From the Earth to McCrane

'A real artist must never be afraid of what other people are gonna say about him.'

Montgomery McNeil

Last weekend, after catching some old episodes of NewsRadio on TV, I did a piece featuring actor and comedian Dave Foley. (HERE:)  I wasn't aware of Foley's impressive nudity resume, and had to check out some of his many scenes of skinning.  While I was researching, I came upon a quick, but memorable butt scene which also featured actor Paul McCrane. 

Hooters (1982)

I'd featured Paul before, most recently, when uncovering the many hot men from the NBC drama ER. (HERE:)  In that piece, I featured the scene from 1984's The Hotel New Hampshire, where the school bullies were sexually harassing McCrane's character Frank for being gay.  I knew of McCrane's role in the film due to my love of author John Irving, having read most of his books when I was in my teens.

Fame (1980)

I most knew the actor from ER, and wasn't really aware of McCrane's extensive career on film and on stage going back to the late 1970's.  After graduating from Holy Ghost Preparatory School, McCrane moved to New York to study theatre and worked as both an actor and a dancer.  He soon began getting small roles, including making his film debut in a small role in 1979's Rocky II.  McCrane's most well known film role is probably his turn as Montgomery MacNeill in 1980's Fame.  

It's funny, I was barely out of diapers when Fame came out, and never saw it until many years later.  I did however, listen to my mother's cassette of the soundtrack when I got older, never connecting until I finally saw the film, that 'I Sing the Body Electric' was sung by McCrane. 

The Hotel New Hampshire (1984)

McCrane's dancer body

McCrane's brief nude scene with Dave Foley was from the 1998 Tom Hanks mini-series, From The Earth to the Moon.  McCrane and Foley play astronauts in the seventh episode, and upon returning to the ship after walking on the moon, actor Tom Verica insists McCrane and Foley's characters strip down and wash before joining him in the rocket's cockpit. It's a quick scene, and doesn't show much, but still fun to see these two actors together in the scene.

From the Earth to the Moon

Dave Foley