There’s nothing manlier than facial hair. No matter how much we advance in the equality of the sexes, growing a thick beard or mustache is something that only men will be able to do (Okay, so some women can grow impressive facial hair, but they end up in sideshows). Some men have felt that facial hair wasn’t getting the respect it deserved, so they decided to dedicate a month to the manly glory of beards and mustaches. First, in the United States, November is officially National Beard Month. Men across the United States are encouraged to grow a beard in preparation of the cold winter ahead. Second, a non-profit charity group from Australia has declared November Movember. In Australia, mustaches are called “Mo’s.” The idea of Movember is to get men all over the world to grow mustaches in order to raise money and awareness to fight prostate cancer.
In honor of National Beard Month and Movember, we’ve decided to pull together a list of the 20 Manliest Mustaches and Beards From Facial Hair History. I sent out a message on Facebook and Twitter (follow me) asking people for suggestions. We’ve included them and a few of our own. Enjoy.
General Ambrose Burnside
You know your facial hair is manly when they name a certain type of it after you. General Ambrose Burnside was a politician, inventor, railroad exec, Union general, and the Father of Sideburns.
Tom Selleck
Whether acting in Magnum PI or Three Men and a Baby, Tom Selleck brought a healthy dose of manly testosterone with that awesome stache of his. Sadly, in 1997 he shaved off his manly nose mane. He kept it off for several years after that. Thankfully, he came to his senses and has since brought it back.
Charles Darwin
Besides developing biological theories that changed the way humans view themselves and the world, Charles Darwin’s other talent was growing awesome facial hair. Perhaps intent on discovering himself as the the missing link, Darwin grew a beard any ape would envy.
Teddy Roosevelt
What Art of Manliness list would be complete without an appearance by Teddy Roosevelt? TR was so freaking manly that his mustache could judo chop assailants, and shout “Bully!” at would-be attackers.
Friedrich Nietzsche
For Nietzsche, God may have been dead, but his mustache lives on. In letters unearthed by historians, it was discovered that Nietzsche believed that his mustache made him a superman. While critics laughed at him, looking at this mustache, I think he was on to something.
Sam Elliot
Anytime the movie industry needs a mustached cowboy, Sam Elliot is their go-to guy. With movies like Tombstone and Gettysburg under his belt, Sam Elliot has proven that his mustache has the talent to make it in Hollywood. Of course Sam Elliot is a talented actor, too.
Brigham Young
When leading a religion or overseeing a household with 55 wives (holy crap! 55!) you need to muster all your resources to establish your authority. Mormon prophet Brigham Young busted out this mustacheless beard to let people know that he was in charge. Sadly, the university that bears his name (Brigham Young University) prohibits beards among its male students. You can only get an exception to this rule if you have a “Beard Card,” given sparingly to those with medical or religious exceptions. Brigham Young, and his beard, would be rolling over in the grave.
Chuck Norris
Fact: Chuck Norris was born with a beard. When doctors tried to shave it, he roundhouse kicked them in the face with his precociously strong baby legs, knocking them all unconscious.
Kimbo Slice
Wow. All I have to say is that this is quiet possibly the scariest beard I’ve ever seen. UFC fighter Kimbo Slice puts the fear of God into his opponents with powerful punches and his thick black beard. While Kimbo Slice may be 3-1 in UFC fights, his beard is still, and will always be, undefeated.
Kenny Rogers
What happened to you Kenny Rogers? In this picture, you look so damn manly. Now you just look like a plastic-faced freak. Out of respect to your beard, I’ll always remember you the way you looked in 1985.
ZZ Top
There are no harder working beards in the music industry than the beards on ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons’ and Dusty Hills’ faces. Ironically, the band’s beardless drummer is named Frank Beard.
Tom McKay
Alright. I’m exercising a bit of editorial privilege here and adding my dad, Tom McKay to the list of manliest mustaches and beards. Just look at that thing. Pretty dang manly if you ask me. And of course the three piece 1979 suit only accents the mustache. My dad’s a retired federal game warden, and I’m sure he had poachers shaking in their boots when they took one look at his stache. I’ve only seen my dad without a mustache twice in my 26 years of existence. And both times he shaved it off, it freaked me out. For about a month it would feel like some stranger that sounded like and dressed in the same clothes as my dad moved into our house. Thankfully, he always grew it back.
