10 Old Hollywood Heartthrobs Who Walked So Henry Cavill And Glen Powell Could Run

We Evie girls love traditional masculinity, and it looks like it's finally making a comeback in pop culture thanks to actors like Henry Cavill and Glen Powell. To celebrate, we're looking back at some of the most handsome Old Hollywood actors who paved the way for them.

Hollywood, Masculinity, and Androgyny 

Let me paint you a picture: Imagine a skinny, pale, long-haired man wearing baggy jeans and a baggy shirt, or worse, a dress. Now imagine a man with a clean-cut haircut, well-groomed scruff, muscles, and a three-piece suit. Who is hotter? Yeah, that’s what I thought.

Over the decades, Hollywood has employed and elevated men who were not only talented actors but who were also handsome or unique looking. From the late 1920s to the late 1960s, pop culture was dominated by the male beauty standards of the Old Hollywood era: a clean, slicked-back haircut, a three-piece suit, a slim build, muscles, maybe even a Transatlantic accent.

But then androgyny and gender-bending entered the scene: David Bowie rose to prominence in his androgynous style in the 1970s, followed by Kurt Cobain in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. Harry Styles went viral in 2020 for wearing a dress on the cover of Vogue, and he and other soft boy heartthrobs like Timothée Chalamet and Barry Keoghan have garnered plenty of positive attention since.

While some women might find androgyny attractive, the surge of masculinity in pop culture proves that plenty of women still crave it. Recent movies like Top Gun: Maverick, shows like Yellowstone, the rise of musicians like Morgan Wallen, Thomas Rhett, and Zach Bryan, and the popularity of athletes like Joe Burrow and Sam Hartman prove that hunky men are back in style.

Two of the most powerful examples of this are the popularity of actors Henry Cavill and Glen Powell. Cavill has enjoyed the spotlight for quite some time, but his star has yet to die out. He's as classically handsome as an Old Hollywood actor, is a nerd, and has a reputation of being a genuine gentleman…which makes him so much hotter!

On the other hand, Powell is just starting his career. While he's been in Hollywood for some time, his career exploded after the release of Top Gun: Maverick. Since then, he's starred in the Korean war drama Devotion, the blockbuster rom-com Anyone But You alongside Sydney Sweeney, the black comedy Hit Man, and the upcoming Twisters remake, which is set to release in July. Like Cavill, Powell is classically handsome and also seems like a very down-to-earth, genuine, and friendly guy. 

While not all classic Old Hollywood actors were perfect examples of masculinity and often led scandalous lives, they helped pave the way for actors like Henry Cavill and Glen Powell to shine today.

The Most Handsome Old Hollywood Actors

Cary Grant 

Nobody captures the glamour of this era quite like Cary Grant, who enjoyed one of the most illustrious careers in the history of show business. The Quad-City Times describes Grant, writing, "Grant's masculine elegance and darkly handsome features made him an unrivaled star of both sophisticated comedy and chilling intrigue for more than 30 years." Nearly four decades after his death, he's still celebrated for some of his most famous movies like Bringing Up Baby, His Girl Friday, The Philadelphia Story, Notorious, To Catch A Thief, and Charade.

Sidney Poitier 

Sidney Poitier cemented his legacy in the history of Hollywood as the first black actor to win the Oscar for Best Actor for his role in 1963's Lilies of the Field, but that was only the start of his career. Some of his other most famous movies are A Raisin in the Sun, To Sir with Love, In The Heat of the Night, and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. 

James Dean

Famous for his leather jacket-clad bad-boy persona (swoon) and his untimely death at age 24 in 1955, there's no doubt that James Dean is an icon of American cinema. While we'll never know how much he could have achieved, he spent his short-lived career acting in movies like East of Eden, Rebel Without a Cause, and Giant. All three of these were filmed in the year leading up to his death.

Paul Newman 

Paul Newman was basically the Henry Cavill of the 1950s. His obituary described him as having “irresistible good looks [that] suggested more of a romantic hero than an unregenerate rogue, but he had a way of incorporating into his seductive appeal (those oceanic eyes, those killer abs!) a startling barbed-wire-like menace." Some of his best movies include Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Sweet Bird of Youth, The Hustler, Cool Hand Luke, and From the Terrace.

Humphrey Bogart 

Often considered one of the greatest actors of the twentieth century, Humphrey Bogart’s role as Rick Blaine in Casablanca is a must-watch for anyone with a pulse. Known for his cool-guy persona and range to play a wide variety of characters (including romantic leads), it's impossible not to fall in love with him. Some of his other iconic movies are High Sierra, The Maltese Falcon, To Have and Have Not, The Treasure of Sierra Madre, The African Queen, and Sabrina.

Clark Gable

Known as the “King of Hollywood,” Clark Gable starred in some of the most famous movies of all time like It Happened One Night and Gone with the Wind. His good looks made him famous for his roles as romantic leads on-screen, as well as his scandalous love life off-screen. Some of his other famous movies include Red Dust, Mutiny on the Bounty, and The Misfits.

Gregory Peck

If To Kill a Mockingbird was one of your favorite books in high school, chances are you've had a crush on Gregory Peck for years. He was the perfect man to play Atticus Finch in the 1962 adaption of the classic novel, which won him an Oscar. Known for his “notable talents and rugged good looks,” some of his other famous movies include Roman Holiday, Spellbound, Gentleman's Agreement, and Twelve O'Clock High.

James Stewart

We all know and love him as George Bailey in the Christmas classic It's A Wonderful Life, but Jimmy Stewart has plenty of other movies to enjoy, like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and The Philadelphia Story. Often hailed as the ideal American man of the mid-twentieth century, he served the United States in both the Army and Air Force during World War II.

Marlon Brando

Before he cemented his legacy in Hollywood history as Vito Corleone in The Godfather, Marlon Brando was the sexiest man alive in the 1950s. Some of his best (and most popular) movies from that era were A Streetcar Named Desire and On the Waterfront. If you haven't watched his viral screen test for A Rebel Without a Cause, we suggest you do it ASAP.

Laurence Olivier

While he started as a stage actor who mastered Shakespeare in London, Laurence Olivier quickly became famous in the United States for his roles in movie adaptations of famous novels like Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights, Maxim de Winter in Rebecca, and Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice. He returned to his Shakespearean roots in adaptations of Hamlet and Henry V, but many remember him for his good looks and marriage to legendary actress Vivien Leigh.

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