Eldergays, Do You Remember Frank Converse

Pretty busy on television in the seventies and early eighties. My parents thought I was enjoying his Chrysler Lebaron commercials because I was a car geek but it was actually because his voice gave me wood…

I am surprised that he wasn’t a bigger star.

Nice looking. Did Earl Holliman have him?

No, I don’t think so. He’s been married several times and has a gaggle of kids.

His younger look was very similar to Brit actor James Norton:

There are literally millions of failed actors from the past, buddy guy.

He was better looking than Norton.

Love this guy. He was like a handsome Kennedy-

He played Harry O'Neill on One Life To Live which I watched when i was 7 years old with my grandparents!!

And yes, he had an awesome head of hair!!

R7, their hair was one of, if not the, greatest assets the Kennedy clan shared. That and old Joe’s millions.

I'll go you one better, I was a huge fan of his defunct series, "Coronet Blue", only for the fact I could lay my 12 year old eyes on Frank once a week 😍

Fantasy Island, Love Boat, AND Murder She Wrote wins Frank the coveted Guest Star Triple Crown.

He always had that tight-jawed, "old money" look and bearing.

Not the greatest actor, but certainly adequate. And incredibly handsome.

He was Billy Einhorn in the original off-off Broadway production of The House of Blue Leaves with Harold Gould, Katherine Helmond and Anne Meara.

He did a sexy shoot for After Dark in 1973.

They didn't get him naked, though.

After Dark was such a fun magazine. I miss interesting magazines.

DL is an interesting magazine.

He was absolutely excellent in one of the Anne of Green Gables mini-series, playing a love interest for Anne. Far more appealing than Gilbert, who had all the charm of a bowl of tapioca pudding.

Loved Coronet Blue and I had a huge crush on him when I was a pre-teen-- also had a crush on Michael Parks when he was in Then Came Bronson.

Playing father to James Spader and stepfather to Martin Hewitt.

Handsome but I prefer his brother Jeff.

Amen, r5.

The seventies had tons of good looking, theater trained actors like him and Monte Markham. They cut their teeth in sixties tv shows.

@r20, I prefer their shoes 🙄

I was a big tennis queen as a kid and would watch the film, Spring Fever, about junior girls' tennis starring Canadian teen tennis star (the film was produced by her father) Carling Bassett, with Susan Anton as her Vegas showgirl mother, Jessica 'Lucille Bluth' Walter as Bassett's main rival's mother, and Converse as the sports reporter covering the Junior girls' tennis tournament who winds up shtupping Anton in the shower, when Bassett walks in on them.

I saw him in a play with Goop's mother.

I could not take my eyes off of him.

^Understandable when the other option was Blythe.

Anybody got a current pic of him?

Careful what you ask for....

I've always had a thing for classically handsome men like him.

He does have gorgeous hair.

I remember he played a character on As the World Turns. I think he was Emma's book publisher or editor, and the two were having an affair. I think it was in the early 1990s. I liked ATWT at that time. By the way, he was never really my type.

I have some television favorites starring Frank Converse. First up,

𝐓𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝, Season 7, Episode 10, 𝐁𝐢𝐫𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐲 (Aug 4, 1984):

"𝐺𝑒𝑒, 𝑦𝑜𝑢'𝑣𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑡 𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑓𝑡𝑦 𝑒𝑦𝑒𝑠!"

Frank Converse and Bing Crosby co-star in the ABC Movie of the Week, 𝐃𝐫 𝐂𝐨𝐨𝐤'𝐬 𝐆𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐧 (Jan 19, 1971):

From the short-lived television horror series, 𝐆𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 / 𝐂𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐅𝐞𝐚𝐫, one of the better episodes: Episode 16, 𝐄𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡, 𝐀𝐢𝐫, 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 (Jan 19, 1973):

If you like Frank Converse, these are all must-viewing.

The photo on the right he looked quite

HOMOSEXUAL

R2- Just like that HETEROSEXUAL Alec Baldwin.

Alec isn’t completely heterosexual?

r4 Buddy Guy is a successful musician, not a failed actor.

Dusty Springfield punched Buddy Guy.

r38 Dusty Springfield - Buddy Rich feud

If Fametracker was still around he'd be a perfect candidate for "Hey, It's That Guy"

R24 The production you saw is detailed in link below.

Maybe we were there the same night...

Converse played the Cary Grant role from the 30s film classic

I can't believe no one has mentioned his memorable turn studio head Mr. Fallon on Columbo!

Season 2 Ep. 5 "Requiem for a Falling Star."

"Faded movie actress Nora Chandler is being blackmailed by a gossip columnist, Jerry Parks. Parks is also romancing Chandler's secretary, who knows all the great star's secrets. Chandler in desperation blows up the columnist's car - but it turns out her secretary was the one driving. Lt. Columbo, one of Nora's biggest fans, is on the case."

Fun Fact: Edith Head cameos as herself. She is requested by Nora to design a new tie for Columbo. She does!