Santa Claus
Santa Claus’ beard is iconic. Not only is it a part of his personal brand (so much so that children give it a yank to test a Santa’s authenticity), his beard also has a practical purpose. When you live in the North Pole and fly a sleigh at high altitudes, you need a thick, full beard to keep your face warm and free from wind chapping. Oh yeah, and it’s also magical.
Mark Twain
Mark Twain is one of America’s greatest humorists, satirists, and writers. He’s also one of America’s finest mustacheers. Face it. Mark Twain’s mustache will always be wittier than you.
Karl Marx
Thanks to Karl Marx we have Communism, an awesome example of a beard, and annoying college dudes who think if they grow a beard like Marx and quote a few lines of Das Kapital, they’re automatically experts on the plight of the working class. But back to this beard. It’s awesome. No, it’s freaking awesome. I can see why this man was able to kick start revolutions and inspire the proletariat to shake off the shackles of capitalism. It wasn’t his ideas of communism. It’s the beard, stupid.
Walter Frazier
From 1967-1977, Walter Frazier led the New York Knicks to two NBA Championships. (What the? There was a time when the Knicks were actually good?) Frazier’s success on the court can be attributed to two things. First, his defensive talent. Second, his awesome mutton chops. Look at this image above. In a match up between a man with broad, sweeping mutton chops, and a man with wisps of hair that are a pathetic excuse for a sideburn, who do you think will win? I’m putting my money on number ten. Perhaps the Knicks should consider requiring their players to grow awesome mutton chops like Walter Frazier. Maybe then they’ll stop sucking.
Wyatt Earp
Wyatt Earp is famous for his infamous gunfight at the OK Coral. He’s also famous for having a bad ass mustache. With it, he struck fear into the hearts of cowboys from Dodge City to the the Dakota Territory.
Rollie Fingers
In addition to having one of the best names in sports history, Rollie Fingers also has the best mustache. With his turn of the century curly mustache, Rollie Fingers pitched his way into the Baseball Hall of Fame. After his career in baseball, he made a second career out of tying damsels in distress to railroad tracks.
Salvador Dali
Salvador Dali needed a crazy mustache to match the craziness of his surreal paintings and his love of walking his pet lobster. So he decided to go with this pointy get-up. I think it works for him. He looks crazy as all hell.
Grizzly Adams
Can you imagine a man named Grizzly Adams, a man who befriends a bear, having a clean shaven, soft-as-a-baby’s-behind face? Neither can I. This man’s beard is so thick that the bear actually thought he was one of them. That’s probably why it didn’t maul his face off.
Anybody you think should be on the list? Drop a line in the comment box and let your voice be heard.
Donate to Movember
One of our Aussie readers, Shaun Daws, is participating in this year’s Movember. Here’s his before pic, all clean shaven and baby faced.
Hopefully, by the end of the month he’ll have a mustache that would make Tom Selleck jealous. Maybe something like this:
If you’d like to donation under Shaun’s name and help contribute to the cause of fighting prostate cancer you can use this form to do so by credit card or PayPal.
If you’d like to keep up with Shaun’s mustache progress, check out his Movember blog page.
And finally, if you’d like more info about Movember and how you can participate in battling prostate cancer, check out the official webpage.
Facebook 
{ 115 comments… read them below or add one }
Kimbo Slice is NOT and NEVER will be a UFC fighter
he doesn’t posses even a quarter of the skill necessary to be a UFC Fighter
he is an fighter for the now defunct elitexc(which folded when they realized they couldn’t run a fighting organization based on a terrible fighter who lost to a much smaller man who couldn’t make it in the ufc)
MAny make the mistake but the fact is MMA does NOT equal UFC
guys like Kimbo arent in the UFC because they could never make it he is a gimmick who was brought up fighting cans looking for paychecks not a fighter
You forgot The King of Rock ‘n Roll. Elvis’s sideburns inspired a generation.
