Beefcake

Beefcake is a performance or photograph depicting a large and muscular male body. Beefcake is also a publication genre. A role a person plays in a performance may be called beefcake. The term was believed to be first used by Hollywood columnist Sidney Skolsky.

Beefcake poses by male actors were used far less frequently than cheesecake layouts of actresses. Nevertheless, as early as the 1920s photographs were taken of such stars as Rudolph Valentino and Ramón Novarro to highlight their physical appeal. Male physique shots of famous stars were even less frequent during the early talking picture era outside of stars of jungle films such as Johnny Weissmuller (Tarzan) and Buster Crabbe. The 1940s saw a rise in shirtless shots of such handsome stars as Tyrone Power, Guy Madison, Sterling Hayden and Victor Mature; and in the 1950s movie magazines began running swimsuit shots of actors such as Tony Curtis, Rock Hudson, Tab Hunter, Jeff Chandler, Robert Conrad and Robert Wagner almost as frequently as they would of actresses. This period also included the rise of bodybuilding magazines, which continue to be popular to the present day, as well as musclemen movie stars such as Steve Reeves who were often barely dressed in their action/adventure films.

Other actors who have occasionally posed for beefcake shots over the years include Errol Flynn, Robert Taylor, John Payne, Jeffrey Hunter, Rory Calhoun, Peter Lupus, Rod Taylor and Joe Dallesandro. In some of his movies, singer Elvis Presley also appeared shirtless.

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