Conversation | 04/27/2009 12:00 am

wOw-Worthy Men: Liz Smith, Candice Bergen and Cynthia McFadden's Favorites

The wOw women get together and, as women sometimes do, talk about men.

With Candice Bergen, Cynthia McFadden and Liz Smith

Bruce Willis, Steve Martin, Michael Caine

© Getty, Getty, Robin Platzer

LIZ: Candy and I are talking about men we have a crush on and I just named Craig Ferguson, the late-night Scotsman on CBS. Oh, I think he is so cute.

CANDICE: I have a crush on Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart. But more Stephen Colbert because I think the guy has guts.

LIZ: Yes, it’s really incredible what he gets away with, isn’t it?

CANDICE: Oh, I saw him at the Washington Press Corps dinner. What he took on … Oh, my God, my mouth was just opening.

CYNTHIA: Well, alright, I say Tony Blair for me. If he would just say he was wrong about the war in Iraq, I could really go for him. But I interviewed him a couple of years ago and I was just absolutely smitten. I guess I’m a little less so now …

Click here for photos of these wOw-worthy men.

CANDICE: I think everybody was having out-of-body experiences when that war was declared, and I don’t know that people can be held completely accountable for —

CYNTHIA: OK. Alright, so he has out-of-body exception.

Honey, when he gathers you up in his arms, it’s just unbelievable. He even beats George Clooney ...

LIZ: May I say a word? A P.S. to Candice’s love of Stephen Colbert? Now Candice, when we talk about him having guts and the things he gets away with, don’t you think it’s because his satire is on the right, and if he were doing a satire of somebody who was liberal, he couldn’t get away with it?

CANDICE: Bill Maher …

LIZ: Bill Maher. He’s just outrageous. He’s not doing satire; he’s right up front and opinionated. I don’t know if he particularly gets away with it. A lot of people hate him, but I don’t think anybody hates Stephen Colbert. I love both of these guys.

CANDICE: Right.

LIZ: It’s just whether they have sex appeal or not. OK, so let me just get Hugh Jackman out of the way. He’s one of my favorites.

CANDICE: He’s also one of the nicest.

LIZ: Yes, he’s a great guy.

CYNTHIA: Humor goes a long way. Looking you right in the eye goes a long way.

LIZ: I’m sure Candice knows this guy, and maybe some of you do, too, but one of the sexiest men I’ve ever known and still know is Bruce Willis. Honey, when he gathers you up in his arms, it’s just unbelievable. He even beats George Clooney, who is another person who knows how to zero in on you and make you feel he cares.

CANDICE: I’ve never met Bruce, actually. I mean, I’ve seen him just at parties, but I’ve never met him. So I wouldn’t know, not like you do, Liz.

CYNTHIA: I think Vernon Jordan’s right up there.

CANDICE: Absolutely.

LIZ: Yes, great. Sexy.

CYNTHIA: There’s something about … I really like intensity, men who have ideas and want you to know what they are. Their looks are not all that crucial to me.

LIZ: I agree, My friend Barry Diller is right up there with the dynamos. Whenever he talks to me, boy, I feel a lot.

CANDICE: Very attractive. No question.

CYNTHIA: Well, if we can put dead people on our list, I interviewed Paul Newman a year ago and I have to tell you, age was immaterial. He was one of the sexiest men I’ve ever talked to. He was so withholding in a way, and yet so available. I don’t know, it was a bizarre combination. He was really sexy.

CANDICE: Redford. When I was much, much younger, there was just nobody dreamier in every way than Redford. And he was always surprising in his choices and his intelligence and abilities. He was, I think, the first actor to step out of acting and direct, and he just sort of broke all the barriers. He was great.

67 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

Hey Girls, you mentioned alot of guys…but i’m with Liz…no one compares to Hugh Jackmam…he has to be every woman’s dream man…and like it was stated…he’s really a nice person…my grandaughter had the privlage of working with him when he was on playing on Broadway…she also said…’ never bet a nicer man " and she has met plenty of them…love you Hugh !

By Patricia McFadden on 04/27/2009 12:27 am

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Michael Caine. He’s real, and his eyes are so intense!

By Chris Broersma on 04/27/2009 12:54 am

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Tommy Lee Jones on a horse…..o m g……

By Karen Prigmore on 04/27/2009 1:20 am

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Absolutely! I could just fall into that face :)

By Andy C on 04/28/2009 3:16 pm

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Well, my heroes have always been cowboys, since Roy Rogers! My three grown sons and hub know I love the scene in Lonesome Dove when Tommy comes flying down the street in defense of Newt, who was resisting the Army’s "requisition" for a horse…if we happen to be watching the film, they all make sure I don’t miss it :) That face has really lived, hasn’t it? Oh and that slow, easy, sometimes-devilish smile…he even has what I call "Texan swivel-hips"…ok I’ll stop now LOL!

By Karen Prigmore on 04/28/2009 6:21 pm

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There are waaaay too many great guys to list. I do have a crush on all the male leads of the ‘Oceans’ cast. Since Steve Martin was mentioned, when I was in my 30s met him in a Santa Barbara store and a few years later at his play "Lapin Agile." Another time was at The Balboa Cafe in the Marina in San Francisco and Mike Farrell [M.A.S.H.] kept smiling at me….I ducked into our car and left. Had I known he was a prison reform activist would have talked with him. Just assumed he was an actor with a night to fill in the City.

