My Childhood and Teenage Crushes

I thought I would have some fun today and list some of my crushes growing up. Women who I would watch every time they were on television, in movies, or look at when they were in magazines.

Dawn Wells

Growing up with Gilligans Island and that baffling question. Mary Ann or Ginger? I vote for Mary Ann every time. I met Dawn Wells in Nashville at a Jerry Lewis MD Telethon. I was 9 years old and I could hardly speak. She wasn’t too much taller than I was…and I never saw someone that tanned. My mom had to make me wash my hands after I shook hers.

Kristy McNicol

One of the first then current celebrities I had a crush on was Kristy McNicol. Why I don’t know but when I was 10 years old she was the one I really zeroed in on. She is 5 years older than me and I noticed her on Battle of the Network Stars.

Kate Jackson

I moved up to mature women with this crush. Yeah, I liked Charlie’s Angels like every other 10-18-year-old at that time. Kate Jackson was the one for me for some reason…

Debbie Harry

I was smitten when I saw Debbie Harry in a video for Heart Of Glass at 12 years old. Probably my second blonde crush.

Suzanne Pleshette

Suzanne Pleshette… that is one of the reasons I kept watching The Bob Newhart Show…and still do!

Olivia Newton JohnThe ultimate girl next door… I saw her on the Midnight Special when I was 8 years old. So…Olivia Newton-John would be the first blonde crush.

Jayne Kennedy 2

I started watching sports in 1977…and she started to pop up on football telecasts. She made football much more interesting to this baseball fan.

Katherine Ross

Katherine Ross, I watched first in the Graduate. I liked everything she did.

Drew Barrymore

When I was much older…in my twenties…Drew Barrymore was on my radar.

Clara Bow

When I was in my teens I read a book on Clara Bow and I’ve been hooked to this day. Her looks, her drive, and the obstacles she had to overcome to be successful.

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

74 thoughts on “My Childhood and Teenage Crushes”

  1. It’s so cool that you got to meet Dawn Wells! I can imagine how star struck you were. I loved Gilligan’s Island too but didn’t have a crush on any of the actors, though I think the professor intrigued me. Go figure! Oh and I now see some similarities between Suzanne and Natalie Wood. My daughter resembled Kristy when she was 12.

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  2. Yes, I had a huge poster of Debbie Harry on my wall….then one of the all-girl band The Runaways. In the end I decided I liked guitarist Lita Ford best out of the band. So up on my wall she went!

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  4. some good calls there! I was more prototypical, I was more a Farrah fan though all of those Angels were pleasant enough to say the least, but you forgot a great one from that era – Jan Smithers, aka Bailey on ‘WKRP in Cincinnati’

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  6. Every guy I know who watched Charlie’s Angels had a crush on Kate Jackson. I actually kind of understand why: she was the smart one. And everyone loves Mary Ann more than Ginger. The real questions are: Marcia or Jan? Chrissy or Janet? Betty or Veronica?

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      1. I prefer Betty because Veronica can be kind of a b*tch, but they’re both gorgeous. The gang at Archie Comics knew how to market to both girls AND boys. They’ve been getting a little daring since I was a regular reader (OK, I was never a regular reader, but I’m pretty sure they reused the stories).

        And agreed on WKRP. My God, Max, I think we’re regressing….

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    3. John, you know that is surprising to me that you guys are choosing Mary Anne over Ginger and Kate Jackson over Farrah. Which one of the 4 on Sex and the City would you choose?

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  7. It’s nice that you got to meet Dawn Wells. I had a Gilligan’s Island coloring book when I was little. I’m a woman, but I would have to agree on Mary Ann over Ginger. She’s just nicer and more down to earth. Suzanne Pleshette is in a couple of the old Fugitive TV series episodes. She looks really striking in black and white.