He's a blonde David Muir.

In that Circle of Fear (was Ghost Story when it aired on NBC in 73) he strongly resembles Trevor Donovan. The lips, the eyes. God he was gorgeous.

[quote]R47: that Circle of Fear (was Ghost Story when it aired on NBC in 73)...

'Ghost Story' was from 1972, hosted by Sebastian Cabot, whose intros/outros were shot at the Hotel Del Coronado. Supposedly due to low ratings, the show was retitled mid-season. Starting with Episode 14 on January 5, 1973, Cabot was dropped, and the remaining nine episodes were released as 'Circle of Fear.' Then it was canceled.

It's a pity. I thought it was a good series. It scared the piss out of me when I was eight.

R43 The only thing I remember from that night was that we were at Lincoln Center, we had front and center seats and Frank Converse was gorgeous. I remember nothing else. Total blank.

The Family Tree (at R19) was a short-lived 1983 NBC drama by the writers/producers of Family.

So much homoerotic potential with Frank Converse, James Spader, and Martin Hewitt under one roof.

Daddy Converse and twinky shirtless Spader have a heart-to-heart (at 15:42):

(It reminds me of a scene in 2001's Bully when Nick Stahl went full-frontal.)

Another teen-ageed Coronet Blue fan. Don't remember anything about the series, but when I saw Frank Converse, Coronet Blue immediately popped into my head.

Coronet Blue had no ratings despite a terrific theme

Yes, he completely ruined the Anne of Green Gables series in the 80’s.

R14, After Dark spread, Frank Converse looks so delicious with a beard, infinitely sexy and alluring. As a preteen, I found him hot in an episode of the Bionic Woman, and a familiar face in other film and TV roles of that era. My eyes were glued to him always... :-)

[quote]I am surprised that he wasn’t a bigger star.

He was, but a TV star not a movie star. Millions knew who he was.

[quote]There are literally millions of failed actors from the past, buddy guy.

Frank was hardly a "failed actor". He was always on some TV show and starred on a popular soap One Life To Live.

In general, as a performer, it was, and still is, possible to have a successful career just working on TV. Not to mention, character actors and actresses have a much longer self life than movie stars.

Get a fucking clue. Go back to sleep you dumb doofus hipster.

[quote]Frank Converse and Bing Crosby co-star in the ABC Movie of the Week, 𝐃𝐫 𝐂𝐨𝐨𝐤'𝐬 𝐆𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐧 (Jan 19, 1971):

You missed Goop's mom is that scene, Blythe Danner.

You weren't a gay icon unless After Dark did a story on you.

He played Joe DiMaggio on Marilyn The Untold Story.

He was the first Harry O'Neill on One Life to Live and meant to be the romantic partner for Niki Smith (one of the incarnations of Niki), who worked at "the plant" owned by Victoria Lord Riley. At that time, they made Niki into a kind of 1940s siren, with a red wig and surrounded by mood music, not the banshee that she became in later incarnations when all the other personalities emerged. Converse was, of course, a hot daddy, with three rebellious daughters, one of whom (Didi) became the romantic interest of Bo Buchanan. After Converse left, the character of Harry was revised to be an average Joe dad, with no romantic possibilities.

Wasn't Frank a regular on some cop/detective series?

R24 - That was probably a God-Awful revival of A Streetcar Named Desire when it played on Broadway at Circle in the Square circa 1988. I saw it too and have been terribly scarred by it. If I recall correctly, he was Mitch (certainly the hottest Mitch I've ever seen), Danner was Blanche who thought she was in an episode of I Love Lucy, the delicious Aiden Quinn was Stanley and rising name Frances McDormand was Stella. The cast was capable so it must have been the director, who also had no idea how to block for a thrust stage. Tom must have been rolling in his grave.

directed by Nikos Psacharopoulos

[quote]R58: You missed Goop's mom is that scene, Blythe Danner.

You're right. 'Goop' anything is not on my radar, never was, and never will be. Matter of fact, I have some difficulty recalling the names of women actors; for whatever reason, my memory just doesn't typically pattern their names, unless there's some compelling reason to do so (i.e. Katharine Hepburn). I am unable to recognize or quantify female beauty or glamor, so, for me, gay recognition of womens' fabulousness falls flat. I have never understood the gay cults of Judy, Barbra, or whoever.

R63- Your memory is faulty.

He (Converse) was the only Harry O'Neill. Harry was shot and killed by Mitch Lawrence who framed Niki/Viki for the murder.

Pete O'Neill (his brother) remained for a short while after.. Another handsome man.

R66 - Just looked it up. Nikos Psacharopoulos had colon cancer and died the next year. Maybe he was too far in decline to handle the job. He was only 60, but according to DL could pass for 42.

I remember jerking off to him. A lot.

R70 - Didn't he complain, or call the police? Hopefully it wasn't at a supermarket or somewhere crowded.

No nudes? Well, he is a TV actor. Maybe something from onstage, maybe?

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