I lived near Danny Glover and always hoped I’d meet him in the neighborhood…no such luck. Think he is a really genuine, decent man.

My current ‘girl’ crush is on Beyonce. I have a new one of those every other week. She’s amazing….and this is embarrassing…I like Kim Kardashian, too.

By Suzanne de Cornelia on 04/27/2009 1:45 am

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Suzanne…. the Kardashian girl crush cracks me up! I didn’t think i had a girl crush but I just thought of it… whoopi goldberg!

By Chrome Toe on 04/29/2009 9:10 am

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Reading what has been written, I always remember this wonderful quotation: "I think very few people are completely normal really, deep down in their private lives. It all depends on a combination of circumstances. If all the various cosmic thingummys fuse at the same moment, and the right spark is struck, there’s no knowing what one mightn’t do".

I think what we see in public in our celebrities are not necessarily what we might imagine day in and day out. I know it takes me back a long way, but it was Noel Coward that wrote that quotation from one of his plays. For my very own romantic "lead" I am perfectly capable of locating the man for me, but being charming, witty, and for the quickest responses and clever repartee in social situations, give me Noel Coward any time. I can be swept off my feet in private in my own way, but for a dinner table companion that man would want me want to stay UP all night. Have we ever seen his like again? I think not.

By joan larsen on 04/27/2009 2:56 am

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Noël Coward won my heart the very first time I had the pleasure of seeing him. Dinner companion? How about next door neighbor who comes over for cocktails at five? When a very dear friend of mine, who happens to be English, and I were each expecting our first grandchild, I wrote this little ditty for her––stole Coward’s "Mad Dogs and Englishmen, out in the midday sun."

Mad Grannies and English Mums

Out in the midday sun

Commiserate on their long lost youth

Their racy, crazy, lust filled fun.

Now they hobble, stumble and wobble

Around in their worn out boots

Singing songs of yesteryears

That wet their cheeks and soak their suits

Yet life in its redeeming way

Has cooked up a whole new dish

Now Grandbabies are growing and soon to be

For Grannie Annie and Grannie Fish. [I figured no baby could possibly pronounce Phyllis ]

Back to men who are desirable, whether at the dinner table and/or in other close connections. The characteristics that have been described have more to do with being really good guys rather than physical appearance––intelligent, thoughtful, really good listener, interesting, witty, funny, etc. And aren’t those the same characteristics that make women charismatic?

By phyllis Doyle Pepe on 04/27/2009 9:31 am

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Phyllis — you hit the nail on the head with both your words and your wonderful affinity in writing such perfect poems to match your prose. Like you, I have this need to be highly stimulated — and it isn’t looks nearly as much as the exciting common ground that we have. I want to laugh, I want to learn constantly, I want to be around the people that are also attracted to the intelligence and wit that turn me on — and, as they say, "the rest follows". Two peas in a pod - you and me.

By joan larsen on 04/27/2009 12:36 pm

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It has been truly most interesting to read about the preferences of the WOW ladies with regards to the gentlemen they choose to admire. Their varied choices are amazing.

From Joan Larsen, I am not surprised to read of her admiration of Noel Coward, whom I have met, and realized that he was truly a man to be admired, by ladies and gentlemen. He was certainly a class unto himself. To have the opportunity to observe him in a natural setting, subconsciously triggered an inner wish that I could be like him. His admirable uniqueness has only been equaled by another person I have met on several occasions, he was Victor Borge. Both of these individuals were very much alike in that their simple yet ultra sophisticated manner compelled many who knew them to be overwhelmed by their genuinely charming and enriching personalities. All the ladies I knew, loved them.

By Lauriate Roly on 04/29/2009 6:04 pm

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Lauriate … Forget all the others, and give me the suave and sophisticated man, respendent in dress and manners, but mostly a wonderful conversationalist. Coward was a one-of-a-kind. When I was a child I saw him in Private Lives as I remember — and I have also seen Borge with the Chicago Symphony actually — as he could fool around but was an excellent pianist. Why could I guess that you would also like those two — and then to have actually been in their company — well, how good is that!!!! For Coward - the word was "class" and how long has it been since we have even seen a small substitute for that. WOW — we really are on the same wave length!!!! Love it.

By joan larsen on 04/29/2009 9:49 pm

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Truer words were never spoken …(written). Borge was also a wonderful conversationalist, and a fine and kind gentleman. Both definitely your type. You would not need to tell me.

By Lauriate Roly on 04/30/2009 8:09 am

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Since most of us are not actually talking to these men, interviewing them and meeting them at parties, its surely difficult for us to comment on public personalities that make us drool without it being more so about the physicality of the person.

With that said: Mark Ruffalo. He appears so sensitive, married to his wife with three children, and such tragedy already in his life. I think it would be so interesting to see what he’s like. Physically, I think he’s brilliantly sexy - doesn’t have perfect teeth, that tousled hair, and just always comes across so sensitive on screen, even in more intense movies. Just an absolute dream.

By Lee Beth Kilgore on 04/27/2009 6:32 am