Van Williams

You could shoehorn actor Van Williams right in there between the other tall, dark and drop-jaw gorgeous heartthrobs Tom Tryon and John Gavin of the late 1950s/early 1960s who conveyed a similar bland, heroic image. All three were too often given colorless heroes to play on film and/or TV -- roles that played off their charm but seldom tested their talent.

Born on February 27, 1934 as Van Zandt Jarvis Williams, he was the son of a cattle rancher. He majored in animal husbandry and business at Texas Christian Univer…