If that shocking picture of me isn’t proof of dedication to the cause, I don’t know what is. Thanks Brett for bringing attention to the cause!
On a more serious note, Prostate cancer kills on average nearly 29,000 men every year in the United States alone (That’s more than the number of subscribers to this great blog). I hope that everyone who reads this blog today takes the time to think about their own health, and that some of you at least take up the torch to promote prostate health.
It’s not too late! Movember is still happening around the world. This year, there are groups participating from Australia, USA, Canada, the UK, New Zealand, Spain and Ireland. So, here’s your chance to join up and start collecting donations! As Brett mentioned, just go to http://www.movember.com to sign up.
If growing a Mo isn’t your thing, and you just want to make a donation, please visit:
https://www.movember.com/au/donate/donate-details.php?action=sponsorlink®o=1705846&country=au
If every AOM subscriber puts in a single dollar, we’ll have raised over $20,000 towards this great cause.
Thanks everyone, and Happy Movember!
Shaun
Well done!
Shame that Kimbo’s beard hid a glass jaw. Actually, that may even further prove your point. lol
What, no Rick Ross on this list?
http://www.judiciaryreport.com/images/rick-ross-7-22-08.jpg
That guy has one of the manliest beards in music today.
Great list, though. I didn’t know some of these people before.
where’s Honest Abe Lincoln???
I know it might be pushing it, seeing as Grizzly Adams is already on the list, but Jeremiah Johnson is still pretty darn manly. And so is his beard.
i’m w/ rommy on this one
Alex Trebek? Can we get him to regrow his beard, please?
@drakono — er, mustache, I mean. (I’m an idiot.)
What, No Sundance Kid (Robert Redford)?
Two of my favorite historical beards that did not make your list are, first, Henrik Ibsen – Swiss playwright and founder of Modern Realism. He had some epic facial hair:
young: http://www.malaspina.com/jpg/ibsen.jpg
old: http://www.ballade.no/nmi.nsf/pic/henrik_ibsen/$file/henrik_ibsen.jpg
And I’m also very keen on Henry David Thoreau’s neck beard I know it’s a bit mangy, but I just love it. He could also grow a mean full beard:
neck mange: http://www.amaranthpublishing.com/Thoreau2.jpg
Full: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/Henry_David_Thoreau_2.jpg
Thanks!
No billy mays? He has the most awesome beard ever.
Relax, bud. I’m sure Dana White loves your butt-hurt defense of his organization, but it makes you look like a douche.
And I’d put money on it right now that Kimbo slice signs with the UFC to some degree now that EliteXC has folded. White even said he’d love to sign Kimbo to TUF and see how he does. So pluck those little panties out your rear and relax.
Dammit!
ZZ Top AND Chuck Norris!?!?
Epic!
I can’t decide….
And Tom Selleck.
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!
Too funny!
Judge Matthew “Baillie” Begbie – the Hanging Judge.
Dispensed frontier justice in the 1850s and 1860s in rural British Columbia. Sentenced a dozen men to hang. When a man accused of murder was acquitted by a jury containing some of his friends, Begbie told the jury he would be doing the public a favour if he sentenced them to death. They all left the jurisdiction.
Also – His outspokenness from the bench did not endear Begbie to all manner of men. He frequently received threatening letters telling him that his life would be forfeited if he dared to sentence some popular desperado to prison. He would read such letters from the bench and invited his correspondent to make good his threat. On one occasion, he was seated on the second storey of a hotel veranda and overhead a group of ruffians making plans to shoot him as he left town. He listened for a while, then went into the hotel and obtained a pail of dirty water, and returning with it, he emptied it over the heads of the conspirators.
Direct Quote – “my idea is that if a man insists upon behaving like a brute, after fair warning, and won’t quit the colony; treat him like a brute and flog him”
You rugged beast of a handsome devil. And check out that facial hair.
http://www.mysteriesofcanada.com/BC/judge.htm
http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/transactions/3/begbie_mb.shtml
There also needs to be a John Candy Mustache because he had an awesome one as well as every cop that has walked a beat between 1965–present. In all seriousness, there is a charity for growing mustaches.
http://www.mustachesforkids.org/
Note: I did not see goatees on the list, they can be wicked, ala’ Satan. Lets also not forget the famous, then infamous, Chaplin/Hitler mustache. Way to kill a look Adolf.
