Who are your Role Models?

[LordBest]

The traditional English gentleman is my rolemodel.

 

[Carlisle Blues]

As a child I had a few. Those that I wished to emulate. As I matured so did my perspectives. As my responsibilities and roles changed so did my view towards who I actually wanted and needed to be. Which characteristics and qualities I needed to hone.

A role model is purely a utilitarian entity for me. It does not matter from which era or whether that person is a relative what they did for a living or whether they are a man or woman. I look for qualities and methodology and apply that as I see fit.

I must live with myself. When I place my head on my pillow I ask if I have been true to myself and exercised my best efforts. That is the way I attain equanimity. I keep an open and accepting mind.

 

[Tomasso]

Mostly family, family friends, teachers and business mentors. Mind you, even the finest of role models will exhibit some traits best not emulated; you have to learn to pick and choose.

 

[The Lonely Navigator]

Otto Weddigen

Hans Rose

Alan Villiers

Carlisle Blues: "A role model is purely a utilitarian entity for me. It does not matter from which era or whether that person is a relative what they did for a living or whether they are a man or woman. I look for qualities and methodology and apply that as I see fit.

I must live with myself. When I place my head on my pillow I ask if I have been true to myself and exercised my best efforts. That is the way I attain equanimity. I keep an open and accepting mind."

Well said. I agree too.

 

[Martinis at 8]

This is a great topic. A few years ago I listed my Top 10. These are real and fictional* figures that represent important aspect of character and life concepts to me. Indeed, a few I have used in my business model.

1. George W. Whistler
2. Edward L. Doheny
3. Simon Templar*
4. Ellis Wyatt*
5. Russell Volckmann
6. Otto Frank
7. Howard Hughes
8. Porfirio Rubirosa
9. Edmond Dantes*
10. Manuel Laureano Rodriguez Sanchez (Manolete)

 

[Tomasso]

8.Porfirio Rubirosa

And how was Ruby an inspiration to you, pray tell? PG version, please.

 

[Martinis at 8]

And how was Ruby an inspiration to you, pray tell? PG version, please.

7. Porfirio Rubirosa – Rubi. Famous diplomat from the Dominican Republic. Most who have lived within the international circles of Latin America will have heard of Rubi. I’m not sure when, as a child, I learned about him, probably on a trip to Latin America, or from my dad. I heard more about him years later when I went to the Dominican Republic on a 2-week military exchange program.

Rubi is best known as the world's greatest womanizer for marrying the likes of poor little rich girls like Doris Duke and Barbara Hutton. Also famous for giving Zsa Zsa Gabor a much deserved black-eye. He died like all playboys should; wrapped his Ferrari around a tree on a Parisian boulevard in an eerily similar fashion as his best friend and fellow playboy Aly Khan. Now for the more relevant aspects of his life...

Rubi represents to me unwavering loyalty (to Rafael Trujillo), though his loyalty to Trujillo was considered unwise by many. Nevertheless, loyalty is loyalty. Rubi also provided intelligence to the Allies during WW2 as a resident of Vichy France; however he was later transported to Baden-Baden to live with other diplomats being confined there by the Third Reich. After a skillful exit/escape from Baden-Baden and an illegal return to France, he was wounded by Nazi collaborators who were in flight of the Allies’ advance. Shot in the buttocks. Rubi was also investigated by the FBI for the assassination of a Trujillo “dissident” in NYC, similar to the hit put on Orlando Letelier decades later by DINA (Chile) in Washington, DC. I would simply classify both hits as good counter-insurgency work done on foreign soil. He was rumored to be a jewel thief as well. The Hitchcock movie To Catch a Thief starring Cary Grant and Grace Kelly was rumored to have been inspired by Rubi’s exploits in Europe.

 

[Paisley]

Holmes shows you to keep your eyes and your mind open to observe the trifles, the little details which are important. Thanks to him, my deductive powers are actually quite good! Yes, it can actually be done - it's not just a literary device invented by Doyle. I've done it myself and it does work.

I've read that Doyle based Holmes on a real person he knew.

 

[J. Musler]

For the sake of this thread, I'll stick with those whose style I choose to emulate. These are the men who give me inspiration; though, I use it as a template, then make it my own because I doubt any of these men would choose to dress like their idols in such a mimicking style of way.

