Advertisement

The battle of the beards

Share

Time was when Clark Gable, Gregory Peck and Cary Grant were abiding icons of Hollywood glamour and timeless, masculine style. But in the lead-up to the Academy Awards on March 7, a new style muse for the entertainment industry’s alpha males has emerged: Grizzly Adams.

In recent weeks, several Oscar front-runners have sported all manner of weird beards: from balbos to goatees, Vandykes to Fu Manchus, soul patches to full-on Gandalfs. Blame it on looser grooming standards ushered in by the down economy or on an impulse to physically distance themselves from the characters they portray on-screen -- or simply the zeitgeisty embrace of the hipster beard as a handy signifier of nonconformity-conformity. Nevertheless, a close reading of these manly (yet still well-moisturized) men’s facial thatches will answer the question on everyone’s lips: Who will win the Oscar for best beard?

chris.lee@latimes.com

Advertisement

john.horn@latimes.com

Advertisement