Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Tall, Dark, and Handsome


It's no secret that I have a type.  I'm pretty open-minded when it comes to appreciating an attractive man, but there is a guaranteed way to my heart: be tall, dark, handsome and, if you want bonus points, have an accent.  For even more bonus points, be dressed as if you've stepped out of another era.

I know I'm not the only one who goes weak in the knees over guys who tick these boxes, so I wanted to share some of my favorite handsome English actors best known for their roles in period dramas - if you're at a loss as to what you should next pull up on Netflix, I definitely recommend these talented men and their work!  This is certainly not an exhaustive list, so please do share your own favorites in the comments below - I could use another screen crush to hold me over until Jon gets here!





all photos from imdb



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34 comments:

  1. Betsy! I love this post; it's so fun. I'm a sucker for period dramas and the actors who populate them. My favourite has to be James Purefoy but I also have a huge soft spot for Matthew Macfadyen. ;-)

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  2. oh MAN yes I love him. he was SO wrong as Darcy - I hate that Keira Knightly P&P even though I know everyone else loves it - but he's fantastic. have you seen Ripper Street? it's the new British crime drama (set in the late 19th century) that he's in!

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  3. You had me at Jack Davenport! Have you seen This Life? BUY THE SERIES RIGHT NOW - and thank me later :) Bonus: it also stars a young (pre-Love Actually) Andrew Lincoln. It's like Friends, only English, so automatically better in every conceivable way.

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  4. All these beautiful men folk were also all once at the RSC which makes me even more grateful that I have my own RSC man all to myself.

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  5. haha there you go! an old colleague of mine from London and I would always go into small hysterics when we ran into certain actors in the green room - she emailed me the other day to let me know that one of our favorites was coming back for a show at the end of this season and I swear I almost booked a flight over to coincide with that :P

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  6. Hehe. I love your type on screen. Such great characters.

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  7. It's funny because tall dark and handsome is my type too and then I married a very nordic looking blond! Go figure :P

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  8. then Gregory should be EXTRA flattered you picked him!

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  9. Andrew Lincoln was in a green room last summer and I fangirled out and then couldn't speak to him. Basically I was so embarrassed I could only mumble, blush and send him furtive looks.

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  10. that's what someone said on Twitter! Maybe I shouldn't watch The Following because it will kill my love for him?

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  11. Classy as my 9 year old self at a Hanson concert.

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  12. Sí, right, you should't...
    María

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  13. I agree with you on all of this! What I don't really understand is why here in USA that Sherlock actor Benedict Cumerbatch is a heart throb. Just don't get it. I'm a British expat in Baltimore. Let me know what you think of my modern day Mr Darcy cartoons http://studioemmakaufmann.blogspot.com/2014/03/spring-fever-in-air.html

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  14. the exception that proves the rule maybe?

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  15. oooh no, I'm with the rest of America on that one - it's the cheekbones! haha :)

    but I don't know if I'm comfortable with the idea of Mr Darcy out of the Napoleonic era... the costumes are half the character!

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  16. I tease Joe about it - I've been trying to get him to grow a beard… you know, rough him up a little bit. He won't go for it ;P

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  17. I too have a distinct type which seems to make me the odd one out here as I am always swooning over pale blondes or even better bald guys! Luckily my dear husband fits the bill with his Swedishness ;)

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  18. I love realizing Jack Davenport had a role in so many things that I've watched (Norrington! that one really blew my mind), but I do not remember him AT ALL from The Wedding Date - clearly a sign I need to rewatch, right? :)


    as far as "types" are concerned...umm. I guess I like 'em tall and slender-ish - like, without a lot of gigantic bulging muscles (arms that are bigger around than my head? no thanks). John Krasinski is pretty much everything. and historically I have had a thing for Tyler Ms...I can't explain that coincidence, as none of them have had anything in common, but it's there.

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  19. Georgia ChristakisMarch 19, 2014 at 6:02 PM

    Mr Thornton!! Have made Peter watch North and South twice through (he literally never watches shows unless I force him to.) Multiple hearts and likes!!!

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  20. oh yes WOW Jack Davenport is sexy in This Life he has this low gravelly voice! You'll love it although he does not wear period costume.

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  21. But Cumerbatch is light tall and ginger! Maybe he appeals to the american lasses. To me (English) he looks very ordinary but horses for courses as they say! No my cartoon is an illustration for a friend who says she is dating a 'modern Mr Darcy' so I just wondered if you thought such a man actually exists .....apart from your husband of course!

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  22. Did you always imagine you'd marry someone British? I always think it's interesting who people thought they'd marry vs who they actually married.

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  23. life would have been SO MUCH EASIER if I'd fallen in love with someone with an American passport :P

    but, actually, Jon didn't check many of the boxes I imagined for the guy I thought I'd date in London when I first moved there. I thought I'd meet someone older and well-secured in a good career. When Jon and I met, he was an undergraduate - and 20 months younger than me! love how these things work out :)

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  24. 100% with you on this one. Love some period dress, tall, dark and handsome. I'd add one more....kind of a controversial one though. Matthew Macfadyen in the Keira Knightley Pride & Prejudice. Funniest thing to do when you're drunk with lady friends is to just say 'Keira Knightley version or Colin Firth version?' and let the passionate arguments begin.

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  25. I'm not so much all about how the men look but how they sound. I could listen to Benedict Cumberbatch or Alan Rickman or {hello} Richard Armitage talk all day and I wouldn't care how they look. There's something about those voices! That's one of the things that drew me to my husband - he'll say otherwise, but he sings and recites lines beautifully. God, if that isn't an indication that I spent too much time in theater, i don't know what is!

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  26. Totally agree with this list. Richard Armitage every day. ;) x

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  27. haha I've watched the last five minutes over and over and over again - the scene in the train station is the most romantic thing!

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  28. Ah! I totally fell in love with Richard Armitage after North & South.

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  29. I'm totally with you on Matthew Macfadyen in P&P. However, I think it was partly the hair, because he pulls off sort of a brooding look in P&P, but in other things, I think he comes off more boyish.

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  30. My "type" is (hilariously) mustachio'd. I saw The Grand Budapest Hotel last night. Be still my beating heart! So much period costume (of no particular era, btw), and so many many luxuriant 'staches.

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  31. 100% agree with you there. In other stuff, he looks a bit like a Oxbridge boy who doesn't know what he's doing with his life. Uppercrust and awkward haha. But definitely P&P is my favourite for him.

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