Rick Lenz- a Vintage Beefcake

When he was 14 years old (photo courtesy of his wife)

During the play version of Cactus Flower in 1968

Vs during the Film version

In the early 80s in his 40s

Photo of him last summer. He will be 85 this November.

OP I loved him in Cactus Flower. He was wonderful opposite a mesmerizing Goldie Hawn (in her Oscar winning performance). He also did a bunch of one man plays etc. in the 70s.

Stage and Screen profile.

OP he was married twice. He first got married while working on Cactus Flower (play) in 1967 and they got divorced in 1977. He then married his second wife in 1982 and they’ve been together since.

I also need to point out that he was born in Illinois but grew up in Jackson, Michigan.

He somehow looks better at 85 than he did when he was younger.

Promoting his memoir a few years ago

Totally agree with R14. I found him riveting on screen. And that may have been Goldie Hawn’s best performance.

He’s really 84 in R12’s pic? He looks great.

Goldie has always been her best in comedic roles and this was a very well written one to boot. Her Oscar win was shocking at the time because it was for a comedic performance and she was going and new to the industry. She was the films only Oscar nomination too.

Oh he was very cute and much better as Igor than the original actor in the play.

Lauren Bacall starred in the Broadway show and was both hurt and furious when Ingrid Bergman was cast over her for the film. They also cast Goldie Hawn as Toni over Brenda Vaccaro, who originated the character and wanted to do the movie.

Burt Brickenhoff originated the role and someone else played the role before Lenz. He wasn’t the second Igor, if I remember correctly, but the third. I’m pretty sure Bacall had already left when he took over the role.

Either way, he was the only one from the play they cast in the movie because his Igor was the one they felt was best for the film and he had a face for the big screen vs the many stage actors who don’t.

I love Ingrid Bergman but they should have gone with Bacall or someone else for the movie.

Fun fact- the 2011 movie “Just Go With It” starring Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston is a modern remake of Cactus Flower. Most people don’t know that.

R23 did you watch the movie? Because Bergman was absolutely amazing. Bergman’s film career was already dead and that’s why she did the play, because film roles were no longer coming her way. Bergman was still a huge movie star so it’s not shocking they cast her over Bacall who could no longer get A-movies. She did the play for over 2 years. Most movie stars who do plays do it for a limited run. She had nothing else to do.

Bacall’s film career was already dead. Not Bergman. Sorry. Just caught that

R22 incorrect. He was the second Igor. The Playbill page has all the info.

The film is highly enjoyable. It’s a great romcom and shot Goldie Hawn to superstardom and won her an Oscar for a comedic performance. She was delightful. Ingrid Bergman deserved a Best Actress nomination.

As for Lenz, the way he carried himself in this very airy way was always nice. He has a very likable and soft screen presence, but not one that would have ever translated to leading man. Which he never was. He seems like a lovely man in real life and a talented man and tall and handsome.

Why didn’t Goldie Hawn show up to the Oscars the year she won? I don’t care if she was filming something, (I believe she was filming “There’s A Girl In My Soup” in London) this was a big moment in her NEW career and she’s never had that chance again.

Why would you ask a question, answer it and not care about the answer, r29?

[quote]In 2017 they moved to LA full time but still visit NYC when they can.

Maybe if he'd done that 50 years earlier, he would've had a decent career. He has a made-for-TV face if ever I saw one.

I do remember Lenz, OP, but only in a hey it's that guy way. I'd never have remembered his name. He is indeed a very handsome man, perfect for Donald Hollinger-type roles and playing the guest villain on Columbo.

Let us not forget his memorable role as the Cabot Cove sheriff deputy who was schtupping every little old lady in town (except, of course, our own dear Jessica Fletcher) on Murder She wrote!

R31 if you look up his stats, he had a good career. He never not worked. And when work stalled he created work for himself.

I used to confuse him with Tim McMullen.

During the 70s, when he did some films, people used to say he looked like a young Jimmy Stewart.

Did he play Norman Bates?

R36 if he did that would be mentioned. Norman Bates was played by Perkins in 1960. This guy graduated college in 1964.

Pepperoni nips. ICK!!!!!

