Meet The Bear Icons. Grrrrr.
While there was no clear winner in our Bears vs. Twinks war last week, the one thing we learned is that you love your gay ursines. Introducing a new feature here at Queerty– “Icons” will look at the faces and personalities that shape your world. We couldn’t think of a better place to start than with the wonderful world of bears. We asked you for some of your favorites and after screening out Yogi, Paddington and Fozzie (you voted for ‘Bart Simpson’ in your high school student elections, didn’t you?), here’s your favorite fuzzy, wuzzy bear icons.
| The Bear | How You Know Him |
Why You Want Him In Your Cave |
 Tom Colicchio |
Head judge of Top Chef, owner of meat-centric restaurant Craft. | Colicchio is both gruff and tender to the Top Chef kids and gamely accepts his status as bear icon, even if he starts to sweat and smile when its mentioned. Plus, he can cook and we all know food is the way to a man’s heart. |
 Jonathan Frakes |
Commander William Ryker of the Starship Enterprise. | Besides directing the only good TNG film, Frakes also has taken the status as ‘bear icon’ as a compliment. The way you can tell if you’re watching a good episode of The Next Generation is whether or not Ryker has his beard. |
 Jack Black |
Omnipresent comedian and occasional animated panda. | While the moral of Kung Fu Panda seems to be, “Don’t worry if you never try at anything, you can still be a success”, Black is a decidedly unsentimental dude. To top it off, he played Jesus in “Prop 8: The Musical” |
 Bob Hoskins |
Irascible British actor, friend to animated rabbits. | For gays of a certain age, Eddie Valiant is still their first crush. Hoskins has a knack for playing ornery and mean and with the accent, he’s a double threat |
 Kevin Smith |
Indie film director and huge dork. | Has posed on the cover of A Bear’s Life magazine and has said, “If I were into cock, I’d have my pick of the pricks”, which admittedly, is pretty damn cute, even if we can’t remember the last time he made a movie worth seeing. |
 John Goodman |
Roseanne’s TV hubbie, Cohen Brothers go-to actor. | A bear of the sweet variety, Goodman, whether he’s playing a hard-scrabble husband or sorta neocon Walter Sobchak, Goodman is the sort of all-American Joe you want to have a beer with while cuddling by the fireplace. |
 James Corden |
Creator of the BBC’s Gavin & Stacey, star of Lesbian Vampire Killers. | Besides making some funny British TV, Corden deserves major props for giving Daniel Radcliffe a thirty-second long kiss at the Theatregoer’s Choice Awards in February. Go ahead, watch it for yourself. |
 Alec Baldwin |
Head of GE Television Programming and Microwave Ovens Divison. | This one came as a surprise. We had no idea that Alec Baldwin was a bear icon! Baldwin, when he’s not cursing out his daughter or stumping for the Democrats, is quite possibly the funniest man on TV right now. We would go on a date with him in a heartbeat. |
 Harvey Fierstein |
Third male lead in Death to Smoochy. Just kidding! | The author of The Torch Song Trilogy, Harvey’s basically a one-man gay institution. Straddling the indie and mainstream world’s with equal footing, his gravely voice is as unmistakable as his razor wit. |
 Jack Radcliffe |
Former porn star. | In the bear porn industry, Radcliffe is God. It’s easy to see why– if Plato were a bear, this would be his ideal. |
| The Bear | How You Know Him |
Why You Want Him In Your Cave |
This may be the most fun we’ve had in ages. Let us know your favorite bear icons in the comments.
damn, left off one more list…..laughter…..If I am not a bear, no one is!
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I’m torn between Jonathan Frakes, Alec Baldwin and Jack Radcliff. I’ll let you know after the fourgy in my head is over.
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Kevin Smith, when he does gay jokes they are funny. Whats the reverse of homophobic? Gay progressive? That’s him.
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Bob Hoskins is British,born in Suffolk and brought up in north London.
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Damian “Pink Eyes” Abraham, from the Toronto band Fucked Up! Plus he gets naked at the drop of a hat.
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Anyone else seeing the formatting of the chart all messed up? I’ve tried two browsers.
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NO SETH ROGEN? Come ON!
But, oh, Colicchio. I’ve had his pork belly. Salty and tender.
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Jack Radcliffe no longer does porn.
He’s a realtor in San Francisco.
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Mike Kitchens from Window Media is everyone’s favorite bear. He is slap on some leather and be at a bear party at the drop of a dirty dildo. Having known him at conferences for over 10 years, I have had the chance to participate in many adventures with him.
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JOHN GOODMAN WAS NOT THE DUDE. ABOMINABLE FAIL.
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Definately Jonathen Frakes!!!…
What about the guy from Reaper (dunno his name)
Or the Mythbusters!!!!…Jamie and Adam…. Beret anyone???
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The bear culture can include leather folks but it’s not a hallmark of what a “bear” is to slap on leather for a bear event. Most guys wear denim.
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Scott Caan? James Caan’s son? What a hot musclecub! Talk about beef…. I am not into any scene, but do enjoy the bear scene. Yet, I have issues with bears sometimes. They play it off like they are so masculine that being fem is a bad thing. Just look at A Bear’s Life magazine, which is also called ‘For the masculine man’..wtf? I just think that’s stupid. Bears and gay men in general do not have to prove how masc they are and shouldn’t.
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John Goodman is a butch dyke icon. Margaret Cho says so.
I do think it’s a bit funny that Frank Martini advertises his real estate work in all the bear rags he used to pose for as Jack Radcliffe.
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@David Mixner: David, you’ll always be number one FOB bear in my heart…
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Half of these aren’t what I had classed as ‘bears’, but are more just fatties. That said, if these fatties are classed as bears, then that means i’m a bear too! Dreams come true!
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All fairly pale, and most of them as smooth as a baby’s bottom.
These guys aren’t exactly bear icons, but they know how to grow beards, at least:
http://www.zztop.com/
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Does anyone other than me remember the brief time when women were accepted into the bear subculture?
Back in the early 90s, when I use to frequent the Lonestar in SF, there were a few women who idenfied with the Bear culture and hung out there. The early days of the Bear subculture were a lot less rigid or defined regarding who “was” and who “wasn’t”.
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Obesity is a serious epidemic in this country, and excessive facial hair can leave marks.
Big Dan Teague? Ooookay…walter as a bear’s funny as hell….where’s rick warren and rush?
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hmm…none of them really strike my fancy, but if I had to chose, I’d say Alec Baldwin. The others don’t do a thing for me. However, my bf has had a huge boner for Jack Black for quite a few years.
I like the guy that is competing in Hell’s Kitchen, Ben is his name. He’s the Jewish guy. I think he’s super hot.
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Billy Mays–the infomercial bear that yells at you to buy the latest gadget. Grrr
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Yeah does Scott Caan count? My god. If he does…
I can positively say I lean towards the bear side, but not many of these guys do it for me. I think maybe I’m more “handsome mountain man” loving than just overweight hairy guys. Fit, handsome guys with scruff and bearish, outdoorsy qualities, count me in.
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That’s a good list except Harvey Fierstein does not belong there. Replace him with Father “Pink Eyes” Damian from the band Fucked Up!
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Frank Martini/Jack Radcliffe is an escort in FTL FL. I wonder why a hot porn star like him have to do that and try to please all.
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That bear flag is wrong. There’s no second dark brown stripe in the original.
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i’m in dork heaven due to your inclusion of jonathan frakes. thank you, queerty! you’re my imzadi.