Celebrity Crushes of the 70s & 80s

On this episode of The Big 6-Oh!, Kayley and I dive into the dreamy world of celebrity crushes from the '70s and '80s — who was hot, who was not (at least in our teenage eyes), and why. From David Cassidy’s feathered hair to Kate Bush’s mystique, Donny Osmond’s smile to Debbie Harry’s edge, we’re spilling the beans on our old heartthrobs. Plus, we share some fun, surprising (and slightly embarrassing) listener crushes that’ll take you right back in time!

Transcript

00:01

If you're old enough to remember when phones had cords and the only thing that went viral was a cold, then you're in the right place.  Welcome to the Big Six-O with Kaylee Harris and Guy Rowlison. Because who better to discuss life's second act than two people who still think mature is a type of cheese?

00:38

Welcome to the Big Six O,  the podcast  for anyone who remembers when Countdown  was probably compulsory viewing  and  also probably had a crush on Donny Osmond, Farrah Fawcett or  maybe that guy that used to have his head over the top of the fence.

00:56

On tool time. On tool time, home improvements. But with me, of course, is a girl who probably had more pinups and plasterboards in her bedroom, Kayleigh Harris. Hello. How are you? Swanky new studio. Yep, here we are. Today's episode is all about celebrity crushes and those that we probably never really got over, right? Or still have a degree of fondness.

01:20

Yeah, definitely. Yeah, you always remember your celebrity crush when you're, you know, like a young teenager,  13, 14, whatever. First loves and celebrity crushes. Yep. Yeah. And just to stir the pot a bit, we got some people to actually send us some sound bites as well. Yep. Yeah. So thank you to all those people. You'll hear yourself shortly. So let's just say some of the choices were, were surprising, very surprising.  One person even confessed to...

01:47

having a crush on that unseen boss in Charlie's Angels. But I don't think we're play their clip today. You mean Charlie? Well, Charlie. And someone actually mentioned to me they had a big thing for the Solid Gold Dancers. Oh wow. The entire troupe. Yeah, I forgot about that. they didn't want to have their name sort of plastered all over that. But whatever, get your bell bottoms buzzing, right? Exactly right. Yeah. So I wanted to start out, just to kick things off, I did a little bit of research on, from

02:16

Baby Boomer magazine  and the top 10 crushes  of guys and girls from stars in the 70s and 80s. Do  you mind if I sort of I'd love to hear it. Okay, look, I'll go from sort of bottom to top and there was  Scott Baio.

02:34

Oh okay, From, from happy days. Chargé, that's right.  And then Kurt Russell.  Oh yeah, of course. Yeah, Mark Hamill from Star Wars. Oh yes, I loved Mark Hamill, yeah. John Travolta. Yep. David Cassidy. Yep. Christopher Reeves. Yep.  Christopher Knight from the Brady Bunch. Can you believe he ranked up he was Peter. He was Peter. Wow, because I thought everyone...

02:58

had, you know, had a crush on  Greg but yeah. Greg was number two. There you go. Yeah. Burt Reynolds was sandwiched in between that. Yep. And even have a crack.  Music  icon of the 70s no longer with us, may have had three brothers that were  into the disco area. Oh, when you do this stuff to me, I... Andy Gibb. Oh, thank you.  Would you throw any in there from...

03:24

That's probably  probably all of it for me. Although for me,  and we've discussed this many times on previous podcasts,  Sean Cassidy  was it was my go to I think, you know, he burst onto the scene when I was about 13 or 14. And  I thought he was the best thing since sliced bread.

03:42

And I just thought it's funny because I remember thinking if he just  knew me like if he just if I just got in front of him  for  five minutes and he met me and I went  hello  he'd go oh she's gorgeous that's the girl for me  that's my forever I get it you know and I was 13 and I thought that's that's  I just need to get in front of him how do you do that and it was just I mean it's so unrealistic and so dumb but

04:10

But I think,  know,  that's a young teenage girl's mind that you just...  and that explains a lot too when the Beatles were here in 64 about girls just screaming and fainting over these guys. Yeah, yeah. I've had that experience before myself. Yeah, yes, I know you have. Yeah, it's tough, isn't it? Yeah, it's a hard act. Hard act.  I'll go through the women. I'll go through the women.  And once again, I'll go from top to bottom. Phoebe Cates...

