. He was popular, but the outfit was not considered sexy by any means. In fact, the joke was supposed to be from the beginning that it made him look silly, not sexy. I think that was the irony of the whole thing - putting a good looking man in a silly looking suit. [/size]
I will chime in and say no, not really.
Now, before I get people yelling at me, I don't mean to say that he is not sexy, or is not attractive. And I don't mean he wasn't considered sexy. Mel was right - that is completely in the eye of the beholder. (He's not my type, personally, but that wasn't the question.)
But the question is this - Was RALPH - not Katt - considered a "sex symbol."
But let's start with GIH's second question, which was this - "Ralph apart, is William considered "handsome" by women's standards?"
Yes, many women considered/consider him to be very handsome. He was at several points in time considered a sex symbol - but probably a minor one. Was he big like Shaun Cassidy? Leif Garrett? John Schneider? Tomn Selleck? Scott Baio? Not by a long shot. Sorry ladies.
If you look at those lists of people who showed up on magazine covers, got those hot heart throb roles, or were considered the big sex symbols of their time, none of the three main stars showed up all that frequently in the 80s. Culp enjoyed a bit of that status in the 60s and early 70s, from his "I, Spy" fame, but none of the three were ever the classic sex symbols.
I am not saying they are not sexy. Or attractive. But by mainstream standards in the US, were they the "IT" celebrities? On the cover of magazines on a weekly basis? No. Not really.
I did a little websearch for the years 1978-1983 for the Sexiest Men. One search - Playgirl - didn't have Katt listed. Then again, they had people like OJ Simpson, Woody Allen, and George Burns. Again, who is defining sexy? But they did have people like Tom Selleck, who we can all agree, was considered a sex symbol.
Both he and Connie show up on the cover of the April 1982 Playgirl Magazine though. So they were both considered sexy, and to some degree sex symbols. But again, not to the same degree.
Did he sometimes show up in magazines as one of the sexy ones? Sure... He had some parts that cast him as the sexy young guy. Tiger Beat in 1979 had William Katt as "A New Face to Love" - so there's one for the yes side. Read the article here.
Now, to specifically answer the first question - was RALPH considered a sex symbol?
Ralph Hinkley as a character was not a mainstream sex symbol. Even if some of our own sexualities have been shaped to some degree by Ralph, let's face it - if Katt's position as a sex symbol was iffy, then Ralph certainly was not. He was popular, but the outfit was not considered sexy by any means. In fact, the joke was supposed to be from the beginning that it made him look silly, not sexy. I think that was the irony of the whole thing - putting a good looking man in a silly looking suit. [/size]