The Vintage Beefcake troll must have a number of external hard drives, since all her posts are followed by 30-40 photos.

(I suspect VB is also the one that shows up in dick photo threads and then posts the next 250 photos.....like Pringles, she can't stop at just one....)

R38, WHAT?? Those are the best. A lot better then dime size ones.

R33, but he never reached the heights of a Michael Lembeck or Ray Buktenica.

Bergman was terrific in the film. The NY Times reviewer Howard Thompson preferred the film to the Broadway play.

'The Columbia adaptation with a dandy cast headed by Ingrid Bergman Walter Matthau and a newcomer, young Golly Horn has more charm, credibility. flow and even bloom. But it is primarily the verb and skill of the performances, the pungent air of sexual chemistry, and the peppery good humor that make the movie so diverting. Neither the wisecracks, old and new and generally funny, nor the characterizations seem as bland as on Broadway. Miss Bergman in a rare comedy venture was inspirational on somebody's part . . .'

(^.^) Hawn not 📯

R39 I do not know of what you speak of. I actually do not reply to other threads often. That is very rare. Especially not ones of random penises. I rarely even reply to my own threads. Nor am I a troll. Your post seems a bit trollish though.

R41 that’s a ridiculous and immature way of thinking. If you look up ANY actor and find another actor to compare them to, you’ll find they never reached the heights of so-and-so. That’s just stupid. Not to mention he has no links to those two people you mentioned. You’re comparing them randomly.

That’s like saying Peter Krause never reached the status of Tom Cruise. The comparison is silly. Especially because they have no relation to one another.

Lenz was in Wayne's last film

R42 I 100% agree. I am the poster upthread who said Bergman was amazing, because she was. She honestly deserved an Oscar nod for that. She was amazing in the film and the film is incredible. An amazing romcom, one of the better ones, like Pretty Woman.

VB, I think you are trying to pull our collective leg…what is hunky about this guy?

He reminds me a bit of John Cassavetes' younger brother, minus the menace.

I like VB and love his posts. He has a passion and he sticks to it. He also is versatile in who he finds attractive. They don’t all look alike outside of probably all being white. I don’t think he’s ever posted a POC but that’s his prerogative.

He looks like a mixture of James Stewart and Anthony Perkins. All three had similar body types too.

He’s more conventionally handsome than both, though.

Vintage Teacakes, instead of these busted hets, how about some beefy hot gay men?

The whole film is on DailyMotion. It’s also available on Tubi until the end of the week.

The opening scene is one of my favorites in a film ever. Toni attempting suicide and Igor saving her only for her to be upset he ruined her suicide 😆. Goldie was a delight in this.

VB is not a troll! I really enjoy their threads -they often bring back great memories. In this case, I grew up with Cactus Flower as one of my favorite films, and was always thrilled to see Rick Lenz in his towel -even before I knew why. Please keep them (and us) coming, VB!

Didn’t Brenda Vaccaro quit the play (she earned a Tony nomination for) after she didn’t get cast in the movie version and they cast Goldie instead?

Where’s the beef? Oh, there isn’t any in this thread. Got it.

Oh I remember him well. I just saw him on Friday night on Green Acres playing Mr. Douglas' new law partner in Hooterville.

I like VB too r54. I feel his posts are celebrating handsome men from all eras of the past, but the key thing is the past. He isn’t posting about Jacob Elordi or Timmy, he’s posting about men from at least a good 20 years ago and earlier. Most men be posts about were young many years ago. I get the impression it is nostalgic for him.

Also, I noticed he never posts very famous people, which I like. He hasn’t posted a Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise, huge movie stars. It’s usually lesser known actors or models or pornographic actors/models etc.

R56 beefcake is a man of toned and/or muscular body or a man with a specific body type who is typically deemed as attractive. Beefcake has nothing to do with dick. This is where you’re confused and always bitching.

Our VB is a welcome celebration of beautiful men. We need more like him.

I like VBs threads as well…but I’m entitled to my opinion on his subjects, just like you do…

R53 in retrospect the suicide attempt seems out of character for Hawn's character and who'd kill themselves over Matthau? The theme song is insufferable

She would because she was in love with him. R62. And it wasn’t out of character. The character is overly dramatic throughout the play/film.