04:38

was number 10. Do you remember Phoebe Cates? Phoebe Cates? No. Yeah, she was in that iconic movie, Fast Times at Ridgemont High. I remember the movie. I don't remember her. Yeah. Yeah. Look, I think everyone,  or men probably that were 15, 16 at the time, the only way I can  refresh your memory is there was a pool scene  and she was in the pool  and she got out of the pool. That's all I'm saying.  And there was a double take. she clothed?

05:07

She wasn't the original take and then in the mind of the guy that was sort of...  she wasn't. She didn't have a top on. Right, So Phoebe Cates won the admiration of...

05:18

Pre-group as in teens everywhere. Everywhere, right, yeah. Demi Moore. Oh yeah. Yeah, yeah. So, well Demi probably didn't really burst onto the scene till the 80s, 80s? Yeah, she probably did some early stuff, I'm not sure, because there was, was it Breakfast, not Breakfast Club? Yeah, other Sunilma's Fire? that was the first thing I remember her doing. Yeah. That was 80, late 80s, wasn't Yeah, that was all part of that brat pack sort of time. Samantha Fox.

05:43

Yeah, Page Three Girl. Page Three Girl. Yeah, went on to a career in music. Yep. Very briefly. With one or two songs, yep. One or two songs. Carrie Fisher from Star Wars. Okay, now was she, was she hot? Did guys think, because like the whole bun thing on the side of her head was always a bit weird to me, but...

06:02

It was a thing. was a thing.  was a thing. Yeah. Debbie Harry from Blondie. Oh, definitely. I know lots of guys that love Debbie Harry. Yeah. Gorgeous. That was a drool moment for a lot of guys. Justine Bateman. I remember Justine Bateman. She was in, what was that TV show? Was that Family Ties? Yeah. Yeah.  And she was, was that Justine Bateman's sister? Don't know.

06:25

because there was a bit of creativity going on with that family having, oh, we've got a boynagert, we'll call one Justine and one Justin. I have one, I don't know, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm wrong.  Leah Thompson? No. Yeah, she was out of  Back to the Future.

06:40

Oh yeah. And Karate Kid, the Karate Kid 1. the girlfriend. Yeah, in Karate Kid 1.  Look, if I had a celebrity crush, and I might have had one or two.  Yes.  She would have been one of them out of that Karate Kid movie. I thought, yeah, that's just on a plate right there. right. right. Yeah, good. Kirsty Alley. Yeah, Kirsty Alley, yep. Yeah, Bo Derrick.  Oh, definitely.

07:01

the beach scene running down the beach, slow-mo in her bikini. Dudley Oh was a one piece. Was it a one piece? Yes it was. was a one piece, wasn't it? With the beaded hair and all that sort of thing. I don't remember it.  And number  one,  where everyone, before Jennifer Aniston, but I guess she would have ranked up here if they had of asked. I think I know what you're going to say. See if I'm right.  And she would have,  she  started a whole ...

07:27

generation of flicked back hair and  everything. Who? Farrah Forsyth. Oh no,  I was going for Marsha Brady. Oh really? Yeah.  Oh, I'm surprised given that  Peter and Greg made the top 10 on the first And Marsha didn't make it. Marsha, Marsha, Marsha didn't make Marsha,  that's right. I was always a Jan sort of guy. I wasn't really that big into Marsha. I was a Jan guy. Yeah. Yeah. I liked Marsha. Yeah. She had the goods. And the other day I'm at the pub.

07:56

And I got a few of my friends to just record into their phones.