Oh and thank you though for no soul patches.
I attended said brigham young university. The other exception for beard growing is for student actors involved in period piece plays where facial hair is required. Way whacko!
don’t forget Dr. Fu Manchu. that stache was quite a feat for an asian man.
I’m with him. Kimbo SUCKS and it is an insult to any real fighter, especially those in the UFC, to call Kimbo a UFC fighter or to even say he’s manly. Sure, he beat up a few no-talent ass clowns in the back yard of the porn company for which he works, but as an MMA fighter he’s a total joke. In fact, the MMA organization he once worked for is now under investigation for trying to fix Kimbo’s fights.
You left off Jamie Hyneman from Mythbusters.
http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/mythbusters/meet/jamie-hyneman.html
Aw, come on! Where is Andrew Carnegie in all this?
The guy was a major capitalist and industrialist, was the richest man in the world for a time, gave millions to charitable funds…and rocked out a full beard better than most men could ever hope!
Google Image Serach for Andrew Carnegie has proof:
You had me at Chuck Norris.
LOL!
Many crazy Hais and peoples
A list of the manliest mustaches and beards is not complete without General William Booth, founder of The Salvation Army.
http://users.ox.ac.uk/~peter/workhouse/SA/WilliamBooth.jpg
How about that one?
Two words:
Freddy Mercury
Thanks.
how can you forget the terrifying beard of Edward Teach (aka Blackbeard the Pirate) who would tie lit cannon fuses in his beard to scare his enemies!?
@kgold –
One hell of an entertainer.
I would have bookmarked this page had it properly commended Burt Reynolds.
http://www.kaxe.org/familytree/volunteers/steve_ross.html
I’m rather proud of this one. The guy on the right is my dad, and in my 22 years of existence I have never seen his chin or cheeks and I’ve only gotten brief glimpses of his upper lip when he trims his mustache. He claims to have been growing it for 30+ years. The fact that I’ve never seen him get any sauce in his beard, I think, is proof.
Werd. Glad you included Brother Brigham on the montage. That Dali moustache is crazy. I think I might go for that one in Movember.
Find a picture of General Nathan Bedford Forrest in his prime, during his Generalship of the Confederate Calvary. No more fierce, bearded and brave man ever lived, the very definition of Manliness.
@slakkjaw – sorry if i came off douchy im a bit of a mma fanatic and it really annoys me when ppl equate it with ufc. EliteXC was the worst excuse for a promotion but they got a bunch of tv time making a bad name for the sport so i got a little jumpy there but to your statement
kimbo wont ever sign with the ufc
dana whites comments about slice were to the effect that he would create a TUF show for heavyweights if kimbo wanted to be on it. he said this was to show everyone how far from a ufc fighter kimbo was becuase his skills aren’t even c or d level, he lost to a guy a weight class below him who couldn’t make it to the ufc in 14 seconds.
Dana just brought it up to further embarras kimbo he wouldnt sign him unless huge improvement is shown
WTF? You forgot Lanny McDonald, any mustache that extends below the line of the LOWER lip is called a LANNY for god’s sake.
http://thevlist.blogspot.com/2008/07/power-of-stache-lanny-mcdonald.html
kimbo? oh god no…
“Who lost to a much smaller man” doesn’t properly explain how bad Slice was beat. I can think of many different ways of explaining how bad he lost. But it all comes down to this, Slice is not only no UFC fighter, he was never a MMA fighter to begin with.
You missed the copious amounts of facial hair from the classic western, Lonesome Dove. Tommy Lee Jones dons a Grizzly Adams beard. Robert Duvall’s stache is a mix between Teddy Roosevelt and Rollie’s. Even Robert Urich and Danny Glover grow some fuzz for the tale.