He saved Jamie Sommers.

R53 she's a hip young chick living in the village. What is she doing with the older married' Matthau to begin with? The attempted suicide scene is a plot device and out of keeping with the tone of the rest of the film.

R63 she's a hip young chick living in the village. What is she doing with the older married Matthau to begin with? The attempted suicide attempt is a plot device and out of keeping with the tone of the rest of the film.

He's in the dreadful Peter Sellers film Where Does It Hurt? Lenz has few film credits but a ton TV appearances.

R65 you’ve never seen a young woman with an older man? Especially in the past? WOW. You know nothing about the world. An older Dentist with a young girlfriend isn’t uncommon.

Her killing herself was to make him feel guilt for not leaving his wife. It was 100% in character. And it’s a film. OF COURSE THERE ARE PLOT DEVICES. What a stupid fucking comment. “There was a plot device in a MOVIE!!!” SHOCKING

Sellers wasn’t an American actor.

sorry R68 but I feel differently. Get laid much?

I too always like VBC's threads--I do get a little spooked, however, when he features men born in the late 60s and early 70s, because, gosh, that's not old, right?

R70 getting laid has nothing to do with the film, a film you haven’t watched. Retard ass.

(^.^) and getting laid has nothing to do with your life

[Quote] Retard ass.

How to spot an INCEL

[Quote] a film you haven’t watched

a film you watched too much. A third of the posts on this thread are yours.

R75 ok? A film I love. It makes sense for me to be on here discussing it and its stars. It doesn’t make sense for a retard with no job, no education, no family who loves him to be on here discussing it when he hasn’t watched it.

Go apply for some schooling and stop trying to engage with people out of your pay grade. Also, learn to keep it to one post.

Rick Lenz is no star.

Why include him in a Vintage Beefcake post? He’d vintage but no beefcake.

He's reminiscent of an older Elex Michaelson, almost like a dad/son type of resemblance

'Rick Lenz, I'll give ya 50 bucks to tell me who that is' @2:44

[Quote] A film I love. It makes sense for me to be on here discussing it and its stars. It doesn’t make sense for a retard with no job, no education, no family who loves him to be on here discussing it when he hasn’t watched it.

[Quote] Go apply for some schooling and stop trying to engage with people out of your pay grade. Also, learn to keep it to one post.

Ragng alcoholic with dozens of posts on this thread

I don't know him

CONTRIVED

From his perspective I get it, sex without-the-strings, but what exactly is the woman getting out of it?

Had Toni been using Julian just like he was using her it would’ve made more sense by having her get into the relationship to benefit off of the money he was willing to spend on her, but Toni actually wanted commitment and marriage!

Besides that why is she suddenly so concerned about the wife’s feelings now as she’d been having a relationship with Julian for a whole year before and not worried about it then?

He was no Kay Lenz, of course.

But then, who is?

R83 you need to go get a job.

YOU not being into Julian doesn’t mean someone else wouldn’t be. Welcome to adulthood. We all are attracted to different people for different reasons. You uneducated, no schooling, no job loser living off your family. Pathetic.

R83 you speak as if the play/film don’t acknowledge the age difference. It’s acknowledged numerous times. Toni is only 19 and fell in love with an older “married” dentist. The fact he is married (he isn’t really) is part of what makes her want him more. It’s all acknowledged. Maybe watch the film before trying to discuss it. And no, you didn’t watch it if you are still making the uneducated and uncultured comments you’re making. In the past it was common for elder men to have YOUNG side pieces behind their wives backs. And if they divorced the man almost always got a YOUNG woman to marry. Not someone his age.

You still see that today.

You acting like this is all just so far fetched shows your lack of knowledge and culture. You should stick to Marvel movies. They’re more your speed. Keep of the mature topics.

He was the dad in Beans Baxter.

R86 I wonder how and where this dentist and the village chick met

TV Guide Magazine

The movie was a misfire despite the presence of many of filmdom's best talents. Diamond's adaptation fails to provide any new wrinkles to the tired plot and Gene Saks's direction is only as good as the material he's been given.

