Non-horror icons which influenced your childhood and growing up years
 

Most of us have our childhood favorites - icons whom we idolised during our formative years.

I remember having a major crush on Honor Blackman (Pussy Galore) when I watched Goldfinger for the very first time on grainy VHS. I must have been 6 or 7 years old at that time. My fascination for blondes grew over the years, and even now a good-looking blonde becomes one of my instant favorites.

I used to love crime thriller books involving the law. My earliest foray into reading was during school, when the Famous Five, the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, the Three Investigators, etc., were the favorites of my group of friends/classmates. This later extended into me reading through (almost) all the books by Erle Stanley Gardner which had Perry Mason as the main character. I simply loved Mason to bits. Even today I can recall all the other characters from those series of books - Della Street, Mason's secretary, Hamilton Burger, the district attorney and Mason's main adversary, Paul Drake, his chief investigator, etc. This fascination turned me towards Agatha Christie, Frederic Dannay & Manfred Bennington Lee (Ellery Queen), and eventually, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes books.

On the media front, 007 was influencing me in a big way. Sean Connery was the ultimate spy, liked George Lazenby in his brief foray, and even Roger Moore holds a special place in my heart. I was totally cross-eyed when Diana Rigg, Daniela Bianchi, Jane Seymour, Tanya Roberts flashed through the screens in the 007 films.

War films had a special charm for me as well. Kwai, Longest Day, Tora, Eagles, Escape, Western Front, you name it, I had seen it. Which brought me to Stone's Platoon, a special, special film which touched me in a way no other film had ever done. Even today, when I rewatch it for the zillionth time, I can't help being touched deeply inside in a manner I can't explain in words.

Above all, the big two for me were Eastwood and Bronson. Westerns and crime capers alike, both men rocked the silver screen with their iconic presence, and I couldn't help but watch them in complete, jaw-dropped awe.

And of course, this wouldn't be complete if I didn't mention The Neverending Story and The Goonies. I have lost count of the number of times I have seen both films, but even today during a re-watch, I can't help shake off the goosebumps feeling which makes my hairs stand. Fantasy films became a weak point for me ever since I watched Wizards of the Lost Kingdom for the very first time. For a kid of 10-11, it was a huge influence.

The only album I remember hearing over and over again during my school years was Kraftwerk's Computer World. Other than that, most of the disco hits of the mid-80s was pretty mind-blowing in those times. Oh, and Billy Joel.

And then, there's Alien.

But that's another story.

The only non-horror icons I can think of are from my high school years, and that would be the cast of Star Wars.

The first icon that really had an impact on me was John Wayne. My grandfather loved John Wayne and I remember we used to watch them all the time. He would make apple pie with vanilla ice cream for us and we would sit down and watch McClintock, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Hondo, and pretty much every other movie he ever made. John Wayne has shaped my idea of how a man should be, most of the important men in my life have reminded me of John Wayne. Just a quiet simple man that works hard and lives by his own moral code.

Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Princess Leia had a huge effect on me, they taught me that the light side of the force is much stronger than the dark side. I remember my dad took me to the theater for the rerelease and even though I'd seen it on VHS before, you really need to watch it on the big screen to get the full effect, especially if you're a kid it feels like you've been transported into another world. I wanted to be the hero like Luke Skywalker, I wanted to be cool like Han Solo and I wanted to be strong like Princess Leia. I've been a Star Wars fan since birth and I'll be a Star Wars fan til death.

The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, my dad read me the hobbit when I was little. It was an illustrated version of the book with pictures from the 70's cartoon of the Hobbit done by Rankin and Bass so I actually paid attention when he was reading because I had something to look at. When the Lord of the Rings came out I was in the 7th grade and my dad took me to see the movie which I totally fell in love with. It was after the movie that I wanted to read the book and trust me reading that book when you're 12 is super hard because J.R.R Tolkien likes to go one describing every tree and flower in a forest for 20 pages but I managed to power through all three book in about a years time lol. Lord of the Rings brought me together with probably the closest friend I've ever had, I even got voted by my 8th grade class to be most likely to start a Lord of the Rings fan club and I'm not as embarrassed by that as I probably should be.

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"Enjoy that dead girl's body."

Like most little/young girls, I had quite a few "celebrity crushes" growing up, and sometimes they played a part in the interests I developed.