08:01

few beers. Hang on, listen to this. Hi,  my name is Jeff Myers  and I  had  a  crush  on  Tatum O'Neil  because  I loved her in the movie  Young Rascals  and  I thought she was very good.  Jeff!  Thank you Jeff. How about Jeff? Tatum O'Neil, wow! I know, I think,  was she a crush for you?  No, I

08:31

I Tater Monell in, was it Bugsy Malone? was in a movie. Jodie Foster was that Jodie Foster? Tater Monell was, oh, yeah she was in something. She was cute. Thank you Jeff. Thanks Jeff. I got quite a few. Do you want to hear some more? Keep them going. Alright, here we go. So this was also at the pub. Hi, I'm Jeff and my celebrity crush was David Cassidy from the Partridge family.

08:58

No, it wasn't.  his sister. was actually Susan Day who plays Laurie Partridge in the Partridge family.  And she was and probably still is hot.  Oh, Jeff, settle down there champ. Yeah, wow. How about that? And Susan Day, of course,  played that role. But she went on, she had a lot of bit roles after that, but she went on to a career of probably four or five seasons  with, I think it was LA Law.

09:26

Oh did she? Yeah, yeah I'm pretty sure she was in  LA Law for like in the 80s. So  went from being Laurie Partridge and David's sister. But she  got that role at 17 in the Partridge family and she had no acting experience. No that's right. She'd done some modelling and should I dare even say what her first modelling thing was  as a kid? Yeah. It  was a cover photo.  was a cover photo for a book.

09:54

getting to know yourself for young girls basically. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah. Well, that's good. Yeah, yeah. Probably wouldn't have been anything else on the market like that at the time. No, no, it was a sexual health book. Yes, good. So yeah, I'm sure she was pushing out the right message. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Good on you, Jeff.  I concur with that one.  Do you want to hear another one? Sure. My celebrity crush was David Jones from The Monkees. He was short and cute.  That was my friend Sue. Now,

10:24

We got talking about the Monkeys, because I really liked Peter Tork. And the Monkeys, of course, were  pulled together as a band, I guess, to counter the American version of the Beatles, because the Beatles had their own TV show as well.  these four musicians, they brought them together. And I think in the beginning, Mickey Dollins was going to be the lead singer, and Davy Jones was going to play drums. But then they put Davy up the front, and away you go. Yeah, well, Davy Jones, his background was in pantomime.

10:53

in England. was in Pantomime. because played in this stage musical, Oliver. That's right.  And because Mickey Dolan's was a child actor in Circus Boy  in the late  50s, early 60s.  So he was the child actor. Peter Tork got brought in, had some musical experience, but Michael Nesmith was the only one who  had real sort of musical background  and was sort of blindsided thinking it was going to be a whole bunch of musicians when it wasn't.  And because his mother

11:23

as legend has it, is famous because she was the lady that invented liquid paper. That's right. Yeah. Is that a myth or is that actually true? that's actually true. Yeah, wow. And another thing that's gone by the wayside, who uses liquid paper anymore? Yeah, that's right. Really hard to get off your screen. tend to find. correcting tape because we don't have, I guess we don't have typewriters anymore. Yeah. Have you got any more there? Hi guys, John here. My crush growing up would have to be Susan D.

11:49

Laurie Partridge and the Partridge family. Yeah, she just, something about her.  Um, she was cool. What's with...  We're both looking at each other. What's with this girl?  Season D, season day, whatever it was, but yeah, I know, she was  it. 25 million Australians  and already two fellas. John, thank you. Yeah, thanks John. Yeah, for, you know...

12:13

pulling up something from your past and saying, yeah, Susan D, Susan Day, wow.  But what do you think about in the Partridge family and all the girls going crazy over David Cassidy and  all boys going crazy over Susan Day? It's amazing, isn't it? I mean, that show was hugely popular. And I remember  I read the other day just recently that  Shelly Jones, who played the mum,

12:36

her son, Sean Cassidy took her out for her 91st birthday last week. Is that right? Yeah. She's still with us. She's still with us and she still looks the same. She looks amazing. Yeah. She's 91 now. So she went out,  um,  yeah, with her boys.  Obviously not David. He's not with us anymore, she had three other sons. So

12:55

Did you have a thing for David Cassidy at all? Oh kind of, yeah. Yeah he's a good looking young man. Yeah. And he had this amazing hair that every time he moved his hair was really know bouncy and he had a lovely smile. Before the days of extensions that was the real gear wasn't it? Yeah it was.