Variety

Cactus Flower drags, which is probably the worst thing that can be said of a light comedy. It's due to sloppy direction by Gene Saks and the miscasting of Walter Matthau opposite Ingrid Bergman.

The New Yorker Pauline Kael

Full of forced, unnaturally fast quips that one might, in a state of extreme exhaustion, find fairly funny.

Take it up with Richard Winters R86

OP Lenz was often compared to Jimmy Stewart and Anthony Perkins neither of whom were ever considered beefcake

Ingrid Bergman was marvelous in that film. She was so warm and likable. Also, she’s 100% more talented than Bacall.

OP, there’s a bit of Jim Neighbors in him.

Nice looking, yes, but it's a stretch to call him "beefcake."

R88 people tend to go to different parts of the city. That’s the beauty of NYC, you can get anywhere by foot, bus, train or taxi. Being from different parts of the city means they would never meet? Where do You Live? Because it certainly isn’t NY.

Where's the beef?

Under the towel you low-class, uneducated reject of a gay man. R96

Just the bottom of the barrel.

[Quote] Under the towel you low-class, uneducated reject of a gay man. R96

It's only a movie! t's only a movie! It's only a movie! It's only a movie!

[Quote] OP he was married twice. He first got married while working on Cactus Flower (play) in 1967 and they got divorced in 1977. He then married his second wife in 1982 and they’ve been together since.

[Quote] I also need to point out that he was born in Illinois but grew up in Jackson, Michigan.

[Quote]Goldie has always been her best in comedic roles and this was a very well written one to boot. Her Oscar win was shocking at the time because it was for a comedic performance and she was going and new to the industry. She was the films only Oscar nomination too.

[Quote] R22 incorrect. He was the second Igor. The Playbill page has all the info.

[Quote] As for Lenz, the way he carried himself in this very airy way was always nice. He has a very likable and soft screen presence, but not one that would have ever translated to leading man. Which he never was. He seems like a lovely man in real life and a talented man and tall and handsome.

[Quote] Why didn’t Goldie Hawn show up to the Oscars the year she won? I don’t care if she was filming something, (I believe she was filming “There’s A Girl In My Soup” in London) this was a big moment in her NEW career and she’s never had that chance again.

[Quote] R31 if you look up his stats, he had a good career. He never not worked. And when work stalled he created work for himself.

[Quote] R36 if he did that would be mentioned. Norman Bates was played by Perkins in 1960. This guy graduated college in 1964.

[Quote] R41 that’s a ridiculous and immature way of thinking. If you look up ANY actor and find another actor to compare them to, you’ll find they never reached the heights of so-and-so. That’s just stupid. Not to mention he has no links to those two people you mentioned. You’re comparing them randomly.

[Quote] That’s like saying Peter Krause never reached the status of Tom Cruise.

Someone has too much time on their hands

[Quote] R56 beefcake is a man of toned and/or muscular body or a man with a specific body type who is typically deemed as attractive. Beefcake has nothing to do with dick. This is where you’re confused and always bitching.

[Quote] R65 you’ve never seen a young woman with an older man? Especially in the past? WOW. You know nothing about the world. An older Dentist with a young girlfriend isn’t uncommon.

[Quote]Her killing herself was to make him feel guilt for not leaving his wife. It was 100% in character. And it’s a film. OF COURSE THERE ARE PLOT DEVICES. What a stupid fucking comment. “There was a plot device in a MOVIE!!!” SHOCKING

[Quote]Sellers wasn’t an American actor.

[Quote] R70 getting laid has nothing to do with the film, a film you haven’t watched. Retard ass.

[Quote] R75 ok? A film I love. It makes sense for me to be on here discussing it and its stars. It doesn’t make sense for a retard with no job, no education, no family who loves him to be on here discussing it when he hasn’t watched it

.[Quote]Go apply for some schooling and stop trying to engage with people out of your pay grade. Also, learn to keep it to one post.

[Quote] R83 you need to go get a job.

[Quote]YOU not being into Julian doesn’t mean someone else wouldn’t be. Welcome to adulthood. We all are attracted to different people for different reasons

[Quote]You uneducated, no schooling, no job loser living off your family. Pathetic.

