Who are you personal Heroes?

What is a Hero?

According to the dictionary: A person who is admired for great or brave acts of fine qualities. An illustrious warrior. One who shows great courage.

As writer's we visualize. I like to have a visual image of my characters to study their movements, actions, gestures, which is why I prefer if they're an actor and I can watch their movies over and over again.

This is my share for today, a few of my personal heroes:

Who doesn’t know John Wayne? The mere mention of his name conjures an image of a man larger than life, no matter his age, in any given movie, he’s my number one hero…always will be. There isn't a stinker in his movie line-up. My son, Michael, is named in honor of him, chosen by my dad before he passed away. Dad was John Wayne’s biggest fan EVER!!!

Who could forget Robert Mitchum in River of No Return with Marilyn Monroe? Mitchum fights for all their lives and brings them home; but it's the final scene where he tosses Kay (Monroe) over his shoulder and hauls her out of the saloon and then she drops her red high heels into the street as he and his son take her 'home'.

What about Cary Grant in An Affair to Remember with Deborah Kerr? My favorite scenes are when 'Nickie' takes 'Terry' to visit his grandmother and the final scene when he realizes she cripple. Cary Grant was a great actor, just sayin'.

Or Kirk Douglas as Spartacus. The movie itself was terrific, but as far as I'm concerned, no one but Kirk could have played that part.

I’ll never forget Bill Holden and Steve McQueen in Stalag 17 or Richard Widmark in The Alamo. They were their characters.

I love the of visual of Clark Gable standing at the bottom of the stairs, looking up, as Scarlett descends in Gone With The Wind.

Or of Errol Flynn standing on the crest of the hill saying Welcome to Sherwood in Robin Hood.

Then there’s Audie Murphy. What’s not to love? A real life military hero, his Destry character, but I love the movie about his true life story, To Hell and Back.

And what about Jimmy Stewart? He too was a military man, a 2- Star General. But when I think of him I think of It’s a Wonderful Life, Strategic Air Command, The Glenn Miller Story, The Shop Around the Corner, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington…and the list goes on.

Let not forget Red Skelton. The Fuller Brush Man, Neptune's Daughter, or his many televison series, all designed to bring us laughter at his expense.

And not to be left out, Clint Eastwood. I’ll take Dirty Harry on any given day. And the man can sing…don’t believe me, watch Paint Your Wagon, or listen to the final song of Gran Torino. That’s my personal favorite movie of his. Don’t get me wrong, I love all his stuff, but it’s his old grizzled character of Walt Kowalski that has my heart.

There are many, many more:

Gary Cooper as Sergeant York, in High Noon, and They Came to Cordura.

Howard Keel as the eldest Adam Pontipee in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Calamity Jane, Showboat (boy that man can sing to me any day of the week) and don't forget him on the series Dallas.

Gregory Peck in To Kill A Mockingbird, Moby Dick, The Big Country, Guns of Navarone, and How the West was Won.

Jerry Orbach’s character of Lenny Briscoe in the original Law and Order is one of my favorites. Everything about his charcter is memorable.

I need to stop, I could go on forever...but there you have it, some of my favorite characters.

Who are your favorites and why?

Have a great day.

Deb