What about Abe Lincoln, Mr. T, Charles Spurgeon, Colonel Sanders, and Karl Marx? Mr. T should have been on there instead of Kimbo Slice for sure. Its the same look but Mr. T pulls it off much better I think, and was much more classy than Slice.
@Gonz O’Lager – Ah, good call. Jamie Hyneman has one of the manliest mustaches around.
Hey, just a note in response to the Charles Darwin comments. If Darwin were planning to look like an ape, the last thing he would do is grow a beard. Humans are alone among the hominids in our ability to grow beards. All other apes have naked faces. Further back along the evolutionary tree, you’ll find gibbons with facial fur, but not the bushy hair humans grow.
What about Joshua Chamberlain, who commanded the 20th Maine infantry during the Civil War? He has a great mustache and kicks ass to prove it. For example, after one battle, he placed his coat on the ground, laid upon it and then placed two dead bodies over himself to keep warm.
And his mustache was still awesome.
Excellent and worthy additions everyone. I’ll have to have a part 2 sometime.
@Rob-
I’m not an expert, but furry faces among primates seem to abound:
http://www.naturalsciences.be/science/projects/gorilla/external/pictures/Gorilla_A_Warren_1.jpg
http://www.northrup.org/Photos/Monkey/low/spider-monkey%20(2).jpg
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/Chimpanzee-Head.jpg&imgrefurl=http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Chimpanzee-Head.jpg&h=1001&w=1001&sz=271&hl=en&start=7&sig2=d1ep1UsqzCo8OVSIKJSaSA&um=1&usg=__Q-Rezk9uYaiuyy9frzxgqzNCwrI=&tbnid=tA5fc1q4e6LLZM:&tbnh=149&tbnw=149&ei=HZgPSfLeEJrUMbO-0akI&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dchimpanzee%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG
Great choices all. HOWEVER, I am shocked, SHOCKED, I tell you, at the most blatant omission.
You seem to think “quantity” instead of quality.
He made one memorable movie without it. And not nearly enough movies with it.
Mr. Clark Gable (aka Rhett Butler).
Not every manly man can pull off such a mustache, but boy he sure could !!
Frank Zappa would like to have a word with you. His mustache is freaking registered trademarked.
See:
http://www.nomansblog.com/wp-content/themes/3ColumnK2/images/zappa.jpg
@ Tim : Well said, Mr.T would pity your fool ass for not having him on this list
The late EVAN TANNER should be on this list. A beard is just a beard, if you got real man in you it’s so thick it’s not a beard, it’s a Tanner!
Glad to Ambrose Burnside on there.
Good luck with Movember Shaun
I’m pretty sure Burt Reynolds should be on this list.
What about artist George Ohr?
One person came to mind the great James Hetfield of Metallica. WHile the man himself no longer sports the style himself, everybody knows what The Hetfield is.
Frank Zappa – Wicked ’stach and stylin’ soul patch.
Keith Hernandez – Cards, Mets, Seinfeld and Just for Men. He’s a mustachioed cultural icon.
Rasputin – The Mad Monk himself. Evil? Maybe. Wicked beard? Definitely.
Kimbo fought in Elite XC, not the UFC and thus, is not a UFC fighter.
Dang! I should have kept mine for another month!! We just wrapped up our month long mustache-a-thon here in Denver!
I celebrated with a commemorative poster:
http://www.justincline.com/blog/real-world/mustache4cash-the-unusual-suspects
(HINT: If you enlarge the poster, you don’t have to squint to see our mustaches)
Great article though, and some very manly examples… someday… someday….
Very cool. There are some here that I would personally disagree with, but who am I to argue with those who formed and run “the art of manliness”?
Rollie Fingers! Dang…nice work here, great digging! A bit surprised not to see the infamous John Holmes ’stash somewhere up in this joint.
I can’t believe I’m the first person to mention Jesus. His beard had to be at least twice as magical as Santa’s.
Sam Elliot is the man. Nobody grows a stache like him. I wish I could grow one like that!
How about Ernest Hemingway? Not manly enough for you?
