Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Romantic Heroes

Hi, I’m Tatiana March, one of Resplendence authors. I have two books published, a Western Historical CIRCLE STAR and a Contemporary Romance PROJECT SEDUCTION.

Those of you with interest in romantic novels might know that 2008 is the centenary of Mills and Boon, the UK component of the publishers Harlequin Mills and Boon. Linked to this anniversary, there have been several TV programs in the UK about romance writers and readers.

One aspect that caught my attention is romantic heroes. I was surprised to learn that over the years the type of men we want to read about hasn’t changed. The heroes are tall, dark, and handsome. They are arrogant and stern. They are wealthy alpha males, extremely successful, usually in the world of business. They are ambitious and ruthless. They are stubborn, demanding, and uncompromising.

Why do we aspire to such men? They would be a nightmare to live with. They would never help with the laundry or take out the trash – although we might hope they could afford household help. They would struggle to admit they are wrong, and “sorry” would not be a part of their vocabulary.

But that’s what we want. So we should remember not to complain if that’s what we get.

Romance writer loops sometimes conduct polls about romantic heroes. The top 10 men that send your pulse skittering, etc. Names like Johnny Depp, Justin Timberlake, and George Clooney crop up a lot.

I’m a lover of classic movies, and I'd love to see my heroes on these lists, but I’m usually disappointed. So, here comes my own “Classics List” – my top 10 romantic heroes in movies, in no particular order:

Burt Lancaster
Charlton Heston
Gary Cooper
Gregory Peck
Robert Mitchum
James Stewart
Gary Grant
Victor Mature
Spencer Tracy

Note that I only managed 9 – I got stuck and couldn’t come up with one more name. Any suggestions gratefully received….

Love from Tatiana.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice post Tatiana!

I thought of Paul Newman and Robert Redford... but they might not be classic enough.

Maddie James said...

Okay, mine would be...

Sam Elliot
George Clooney
Tom Selleck
Sean Connery

Just to get me started....

maddie

Minnette Meador said...

Oh, my...Charlton Heston (yummy, yummy) and Gregory Peck (heart pounding wildly)are two of my favs. I had a thing for Danny Kaye ~sigh~, Erroll Flynn (he can swash my buckle anytime), Robert Taylor, Tony Curtis (oh, those eyes!), Omar Sharif, Sean Connery (he's still something!) - I found this site with a list of the top classic movie hunks - Enjoy! http://www.rateitall.com/t-21027-classic-film-hunks.aspx

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