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  9. I seemed to prefer the brunettes over the blonds overall, looking back. Call me weird but I liked Pam Dawber too! Though few could look better to my young lascivious eye than Emma Peel/Dianna Rigg in ‘The Avengers.’ But Sophia Loren in ‘Man Of La Mancha?’ Oh wow. (Yes, OK, sorry, yes yes yes I know NOW that is an out of date ageing mans sexist point of view, but back then… what a view.)

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    1. Oh….you brought up another one I forgot…I was in love with Dawber! Also of course Bailey Quarters…
      You are actually bringing up out of date…when I have Clara Bow listed? I remember one clip of Loren I loved seeing when I was a kid and Bardot.

      I saw the Avengers a few times and yes I totally agree!

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      1. Oh, I forgot Bardot, though she burned hot and bright on the screen a little before my time.

        On Drew Barrymore, if I haven’t mentioned it before ‘The Santa Clarita Diet’ is a great little show IMHO.

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      2. Oh Drew! I will have to see that swho. I had it bad for her. I think it’s because of a girl named Michele Evans….I sat behind her in 6th grade…Drew looked like her and Michele was my first real crush at school…like you wanted to hear this lol.
        Bardot was both beautiful AND cute….she could pull off girl next door and sex goddess.

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      3. Ob, I’m not that keen on Barrymore but I love Olyphant. I read a synopsis of that show, that it is about cannibals, and I just can’t bring myself to watch it. You are free to try and convince me though 🙂

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      4. School crushes were the worst! You’re at that gawky pimply voice-all-over-the place place and you’re stuck sitting beside/near/behind this goddess who doesn’t even know you exist- she walks right past you and looks right through you even when you’re standing right there, blushing redder than a beetroot.

        Less childhood trauma than teenage angst cranked up to exploding point.

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      5. Oh childhood is a bitch at times. I totally agree…it’s almost like a dog chasing a car….if you did catch one…at that age you wouldn’t know what to do except say something stupid.
        The teen years are the hardest yes…you kinda knonw what to do but it never works out.

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    2. All of Steed’s partners on “The Avengers” were gorgeous. Before Diana Rigg, there was Honor Blackmon, and after Diana, Linda Thorson. There was also Julie Stevens as Venus Smith in a couple of episodes.

      I’ve actually ridden in an elevator with Sophia Loren. She is more beautiful in person, and very tall. And she looks fantastc in glasses.

      I’m surprised no one’s mentioned Barbara Eden or Donna Douglas. Both were stunning in their younger days, and while Donna’s left us, Barbara is still looking good at 93.

      We’ll be here all night if we bring up the Doctor Who sidekicks: Elisabeth Sladen, Katy Manning, Louise Jameson….

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  11. I was very narrow-minded when I was a young and innocent boy. A girl or woman needed to have long hair, and it needed to be dark, i.e., dark brown or even better black. Blondes didn’t qualify!

    As such, most of your crushes wouldn’t have made the cut. I guess based on my criteria, Suzanne Pleshette and Kate Jackson would have passed the audition! I also liked Ringo’s wife Barbara Bach in the 007 picture “The Spy Who Loved Me”. 🙂

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    1. Oh wow…no blondes! I’m still in love with Pleshette…no blondes took out some women at that time. Oh Bond girls would need to make this list and yes….she was awesome in that movie!
      Obbverse brought up Pam Dawber from Mork and Mindy…there you go…long hair and not blonde!

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  15. You hit my top three: Kate, Debbie and Drew. As a Country Rock kid I also had a thing for both Emmylou and Linda. Don’t think I ever was able though to pick between Mary Ann and Ginger nor Betty and Veronica. Which also gets me to thinking about Barbara Eden. I didn’t need to see her belly button!

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  16. All of them pretty women. You seem to go for the more wholesome over the bombshells. That’s saying something for you, Max!

    I wouldn’t even know where to begin on crushes. Some random ones from childhood are James Darren, Tommy Kirk (from old Disney movies,) Burt Lancaster, James Coburn. Teenage, 20s, 30s (and beyond!) Steve McQueen, Al Pacino, Sting, Harvey Keitel. Nowadays: Brad Pitt, Chris Hemsworth, Michael B Jordan, Channing Tatum, Taika Waititi, Fan Liao.