13:13

Do you want to hear some more? yeah, for sure. Hi, my name's Addie and I had a massive crush on David Cassidy.  He had the best hair and his voice just melted my heart. He was so much crueler than Greg Brady.  Go Addie.  I'm on Addie's team there. There you go. Greg Brady. I never, I'm a fella, OK. But that...

13:37

isn't make it mutually exclusive that I shouldn't see the attractiveness in a man but I never saw it in Greg Brady. No.  And definitely saw it in probably David Cassidy and could see why.

13:45

The girls loved him. Thank you, Addy. Yeah, thanks, Addy. That was great. Now this one, this is a bit left to feel this one.  Oh, can I play you one here? This has come from Craig. You've got my curiosity going. Hi, Kaylee and Guy. I'm Craig and my celebrity crush growing up was the immensely talented and very beautiful Kate Bush. The costume she wore for the Babushka film Clip still gets my blood pumping. And to underline her genius, Kate was only 13 when she wrote The Man with a Child in His Eyes.

14:12

There's a man that knows his musical history too.  Did you, what did you think of Kate Bush? Very quirky. Yeah. Very quirky and never sort of popped up on my radar until that song Wuthering Heights. And they still have, is it Wuthering Heights Day or something where they, people all around the yeah, people around the world dress up as her in that red dress and they do the song, they sing the song. They do the song because that was the whole  Emily and Bronte sort of, wasn't it? As far as that song is going.

14:41

Did a trivia. know, I know you love trivia. Yeah. It's full of  he, she actually, uh, when she got her first contract with EMI in London, they wanted her to do like a rock song. And she's, this is when she was in like, she was 17  and she said,  no, I want to do this one. And it was Wuthering Heights.

15:01

and the rest is history I guess. Yeah. They must have been scratching their heads going how's this going to work? know we're in the coming into the disco  season, disco time. That's right. And she sings Wuthering Heights. So quirky and the film clip sort of went with it then she did Babushka and  all those sort of things but as far as  yeah a crush.  Didn't rattle my boots but Craig.

15:24

Good on you. Yeah, thank you, Craig. And moving forward to the, I guess, the  80s and into the  90s, what about, did you have a crush on anyone? Because I'm thinking in the  80s, a lot of girls had crushes on  Don Johnson. Oh, Paisley suits.  Paisley, sorry. What were they? Just, yeah, just that. That Miami look. Yeah. It's very, very, yeah, very  Richie Bonet with beige and  blue and anyway, I digress.

15:51

And  Eric Estrada from Chips. Oh yes. Yeah. What happened to Larry Wilcox? He was his off-sider. Yeah. He didn't get a look in.  No, no. That Latino thing was going on. Yeah. You're right. But you know, we talked about recently in one of our podcasts about, um,  Staski and Hutch and how you had the,  you had the Staski jacket, that jumper thing he used to wear.  I loved him. Was it Paul Michael Glaser? Yeah. And I he was brilliant. had that, but then, you know, I liked David Soul too, but he went on to...

16:20

to do a car, had a bit of a music career. Yeah, that's right. With Soul Lady and stuff like that. He was a bit of a all right. Yeah, well, yeah. I thought he was. I just liked the car. Oh.

16:31

The car and the jacket and I  would have been happy but I got the jacket. You got the jacket anyway. Got the jacket.  Speaking of good looking guys and cars, did you like the car from Dukes of Hazzard?  What was that called? That was the General  Lee? General Lee? Yeah. Yeah, there were a lot of great cars which sounds like a whole other podcast in itself. do that.  Whether it was the Batmobile or Herbie the Love Bug or General Lee. I don't think anyone liked Herbie the Love Bug.

16:59

What?  Herbie made a career out of it. Oh about the green machine from Scooby Doo? Oh Scooby Doo. I think  we're getting off track here aren't we? Yes we are.  The celebrity crushes.  I'm just trying to think in the the  80s probably not a whole heap going on there for me maybe. Yeah look um  I had

17:22

I like, you remember Little House on the Prairie? Ah yeah yeah. There was a, I think her name was Melissa Sue Anderson. He says feigning. The  oldest sister. The oldest sister. She went blind.

