Orlando Bloom: sympathy for Australia, too

If you thought you recognized Orlando Bloom on TV downunder the other day ... you were right. He's been in Aus to spend Valentine's Day with his partner (fiancee??) Miranda Kerr, but celebs across the board were swept up into the Australia Unites telethon, raising funds for the victims of the Victorian Bushfires.

Here's a bit more on the event: Orlando Bloom joins Miranda Kerr for Australia Unites telethon ... and it was a great success. About twenty million in AUD was raised.

Orlie's new movie is called Sympathy for Delicious -- about a paralysed DJ who investigates the realms of faith healing and "gets more than he bargained for." This one's got me interested -- and, in it, he looks like this:

You have to admit, this one has big possibilities! Something different, new and a change for an actor who's done more historicals than any other actor since Charlton Heston and Stewart Granger! Nice one.

Just a couple more pictures, then -- can I twist your arm here? What's that? "Stop being a berk, AG and post the pictures?!" Message received and understood. Urk. So:

A major blast from the past. One for Mom: Stewart Granger rocked

Ever wondered who your Mom .. or possibly your Grandmom, depending on how old you aren't! ... was bonkers about when she was your age? In my case, I don't have to wonder, because I was born into the TV Rerun Age, meaning I grew up with her favorite movies on the box.

This post is dedicated to my Mom, and to a lot of happy childhood memories. Let me tell you, Mom had great taste, and I knew what a hunk in tights looked like by the time I was five.

Mom's #1 All-Time Fave was Stewart Granger...


There you go: Greek gods walked the earth when your Mom was a lass, too. Believe me, Stewart Granger was the Brad Pitt of his day.

Need more convincing that folks were red-blooded and bonkers for actors back in the days before Vodaphone and BlueRay and Hubble Space Telescope and Pop Tarts?


What did I say about hunks in tights? Noooooobody looked as good in tights as Stewart Granger. It's all about the legs. Trust me on this. I grew up sitting infront of Scaramouche (the above image) and The Prisoner of Zenda:


And Mom was far from alone in her, uh, appreciation of Mr. Granger's finer points ... of which there were many. (Incidentally, she's 79 now, and she's a big Brad Pitt fan. The lady has great taste.) Not a whole lot of movie people made the cover of LIFE magazine, but here's your provenance:



So, this post is for Mom, and for younger folks who can still spot a hunk when they see one ... and who have a secret stash of (shock! horror!) classic movie DVDs tucked away where no kids stumble over them, so they can be sneaked out and watched in the wee small hours ... on account of it's not kewl to watch movies made before you were born, and which don't involve rayguns, space battles, buckets of blood, nudity, graphic violence, people wearing their baseball caps backwards, and ... so forth.

Mind you, guys were just as delectable in those days. Here's something to ponder upon, before I paste in a few more Stewart Granger pictures for Mom (and kindred spirits) ... whatchya gonna do when all the great Pitt and Depp and Reeves and Smith movies are all 30 years old? You reckon you'll stop drooling over Brad in Legends of the Fall and Troy ...?!

I rest my case! And now -- here you go, Mom, have some more pictures: