[from The Hollywood Reporter] -- Ex-stuntman also appeared in 'Love Boat,' 'Charlie's Angels'
By Gregg Kilday
Nov 16, 2009, 06:51 PM ET

Dennis Cole, a stuntman who rose to TV stardom in the 1966 series "Felony Squad" and went on to dozens of guest-starring appearances throughout the 1970s and '80s, died Sunday at Holy Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He was 69.

The cause of death was not released.

Although born in Detroit, Cole had the blond, athletic look of a quintessential California surfer, which earned him the attention of physique magazines and led to his casting as rookie detective Jim Briggs on "Felony." After that show's 2 1/2 year-run, Cole followed with the series "Bracken's World" and "Bearcats!" and a stint on the daytime soap "The Young and the Restless" that began in 1981.

Cole guest-starred on such series as "Medical Center," "Police Story," "The Love Boat" and "Charlie's Angels," where he met his second wife, Jaclyn Smith, to whom he was married from 1978-81.

He encountered tragedy in 1991 when his son Joe, from his first marriage to Sally Ann Bergeron, was murdered during a home invasion robbery. The case was never solved.

In recent years, Cole became a real estate broker in Fort Lauderdale with his wife, Ree Cole, whom he recently divorced amicably. He is survived by his brother Richard.

A blurb in the 1974 issue of Physique Pictorial pins Dennis' age at the time of his AMG modeling as 20, in 1960, and that at the time of his session he was a dance instructor at an Arthur Murray studio, "but has since gone into acting."

I can remember seeing Dennis in some of his 70s/80s TV guest appearances. Farewell, Dennis, and thanks for all the years of entertainment!

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

In case you've considered picking up some of their earlier releases, now's the time...

The AMG Store

Just one of my favorite songs, and I needed to hear it tonight, so I thought I'd share it with you.....

Classic muscleman pose -- love the trunks!

Believe it or not, that is a real posing pouch in a Lon photo!

Thanks to Robert for sharing this image. John Krivos also posed for AMG and Apollo, and probably other LA photographers as well.

A wonderful scan by Derek of this unknown AMG model -- most likely a mid-50s shot, judging from the back-projection. Love the furry legs!





Many more classic AMG models can be found at the official AMG site.

Heads up, folks --

I'm off to the islands for the next two weeks and away from my files (email only on the ship), so please check back after October 12 for another look into the world of the vintage male physique!

Aloha!

One of the all-time greats -- so very glad to know he is still with us!

... that one of the most popular young movie stars of 1939 was so buff? Gonna have to search me out some Andy H. movies now...!

I went in search of a pic tonight -- didn't find it -- but about twenty pages in on my Google search I saw something interesting, clicked on it, and discovered this amazing site. Let me quote its mission statement --

At Stirred, Straight Up, with a Twist, it helps to remember that it is permanently 1962 (give or take a decade); and that the problems of the real world can be solved with a touch of glamour and a dash of style.

We celebrate the gods and goddesses of celluloid and vinyl, with nary a trace of elitism: Jeffrey Hunter or Cary Grant; Eydie Gorme or Maria Callas, we worship them all, and accord them their proper place in the pantheon of greats.

We also have absolutely no theme whatsoever, make posts at random, and our entries can be viewed alternately as charmingly eclectic, or annoyingly erratic. But, we hope, at least entertaining.

(I totally agree with you, TJB -- Sophia is a Goddess!)

[To say that finding v-m-p included among TJB's "Links to Fabulosity" has made my day is an understatement. Thank you, kind sir!]

With thanks to DS, who wrote

"I'm a fan of your blog and it seemed to me that this image would seem appropriate for it. From Flandrin in the 1850s to the male physique photographers in the 1950s, a century of art."

...because Maciste has waited long enough...! ;-)

Another 90s one-hit wonder -- I played the LP over and over back in the day, but never picked up the CD until a month or so ago, when I found it for $1.00 on eBay (just because the case was cracked!).