17:33

Yes.  Yes. Yeah. Did you, was it a feel sorry thing? Was it a sympathetic thing? you think why you like her? I think I just besotted by her blue eyes. Yeah. And that wholesome sort of,  sort of, you know, living on the, you know. Yeah. On the prairie. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But going blind, that might've been a little bit of, you know, a bit of sympathy. I think everyone loved Michael Langdon too. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But of course his career started way back with what, Bonanza or whatever. Well, speaking of Bonanza, I, I had a bit of a crush on horse.  Oh, did you?

18:03

he was a big goofy guy but he just he was funny and he was a bit you know dopey and I just thought he was a really I guess like an uncle kind of figure yeah he was lovely and the third brother seemed to chop and change is it it went from  I don't remember his name for the guy that you Adam yeah and he was the guy out of

18:20

Trapper John MD later. And so yeah, but you your love crush and Michael Landon was and was Lorne Green. Lorne Green. Yeah. The older woman's, you know, Michael Landon. Yeah. And he was probably younger than we are now, I guess. don't know. Probably. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, I've got another one to play for you from one of our, this is, this is from Robin, this one. Okay. Hi, my name's Robin and my childhood celebrity crush would have to be Cheryl from Sky Hooks. Most of the other girls

18:50

school liked Darrell Braithwaite. He was cute but there was just something about Cheryl.  Robin! Robin! Thank you! gosh Cheryl! My name's hang on,  she liked him so much. Thanks Robin. Thanks Robin.  Wow, like I know I'm saying a lot of wow's here but there's a lot of very surprising sort of...

19:13

Yeah,  was bit naughty. Yeah. Skyhooks in general, think, were a bit naughty. Yeah.  I'm glad she didn't say red. Red Simons. Because I would have really scratched my head.  I think Cheryl out of everyone.  It's bit surprising. But Robin.

19:31

Yeah, I'm glad you've sort of dug down deep into your soul and decided to disclose that. She was right though because a lot of girls like Daryl Braithwaite but even more girls liked Garth Porter.  Oh yes. From Sherbet but I liked Alan Sandow the drummer. I thought like drummers you know something about

19:48

drummers. He was built man. He was a good and I had the  pleasure of meeting him many years later  at  there was a concert for Ted Mulry. It was called Concert for Ted when Ted Mulry was quite unwell  and  Sherbert got together for this one night to play  a gig  for Ted Mulry and I was able and the radio station I was working for was promoting the  concert so I was able to go backstage.

20:13

and meet Sherbert and I went up to Alan who's a lovely man, know, and he's our age now and I went up to him and I was like, I was just, didn't know, I  couldn't talk. I just had to like touch his arm. was like. So you had a moment. I had, I absolutely had a moment.

20:30

Definitely. you know how you say you should never meet your heroes? No, he was so nice and so generous with his time and so kind and it was lovely. Thank you Alan. So he was a reachable fantasy essentially. you have an unreachable fantasy in that sort celebrity thing? Yeah, Sean Cassidy. Other than Sean. other than Sean. Yeah, pretty much everyone is unreachable.

20:58

Although I did have a crush in the 70s as well on Meatloaf because he was a bit bad, right? I know he, know aesthetically he's probably not, you know, David Cassidy, but he was a bit of a bad boy. And when he, when he sang, he, I don't know, was something about him hanging, holding onto his hanky and singing.

21:20

those kinds of Paradise by the Dashboard light and all those sorts of things. Two out of three ain't bad. I don't know, it was just, I thought he was... It was at 15 minutes of fame though, because I think so many people remember that Bad Outta Hell album and the clips and yeah, right, he was a bad boy, you know, and the whole Jim Steinman had written a lot of this stuff and it just, was the right music for the right time. The wrong music for the wrong time is when he performed it, that was the AFL Grand Final. was, yeah. So, we won't go there.

21:50

As far as Aussies,  did you have any Aussie, like was there a Mark Holden in your world  other than obviously Garth Porter and Alan Sandow? I wasn't really into Mark Holden. thought...