Bond (both Brosnan and Connery)
The great Rat Pack (Sinatra, Martin and Davis)
Cary Grant (who invented a character even he could not aspire to be)
and, VERY recently, Neal Caffrey (as he brings back classics like the fedora, skinny ties, and Devore suits but wears them in a way which works in the modern world).

 

[Viola]

Why all the James Bond love? Just curious.

I'm going to toss my hat in the ring for Dolly Parton.

 

[vintage68]

Why all the James Bond love? Just curious.

I'm going to toss my hat in the ring for Dolly Parton.

Women probably notice the overt sexism and objectification more, but speaking for myself there's something about aspiring to be a rugged man of action that is also sophisticated and worldly that I've always wanted for myself.

True story: When I was a wee lad of only six I brought the soundtrack album of To Live and Let Die in to a barber and told him I wanted a haircut just like Roger Moore. This was 1974, so you can imagine what all the other kids looked like back then. I had the shortest hair in the entire school, and this was in Berkeley CA.

Even way back in the day I flew my freak flag HIGH....

 

[Viola]

I get the ation hero thing, believe you me, I'm a huge fan of that sort of thing, I was just thinking of comparing Bond to Indy or Archie of Nero Wolfe or Nick Charles or even Steve McQueen or whoever, that Bond was getting all the love.

As a woman I can see the appeal of Bond but dang, he's always so world weary and dour, though that's more the books. Nick Charles or Archie just had a lot more fun, it seemed to me.

 

[Carlisle Blues]

I get the ation hero thing,

I do not. It is fun for a couple of hours of entertainment, however, a life of derring-do and adventure is at all our fingertips. If a person is able, all they have to do is walk outside their door.

The added bonus a person does not have to live vicariously through a fictionalized character; they can actually have a real story to tell and feel like emboldened and fulfilled at the same time...

 

[J. Musler]

I get the ation hero thing, believe you me, I'm a huge fan of that sort of thing, I was just thinking of comparing Bond to Indy or Archie of Nero Wolfe or Nick Charles or even Steve McQueen or whoever, that Bond was getting all the love.

As a woman I can see the appeal of Bond but dang, he's always so world weary and dour, though that's more the books. Nick Charles or Archie just had a lot more fun, it seemed to me.

Speaking for myself, being a Bond fan is not about the action. In fact, most spies deal with a lot of issues I would never want to have to deal with. For me, Bond is about the dapper man who can fit into any situation. The style, the suave, classically dressed man, that is the Bond who impresses me.

 

[Shangas]

I've read that Doyle based Holmes on a real person he knew.

Doyle based Sherlock Holmes on Dr. Joseph Bell, who was one of his lecturers at the University of Edinbrugh. Bell had the ability to diagnose patients' ailments before they'd even sat down. Doyle studied Bell closely to learn his methods and understand deduction and inference. He soon realised that such skills could be applied to detective-work and so created Sherlock Holmes. Doyle based Dr. Watson on himself.

The reason Holmes was so popular (and remains popular to this day), is because for almost the first time in history, a fictional detective had been created who actually SOLVED his cases. In Doyle's own words:

"the detective always seemed to reach his results by some sort of chance or fluke, or otherwise, it was quite unexplained HOW he got there. He got there, but there was no explanation. Surely a detective was bound to GIVE his explanations?"

What Doyle did, was actually, really, literally make Holmes solve his cases and show every step along the way --- nobody had ever done this before...EVER. This is why he was so popular.

And it's for that reason that Holmes (and I suppose, by extension, Doyle) is my role-model. He was an innovator!

 

[Amy Jeanne]

Not an individual, but a class: the Depression/wartime housewife. She gritted her teeth, and did what had to be done to survive.

She's one of mine, too! When I think I have it "so tough" I just think of what she had to do and it gives me more strength to do my "tough" duties!

Both my grandmothers. One I never met and she was the aforementioned Depression/wartime housewife and factory worker. I only have letters from her from 1937 and she was a tired, weary woman. My other grandmother just turned 80 and she is the most active woman I know! She's a member of so many groups, she knits, sews, cooks, travels, worked in factories, was an RN for 40 years, gardens (her yard is impeccable!), decorates, is quite the handywoman -- you name it, she's done it!