Although I am mostly a Metalhead, I am the biggest Boy George fan you'll ever meet, and I have been since I was 8 years old (and he was my very first crush too). His music and his words have helped me through a lot of struggles in my life, and I can honestly say that I wouldn't be here now without his influence on my life.

And, although I guess this is kind of horror related, I was obsessed with the sci-fi series "V" as a kid, which was actually what turned me into a Robert Englund fan.

What else... Star Trek... I LOVED Star Trek! And Blackadder... I LOVED that show. I still do, actually, I have the box set. Oh, and I almost forgot... Indiana Jones! All in all, thinking back, the 80s was such a cool time to grow up in. I only wish I had been just a little bit older.

Frank Zappa, John Lennon, Stan Lee, that's all I can think of right now.

Dave Brock, Douglas Adams, Tolkein and CS Lewis, plus a host of historical characters both fictional - especially the books of Rosemary Sutcliffe and the adventures of Richard Bolitho, 18th Century British naval officer - and real.

I used to read of the lives of historical characters thinking life for them seemed so simple, so black and white ... an illusion, of course.

In short. Van Damme, Marty Friedman, Iron Maiden.

Too many to list:

Randy Rhoads (Ozzy's Guitarist) and My Brother were my inspirations to first pick up a guitar. Eddie Van Halen was probably next major influence followed by Eric Clapton and a host of other blues guitarists. There are probably 100 other guitarists who influenced me, and while they all had an effect on my playing and songwriting style in some way, I'm most commonly told that I sound like either Eric Clapton (Cream Years) or Eddie Van Halen (depending on the song) which is no surprise since I spent a long time learning every song I could from them.

I saw Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes as a kid and absolutely fell in love the whole thing. The Time Period, the Character, the Mystery, everything. From there I went out and bought Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie books which helped develop not only my love of literature but mysteries and older time periods.

Clint Eastwood & John Wayne (and Waylon Jennings to certain extent) made me want to be a Cowboy...lol. I own lots of guns and enjoy shooting as a sport, but all my handguns are Revolvers, from my Dirty Harry 44 Magnums to my 45 Long Colt Single Action Cowboy Guns. I would be just as happy living in the mountains riding a horse, wearing a cowboy hat, driving cattle as I would be doing anything else I enjoy.

I also saw The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy Miniseries back as a kid in the 80's which started me on Douglas Adams and helped develop not only my love of Science Fiction but also my sense of humor. It was kind of like reading something I had written because Douglas's sense of humor is pretty close to my own. Nobody around me ever seemed to get my humor but I knew Douglas would have.

Humphrey Bogart, Orson Welles & Cary Grant hooked me on old movies. I've seen pretty much everything they've been in. Each of those 3 guys effected me in different ways, but also in many of the same ways as well.

I also took Piano Lessons as a child and Glenn Gould who was a classical pianist totally captured my attention. He turned me into an rabid classical music fan. He also taught me about interpretation and how to break the rules. I have over 100 recordings of certain classical works and every single one of them are different. Listening to and studying different interpretations of the same thing is something I absolutely love to do and it relates so much to life and the world in general, and most people will probably never understand it.

That's probably more than anybody cares to know but thanks for starting the thread V. It's been interesting.

You have me very curious about Glenn Gould. Can you recommend a "best of", or best "album/piece" CD, that I can purchase?

On that request, sometimes when I ask people for a recommendation, they'll sometimes say, "They're all good", "people have different tastes", or "you should start with". Which is all makes sense, but based on what you've told me, I want what you think is the best. I can tell you what I like, but I like new things too. I like Romantic classical (that is emotional, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Brahms); and not very interested in "heady"/intellectual, nor pastoral pieces. I like ragtime and jazz piano too. I like solo piano concertos, as compared to with orchestra.

As a little kid I liked to play our upright and organ for fun. Just played whatever sounded good to me. I went through about 4 different periods of piano lessons, and none were very successful, because I did not like to practice, and didn't find the training engaging. I went on to be a hobby keyboard composer/recording artist, and have jammed with bands on keys and bass. I still do not read music (at least not with any usable speed).

Boy George does have a talent of putting genuine emotion into his singing. I was really impressed by V-miniseries too (and I remember Englund in it, the part with the liquid nitrogen and broken-off hand). I always felt very at home watching Star Trek & Next Gen.

Besides Boy George, who were the celebrity crushes, and what interests did they inspire?