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    1. Yea I always favored the girl next door looking ones.
      That is a huge range! Glad to see Steve McQueen on there…he was the king of cool…no doubt.

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    2. Wow, Lisa, Taika Waititi makes the cut! His movie ‘Boy’ is one nice and oddball movie, and it shows NZ to not be all blue skies and stunning scenery, but he does it all with wry humour.

      ‘Santa Clarita Diet’ is less scary cannibal than funny zombie, though the production team do throw in the occasional bucket of offal for humourous effect. And yes, Tim Olyphant is excellent in this, as is Liv Hewson as the daughter. She’s more adult than Tim and Drew in some ways! Its worth a look IMO. The series got canned so it does end too qui-.

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      1. Taika is brilliant in anything I’ve seen him in. He messed up bad in directing one of the Thor movies, but I will forgive him for it. He did a podcast with Marc Maron not all that long ago where he shares a lot about his upbringing and his family. Not sure if I’ve seen Boy yet.

        On Santa C… you may have convinced me to take a peek. I loved Timothy in Deadwood and in Justified. Sorry to hear SC got canned 😦

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    3. I say this from an unblemished ‘heterosexuality’ viewpoint, but I consider Timothée Chalamet from the Dune movies and the upcoming Dylan biopic a very fine looking young gentleman. What are your thoughts on him? I gather he might not be in your radar since the actors you mentioned are more masculine?

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      1. He’s definitely very handsome and a terrific actor. He’s just too young for me to look at as more than a kid. Now his dad in the Dune movies, Oscar Isaac, is another matter 😉

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  17. I’m afraid to say I think I have way more movie star crushes now than I ever had as a kid. Hayley Atwell, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collete, Scarlette Johansson, and Billie Piper (wowee pretty scary). I did have a thing for Winona Ryder way back then. From the ladies your presented here, my favourite solely based on the photo is Kristy McNicol. Cool article man.

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      1. If someone had said ‘sexist’ in jest, then that would be funny. If it was said in all seriousness, then of course you would want to keep a wide birth from them and then some.
        Have you seen the actress Hayley Atwell in the latest Mission Impossible movie? Now she is something else.

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  18. Since ObservationBlogger gave an unblemished ‘heterosexuality’ viewpoint I’ll give one also. For their acting AND their looks: Jennifer Lawrence, Charlize Theron, Jurnee Smollett, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Regina King, Taraji P Henson, Nicole Kidman (pre plastic surgery. Why, Nicole, why!)

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    1. Many of them that get the surgery…I’ll say the same thing…Kidman has a house in my country with her husband. I’ve seen her before from a distance.

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      1. That’s right, her hub is a country music star. Makes sense they’d have a place near Nashville. I lose respect for actors that get the surgery. It broke my heart when Al Pacino got it.

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  20. As a pre-puberty kid I had loads of crushes on actors of either sex, but usually more women than men – Suzanne Pleshette was definitely a top fave of mine, used to make a little flutter with her looks and voice and those Disney movies. Susan Saint James was another (Name Of The Game/Mcmillan), and Natalie Wood (The Great Race and other movies). Gilligan’s Island ladies, Tina Louise was my fave, also Bewitched Elizabeth Montgomery, Donna Douglas (Beverley Hillbillies) and Stella Stevens in Poseidon Adventure. But I also had crushes on young Lee Majors (Big Valley), James Darren (Time Tunnel), Ryan O’ Neal (Peyton Place) and others too 🙂

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  21. I’m late to the party, Max, but I love this post category too much to pass up. I was a Blockbuster Video manager in Centennial, Colorado during the late ’90s, and all of us movie nerds behind the cash register would OFTEN discuss movie crushes. At the time, mine were Mira Sorvino (in Woody Allen’s “Might Aphrodite”), Uma Thurman (“Pulp Fiction”), Parker Posey (“Kicking & Screaming”), and Kate Hudson (“Almost Famous”).

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