Queerty Icons

Meet The Bear Icons. Grrrrr.

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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
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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.
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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.
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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”
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.

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