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Morning Man Classic: Michael Ontkean!
Dreamy Michael Ontkean turns 74 today and that is a perfect excuse to celebrate a guy who I always had a huge crush on.
Except for a cameo in the George Clooney film The Descendents, Ontkean hasn’t been seen in a any new movies or TV shows in several years. But the actor we know best from Twin Peaks, The Rookies and the film Making Love certainly made a lasting impression on us.
A Canadian, Ontkean was such a good hockey player growing up and at the University of Vermont that he was offered a contract to play professionally with the New York Rangers.
But the child of well-known Canadian performers Leonard and Muriel Ontkean loved acting more and headed to Hollywood in 1970. He soon landed a series of TV guest spots (including The Partridge Family!) and became a star when he was cast in The Rookies. He left the hit show after just two seasons and spent a few years writing poetry before returning to acting in 1977 with the hit Paul Newman film Slap Shot which united his two loves: acting and hockey.
He went on appearing in various films such as Voices (1979 with Amy Irving), Willie and Phil (1980) and Summer (1981 with Brooke Adams) and in 1982 reunited with Rookies co-star Kate Jackson in the film Making Love in which they played a married couple coping with the fact that Ontkean had fallen in love with another man played by Harry Hamlin.
Hamlin still talks about how this film killed his movie career while Ontkean has never made a similar claim. He went on to appear in such films as Made to Order and The Allnighter then landed another of his best-known roles: Sheriff Harry Truman in the 1990 TV series Twin Peaks.
Many other roles followed, my favorite of which was the 1994 miniseries Family Album opposite Jaclyn Smith.
Comments
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Eddie says:
I had such a teenage crush on him back when he was on The Rookies. So of course, I was besides myself when I saw him in the jockstrap in Slap Shot. But, the biggest impact he had on my life was from the movie Making Love. He will always be a handsome, smiling man in my mind.
Richard V says:
Happiest of birthdays Michael who I’ve also had and still have a major crush on since… a long time ago. Anyway I loved the movie Making Love, though it was done beautifully, especially for time it was done, the early 80’s.
robert says:
what a couple they made in “Making Love”…dreamy and hot…had a profound effect on me at the time..thought it was always what I wanted too. so thank you Harry..you made a difference in so many men’s lives with that one movie.for all it did not mean to you.