22:02

he was he was a bit too too nice  you know with his carnation and stuff he was a little bit too squeaky clean yeah and girls kind of like the bad boys at that age yeah i know we're speaking with marty rone yeah oh  gosh be still my beating heart yeah and and  we haven't had the privilege of speaking to so many people which we hope we can  but john paul young got a lot of attention as well didn't he squeak yeah  um and he did yeah  sort of got it i mean he he did everything from the  the

22:33

2SM concert down at the Opera House and all that and so like massive crowds and had massive hits and of course had a second rebirth as a icon didn't he with the whole ballroom dancing. Yeah that's it. So yeah and I've met him once. He's a lovely guy. He's very, very down to earth. He's a nice guy isn't he? And going back to the the concerts in the 80s and Dragon, know Mark Hunter, I thought he was really cool too. When Dragon first came out they were

23:02

Yeah, it's  back in the day and that's 70s and  80s.  Is there anyone that you still have a little bit of a flutter about as far as that?  As far as that era?  Put me on the spot, I can't think.

23:16

Don't think so. No, although I mean I would still go out with Sean Cassidy if he asked. Yeah. Okay. I saw a picture of him the other day. He's a good looking man. See what I can do. Thank you. I'll get his people to talk to your people. Oh, I've got people.  Did you used to buy the magazines as well as kids? I know they used to all be in TV week and things like that. Did you ever have magazines  as a girl? And there'd be a centerfold and you'd like a TV week centerfold of whoever the star was at time. That's right. I had them all.

23:44

glued to my wall and that's right.  It wasn't really a boy thing because were there any girls  like did they have like the Marsha Hines and the whatever in don't think so. Unless you could steal page three of the Sun and get Samantha Fox.  Oh that's right. those days  the mirror and the Sun and you have your page three girl.

24:05

The Mirror. No, sorry.  I was thinking. The Mirror newspaper.  lucky you're burning ants or something. What's going on there?  No, no.  Clarity in conversation. Are there any modern day equivalents, do you think, as far as, do girls still and boys still ogle over? Definitely. Do they? I don't know who. I mean, probably my modern day would be Channing Tatum.  Oh, OK. Yeah. Yeah.

24:32

Really? Yes. I'll get my people to talk to his people and see what No, I'm old enough to be his mother. Forget it. Well, you know, that whole cougar thing, you know, I think it's a thing. It's a thing. Yeah, yeah. So, you know, I'll take your word for it. Yeah. So I was always, I don't know why.

24:48

You know,  is it Marissa Torme? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I just find her, yeah, that's a cutie thing, you know, and  I just always remember out of Wild Hogs and she was Dudley's love interest out of that and  I love the movie Wild Hogs but Marissa Torme sort of  does it for me these days, you know, to a point, just because there's that...

25:09

wholesomeness and a real about her. Yeah well it's funny because when you're younger you sort of go for the bad guys or girls but when then when you get older you're looking for wholesome and straight talking and nice. Yeah and upright. And upright. Yeah you know not and I shouldn't say not in a mobility scooter is that the wrong thing to say? It's the wrong thing to say. So I think I think that might be you know time to go and...

25:32

semi-wild oaks and look at some old... Oh, too much information. Oh, sorry.  Sorry. I was going say look at some old YouTube clips of some of these stars. Yeah. Might be time to call it a day. What do reckon? Yeah, beauty. think it is. Thank you everyone for watching. Yeah, yeah. Everyone, thank you for your clips.  We'll see you next time.  Ciao.  The views and opinions expressed on the Big Six are personal.

25:55

and reflect those of the hosts and guests. They do not represent the views or positions of any affiliated organisations  or companies.  This podcast is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only and should not be construed as professional advice. Please consult with a qualified professional for guidance on any personal matters.

26:16

And before we go,  let's give credit where credit is due.  Kaylee Harris and I came up with all the genius content for this week's episode.  Our producer,  Nick Abood,  well he keeps the lights on and makes sure we don't accidentally upload a cat video instead of a podcast. thanks for keeping us on track, Nick.  Nick?  Nick?