How could you forget:
Andrew Weil
Freddie Mercury
Yosemite Sam
And make sure you check out this:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/6974110.stm
@Gary – Wow, Gary really got his panties in a bunch over the UFC thing. Some meatheads need to tone down the roids and take humor for what it is!
@kirk – @kirk –
moustaches are for men and men’s health! The original moustache charity is at http://www.movember.com
I’ve always appreciated Jimmy Buffett and his laidback style.
He may not don the stache anymore, but I always remember him this way.
http://shoretalken.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/jimmy_buffett_havana_lp.jpg
Great post. At age 52 I have had a stache of various configurations since I was 19, sometimes with beard soemtimes w/o but never clean shaven since then.
How about Paul Teutul Senior of American Chopper? a pretty sweet ’stache there
And Moses…beard of biblical proportions (sorry)
Albert Einstein
George Custer
Hulk Hogan, various versions
Errol Flynn
Groucho Marx
Clark Gable
Barry White – great beard
Lt. Worf
Ming the Merciless
Hercule Poirot (at least tehe guy who plays him on TV, can’t remeber the actor)
George Bernard Shaw, Thank you very much.
Also, check out these pictures from the “World Beard and Moustache Championships” in Anchorage Alaska:
http://www.worldbeardchampionships.com/Gallery/gallery.html
I think Josef Stalin’s moustaches would beat Karl Mark’s beard in a fight.
Small moustaches are manly too:
David Niven, Walt Disney, Charlie Chaplin (and the other guy).
Also, how about Dizzie Gillespie, Howie Mandell’s and Tom Wait’s Soul patch..
Finally,
I think Frederick Douglas would take both Stalin and Marx with his principles and his beard.
Than there’s Uncle Jesse, Ernest Hemmingway, Sigmund Freud, W.E.B. Dubois, Robert E.Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, Jerry Garcia, Che Guevera, John Lennon, Jim Morrison, Confucius, Yosemite Sam and Jesus.
Maybe I should try it… it would take a very long time.
following brigham young with chuck norris is a stunt i shall not soon forget. this was a real fun post to read. two thumbs up y’all.
@rommy –
Abe Lincoln was neither “honest”, nor is he worthy of being amongst the greatest examples of Masculine whiskers.
@tomdawg –
Couldn’t agree more. Gen’l “Keep the skeer on” and “Git there firstest, with the mostest” Forrest is one hell of a model of masculinity.
So…Kenny Rogers, of all people, makes the list…And Hemingway does not? No Papa?!?! Tsk, tsk, fellas. For shame.
The BS company I work for just instituted a no facial hair policy. I have had some form of facial hair for the last 26 years. Totally stinks, but they pay well.
Frank Zappa.
One of the most iconic mustaches in the music industry.
Manliest Mustache = Lemmy Kilmister
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/Lemmy-02.jpg
Just want to second the approval of Brigham Young and his manly beard. My friends and I have long thought that having 50+ wives and sporting rockin’ facial fur is what constitutes “living true playa style.”
Also, to the guys who can’t keep comments on topic: you lack manly focus probably because you don’t have a cool beard.
What about Eastwood in the dollars trilogy?
http://ippikiookami.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/anonymous-clint-eastwood-8401033.jpg
Walt Whitman
http://www.accd.edu/sac/english/mcquien/htmlfils/whitman.jpg
What about The Monarch!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Monarch_01.jpg
Definitely Lanny McDonald.
Best stache in the NHL.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2172/2379509863_2878830b0b.jpg
I know he’s not that well known to non-theologians, but how can you go past B. B. Warfield?
http://homepage.mac.com/shanerosenthal/reformationink/bbwcolor.jpeg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5c/BBWarfieldPhoto.jpg/200px-BBWarfieldPhoto.jpg
http://www.reasons.org/resources/apologetics/notable_leaders/images/warfield_benjamin_b.jpg
A deserving man for Art of Manliness recognition, i say.
Dudes, what about Jeremiah Johnson? I am not a particularly big fan of Robert Redford, but I am a huge follower of the great mountain man Jeremiah Johnson. He (that movie) is why I am trying to grow a big manly beard now.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d7/Jeremiah_Johnson_screenshot.jpg
When it comes to manly beards … one has to mention BRIAN BLESSED!
