Morning Man Classic: Jeff Bridges!

Last night I was talking to a friend at a party and the topic became first movie star crush.

Hers was this handsome guy has been a big star since 1971’s The Last Picture Show and has been going strong ever since.

He is, of course, Jeff Bridges and I myself developed a crush on him after seeing him in Against All Odds.

I don’t think he’s ever been so sexy in a movie and he’s been plenty sexy in lots of them including Jagged Edge, Starman and The Fabulous Baker Boys.

What is so impressive about Jeff is how he has lasted so long as an A-List actor in major films scoring Oscar nominations f0r The Last Picture Show and Thunderbolt and Lightfoot in the 1970s, Starman in 1985, and The Contender in 2001.

On his fifth nomination, for Crazy Heart in 2009, he finally won an Oscar. The next year, he was nominated again for True Grit.

About a decade ago, I did a cover story on Jeff for Orange Coast Magazine. It was a telephone interview that began in his hotel after he had spent the day filming The Door in the Floor that he had to cut short. He called me back the next morning while he was being driven back to the set.

It was a wonderful conversation about his family, his movies and his art.

Not long after, I got invited to a party in Santa Monica celebrating the publication of his book of photographs. I went up to Jeff to say hello and reminded him of our interview.

He had no idea what I was talking about!

Doh!

But he’s such a great guy with fans which I saw a few months ago at the TCM Film Festival where Jeff appeared to talk about The Big Lebowski. He was fun and open and relaxed and had us in the palm of his hand.