While Sebastian Cabot as Mr. French, and Patrick Duffy as "The Man From Atlantis" sparked some interest, the sustaining crush fire happened when I first saw Lee Majors in his bionic, superhuman state. With all that running in slow-mo, his open shirt and chest hair revealed, accompanied by cool sound effects.
I was a bit suppressed by a religious upbringing, and didn't know I was gay until I was 34. But looking back, I know he lit that fire. I bought his lunchbox, and started calling myself Steve "Ostin" on my assignments in 2nd grade.
I was 7-years old.
Maybe it was innocent, as I was so young. But watching Lee Majors in that role for several years, influenced the kind of man that I would come to admire and love:
Heroic, selfless, strong. And, hairy.
And he just got hunkier.
That hairy chest, devil-may-care attitude, and all rough 'n tumble with a cigar.
The show wasn't that well-written, but I suddenly didn't care about the plot.
I may not have known that I was gay, but I knew that I wanted him to be my best friend. And he's become the model for probably all the other men I've ever been interested in.
Jerome - Whitehorse, Yukon Territory
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Inspired by the "Born This Way Blog" - BornThisWayBlog.com
