TEEN YOUR ENTHUSIASM (24)
By:
June 11, 2023
One in a series of 25 enthusiastic posts, contributed by 25 HILOBROW friends and regulars, on the topic of heartthrobs from our adolescences). Series edited by Heather Quinlan.
LEONARD WHITING
The movie Romeo and Juliet starring Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey came out in 1968. I was about 13 then, living in Panama City, Panama and attending an all-girls Catholic school. Boys were a complete mystery, other than the opportunities to dance at weekend parties. We were pretty boy-crazy and dancing was as close as we got. A lot of conversations centered on boys and falling in love. Chastity and the role of the Catholic Church in fair Verona certainly resonated with girls coming of age in Panama. We had strict Spanish nuns and adolescent hormones.
All of my girlfriends had seen the movie and we were quite enthralled with dreamy Leonard. He looked excellent in tights! I wished I had long luxurious hair like Olivia. Not long after the movie’s release Leonard Whiting made a South American promotional tour. Word was out that he would be staying at the Continental Hotel, just a few blocks from my apartment building. We formed a plan. My sister and a few other girls and I spent the entire weekend stalking the hotel lobby and hounding the staff. We went in daytime shifts, feeling confident that he must come through the lobby at some point. The hotel concierge was amazingly tolerant. He never confirmed or denied Whiting’s presence at the hotel, and he tolerated us for hours as we chattered about what we would do or say when he eventually came down an elevator. Leonard was my first celebrity crush, and I was not alone. Sadly he never did appear during our vigil.
PS: Apparently Whiting and Hussey are currently suing Paramount pictures over the nude scene they filmed when they were just 16 and 15 years old.
TEEN YOUR ENTHUSIASM: INTRODUCTION by Heather Quinlan | Adam McGovern on ANDY GIBB | Crockett Doob on DREW BARRYMORE | Kathy Biehl on THE MONKEES | Josh Glenn on SHAUN CASSIDY | Catherine Christman on ELI WALLACH | Carlo Rotella on VALERIE BERTINELLI | Miranda Mellis on EDDIE VAN HALEN | Paul Finnegan on KIM WILDE | Heather Quinlan on MIKE PATTON | Mariane Cara on NKOTB | Mimi Lipson on ARLO GUTHRIE | Gabriela Pedranti on GUSTAVO CERATI | Michele Carlo on MICHAEL JACKSON | Ingrid Schorr on PAUL McCARTNEY | Carolyn Campbell on ROBERT REDFORD | Erin M. Routson on JOHNNY KNOXVILLE | Amy Keyishian on JIM MORRISON | Fran Pado on TONY DEFRANCO | Krista Margies Kunkle on LUKE PERRY | Lucy Sante on FRANÇOISE HARDY | Lynn Peril on DANNY BONADUCE | Jack Silbert on CHERYL TIEGS | Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons on CHRISTIAN SLATER | Cynthia Scott on LEONARD WHITING | Elizabeth Foy Larsen on OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN.
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