Conversation | 04/27/2009 12:00 am
wOw-Worthy Men: Liz Smith, Candice Bergen and Cynthia McFadden's Favorites

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LIZ: He’s a real surprising guy because he can really talk about things. He’s a wonderful interview, by the way. I’ve known him for years and I agree.
CANDICE: And Matt Damon and Ben Affleck were, too. When they first started out they were such surprises, those guys. They wrote this wonderful movie and now Affleck is directing. But Matt Damon has such intelligence and integrity and Ben Affleck is doing unexpected things. I think that actors should be applauded when they change people’s expectations and go a different way.
LIZ: Did you see Ben Affleck when he did his stuff on "Saturday Night Live" as Keith Olbermann? I thought that was one of the most brilliant impersonations I’d ever seen. I hadn’t appreciated him until then.
| Honey, when he gathers you up in his arms, it’s just unbelievable. He even beats George Clooney ... |
CANDICE: He’s something.
CYNTHIA: I think Barack Obama’s pretty damned sexy, too, I have to tell you.
CANDICE: Yes, and as far as a girl crush goes, Michelle Obama is just fantastic.
CYNTHIA: Isn’t she? She seems to be so comfortable in her own skin. She’s fantastic. And Shakira …
LIZ: Well, listen, I ran into two old guys that I’ve known for years recently, and I had the best time with both of them. If I could get either one of them away from their mates … R.J. Wagner is one of the most adorable guys. He is so sweet and funny. And so is Michael Caine. He’s just great. And he keeps telling you how much he’s in love with his wife. I can’t resist it.
CANDICE: Well, he should be. Now I saw him last night, Michael Caine. He just keeps on getting better and better.
LIZ: He has a great sense of humor.
CANDICE: Yep.
LIZ: Nobody mentioned Steve Martin.
CANDICE: Oh, well that’s brilliant. You know, Steve Martin is one of the most attractive, most sensitive, intriguing and mysterious guys.
CYNTHIA: I’m intrigued …
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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 !
Tommy Lee Jones on a horse…..o m g……
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.