Celebrity role models are Jean Harlow and Gracie Allen!

 

[LizzieMaine]

She's one of mine, too! When I think I have it "so tough" I just think of what she had to do and it gives me more strength to do my "tough" duties!

Both my grandmothers. One I never met and she was the aforementioned Depression/wartime housewife and factory worker. I only have letters from her from 1937 and she was a tired, weary woman. My other grandmother just turned 80 and she is the most active woman I know! She's a member of so many groups, she knits, sews, cooks, travels, worked in factories, was an RN for 40 years, gardens (her yard is impeccable!), decorates, is quite the handywoman -- you name it, she's done it!

Celebrity role models are Jean Harlow and Gracie Allen!

Excellent choices -- especially Gracie, who was one of the most elegant women in Hollywood. She was also very bright, despite her goofy onstage image -- if you haven't heard her appearances on "Information Please," they're well worth looking up. Clifton Fadiman treats her in a very condescending way at first, and just about falls off his chair when she comes up with the correct answer to a complicated political question.

 

[Edward]

Interesting thread. I don't know that I have any one specific role model, though there are a few people I respect in particular, and from whom I believe I could learn a few things. Sticking with the non-divine and non-family for now, these have at one time and another included:

- Douglas Bader (for the not letting even the loss of the legs thing hold him back; I'm not big on military role models)

- Michael Collins (ditto the above; what I admired was his ability to be pragmatic without losing all sense of ideology)

- Joe Strummer

- Bob Dylan

- Johnny Rotten (for teahing me, among many other things, not to care what my heroes might think of things Ilike: if I think something is cool.... it is).

- Marlon Brando - or, more to the point, Johnny Strabler

- Bogart, most especially as Rick Blaine

- Joey Ramone... well, all the boys really, even Johnny (a musical hero alone, but one of the worst political villains too!)

I was a big fan of Trotsky as a teenager, though I may have mellowed since then. Slightly.

Churchill was never an especial hero of mine (if you want to talk British politics, I have immeasurably more admiration for Gladstone and Lloyd George), and he's become a lot more of a villain the more I learn about him as a person. Being an effective wartime leader doesn't always equate to a person I'd want to spend time around. Funnily enough, I have over the years developed much more sympathy forf Chamberlain - villified by history, at least so far, but it seems now he may have bought Britain a vital few months in order to be ready for war, and - if nothing else - I have come very much to respect that he at least tried for a peaceful solution. After all, even Churchill said "Jaw jaw is better than war war".

Henry Gerecke, there's another guy I have tremendous respect for, doing a job at Nuremberg which few would even have countenanced. He was a US Army chaplain, assigned to the protestant prinsoners among the top Nazis on trial for war crimes, remaining with thm right up to the moment of execution for some. Gerecke was under no illusion about the extent of these men's crimes: he himself had seen Dachau first hand; he was also well aware of the human cost of warfare - his son was severely wounded too. That he was able to put this to one side, without forgetting it all, and establish a human connection with these people with some very intersting results is fascinating to me, and certainly makes him one of the biggest men of whom I have ever read.

Wilfred Owen, who wrote so eloquently and poignantly of "war, and the pity of war".

Probably many other influential folks of whom I can think, not always offhand. Interestingly, despite my deep respect for so many women, none of them have sprung to mind while throwing out this list (which of course deliberately excepts those I know personally). Maybe due to thinking of those who have influenced in a way I might wish to emulate in some shape or form inevitably pushes me towards the male. Interesting, as in general I tend to find women can be much more interesting people, on the whole. [huh]

 

[High Pockets]

Being quite secure with not only my values but my decisions and opinions, I've never felt the need for a "Role Model".

However, there have been literally hundreds of "men who's character I admire" both throughout history and in my personal life that I have learned a great deal from and have used for reference when forming my opinions and making decisions.

 

[Martinis at 8]

There seems to be an underlying current in this thread from at least three posters that if one has listed a role model or mentor type that one is somehow "insecure" and those who are "secure" don't engage in looking outwards from themselves, and are somehow already at the highest level of Maslow's Hierarchy

Historically speaking, even the greats of the past have cited their borrowings of others in their rise.

Couple this underlying current with what was stated in the 'manliness' thread about how manly men don't have to shout out how manly they are...Seems this truism has manifested itself here! lol