[Quote]Under the towel you low-class, uneducated reject of a gay man. R96

[Quote]That time Vicki Lawrence sent Rue McClanahan a stripper to cheer her up when she was very sick Rue McClanahan wrote about this experience in her memoir – “My First Five Husbands…And the Ones Who Got Away” -When Rue was in “Mama’s Family” she got very sick and was hospitalized. In an effort to cheer her up, Vicki Lawrence , the star of “Mama’s Family,” sent Rue a stripper. Turns out it was the kid’s FIRST GIG –

The world's oldest INCEL

R99 yeah, you. A dumbass, low-life, unemployed, no education reject whose family doesn’t even love him, all over this thread without having even watched the film or anything with this man.

Get off here. Get a job. You’re an adult.

[Quote] Also, learn to keep it to one post.

says the troll who has dozens of pots on this thread

(^.^) posts

OP this is beefcake. He makes Rick Lenz look like dental floss

[Quote] people tend to go to different parts of the city. That’s the beauty of NYC, you can get anywhere by foot, bus, train or taxi. Being from different parts of the city means they would never meet? Where do You Live? Because it certainly isn’t NY.

Matthau's dentist traveled by car. I remember it being towed in one scene. and the likelihood that these two would have the same circle of friends or go to the same places is very unlikely. Many people meet through mutual friends or at work. It's never explained how these 2 met. Matthau was 25 years older than Hawn.

Beefcake? that is a stretch.

BEEFY: heavily and powerfully built. a beefy football player. Lenz was long and lanky

"It's never explained how these 2 met. "

YES, it is explained in the film. Igor (Lenz) asks Toni (Hawn) how she met Julian (Matthau). She replies that he came into the record shop in the village where she works. Igor says he never noticed her working there, and Toni replies, "Well, Julian did."

When you don't pay attention, you miss things. And then you make an ass out of yourself talking about it later...

Saw the film only once about 30 years ago. What I remember most is the locations used at Thompson and 8th and around the corner at 6th and 9th where the nightclub was and where Matthau's car was towed, My cousin lived across the street from the location used for the record shop in the 80s and 90s. How many times have you seen it and how recently? Do you always get upset so easily?

R108 the poster didn’t even watch it. He’s just running his mouth. Like always.

Where's the beefcake?

Here's Ingrid with some authentic beefcake

Hugh O'Brien

R111 Here's some!

R114 saving pics from the other thread to post here is weird. Just post the thread if you’re so obsessed.

Now sign off and get a job.

(^.^) obsessed stalker

[Quote] Get off here. Get a job. You’re an adult.

[Quote] Now sign off and get a job.

Anyone who disagrees with her needs a job apparently

back to vintage beefcake

R117 no. YOU just need a job. Dumbass.

and you just need a blowjob

Maxwell Caulfield played the dentist in a 2011 revival at the Westside Arts Theater in Manhattan

And while the dashing Mr. Caulfield lopes around with the slightly horrified air of a leading man thrust into character-actor work, Ms. Robbins gives her dishrag-turned-cougar character the energy, wiliness and finally glamour that it deserves. If this really were summer stock, she and the rest of the “Cactus Flower” company would have the relief of knowing that another, better production was just a week or two away.

R120 you don’t get those either. You’re broke. You live off family who don’t even want you. You don’t have an education. You don’t work. You sit on here lying all day. It’s pathetic. You’re a bottom feeder. It’s disgusting

So a gender reversal r121?

Kathy Lee and Hoda discuss the 2011 revival of Cactus Flower

R121 sorry. I read that as he played the nurse for some reason. Yes. That is cool.

The 2011 revival was an Off-Broadway production. It wasn’t brought to Broadway.

And they closed it within 2 months. It didn’t last.

yes R126 which is what The Westside Theater is. I don't think the 'creaky, retrograde play' was ever revived on Broadway.

R122 🙋🏻‍♂️🙋🏻‍♀️You'll be missed . ..

R108 they may have met but their relationship still doesn't convince. She certainly must have met many men in the record store but why did she take up with Matthau who is 20 years older and has the face of a 'half melted rubber bulldog'?