The man climbed Mount Everest, for crying out loud! More than once!
Fierce beard and that GREAT BIG BOOMING MANLY VOICE!
http://www.woodland-trust.org.uk/celebrities/images/blessed.jpg
http://www.tvscoop.tv/brian%20blessed.jpg
What about Rasputin?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin
What about Abe Lincoln? He grew his famous beard at the request of a young girl while campaigning for president. She suggested he would appeal to voters if he “grew (his) weskers out.” He did, won the office, and went on to re-unite the country.
So, here’s to honest Abe’s beard!
What about Father Time or Rip Van Winkle? I know they’re fictional but they have mega beards.
I may late to the party, but if you’re going to have a part two of this, you should include Baron Davis, currently of the Clippers. In a league with baby faces and bad mustaches, Davis grows a great manly beard. And he plays a manly style of point guard.
Great article and fun too. Good additional suggestions. How about Czar Nicholas? or The charachter on “My Name is Earl”? He loves his mustache. He even gave up Alyssa Milano for it. Or d’Artagnan of “The Three Musketeers”? Okay, real people: Many American Presidents. Hayse, Grant, Harrison… But hey, it is a fun list and the line must be drawn somewhere. And Uncle Joe (Stalin), while evil, did sport one heck of a ’stache. Strange though, Hitler killed about half as many people as Stalin and/ but had a goofy mustache.
No James Hetfield?
Baby Spice would look good with a beard.
Turkish joke :
What do you call a Turk without a mustache ?
A woman.
WG Grace, father of modern batting. A true gentleman, sportsman and Englishman.
God Save the Queen.
http://www.cardmine.co.uk/list27/a271264.jpg
http://www.cricinfo.com/db/PICTURES/CMS/14200/14265.player.jpg
I sure miss the old Kenny Rogers, he had such a classic, cool look!
Now, it’s a crime that no one has mentioned Mr. Leland Sklar.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leland_Sklar
Truly a king among the bearded. When your nickname is “Father Time,” you know you’re doing something right. Something Beard right.
And an honorable mention should also go Eugene Hutz, of Gogol Bordello. A great musical moustache.
Wow Billy Mays is definitely above some of the people on here.
what about abe lincoln!!!!!!!!???????????????? and i think sid the kid has a pretty awesome playoff beard goin on
i think t legendary indian actor, shivaji ganesan might qualify for ur list…
check this
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/gallery/sg/sg021.htm
a role he played in a movie bout a king who opposed english imperialism..
check this video….his looks n order to prepare for war will scare t bravest imperialist to his knees….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGo6fJM3WgY
I just finished checking over the comments and have yet to find one mention of Scott Ian who has a goatee that has inspired a generation of young men.
Jamie Hyneman definitely belongs on the list, as does Mr. T.
One could also argue for Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau – another classic stache. And I think Mr. Sam Jackson merits a mention as well, he is rarely without some form of facial hair and always rocks it like a champ.
uhhhh…..Cheech AND Chong??
For you geeks out there, what about Joe Celko? http://www.rampant-books.com/images/author_pic_joe_celko.jpg Talk about a close second to “Ming the Merciless!”
As a follow-up on Brigham Young, how about Karl Maeser, the first president of Brigham Young University? Great beard and ‘tache. His portrait at BYU was re-touched (defaced?) so he would be smooth-faced.
I would like to suggest Father Seraphim Rose to the top Beard list.
I was reading this book called “Stories of the Bullpen” or something like that that had all these interviews with relief pitchers. In Rollie’s chapter, he told the story about how he got his mustache. When he was in the minor leagues, the team’s front office was convinced they’d sell more tickets if their players had facial hair, so they offered, I think, a $50 bonus for any player who grew a moustache. Rollie said “For that kind of money, we would have grown moustaches on our asses.”
The rest is manly moustache history.
What about Marx’s less-infamous but equally important partner, Frederick Engels? Marx’s wild barbarian beard may fit as the ideal for the man with the big ideas, but it honestly is just as matched by the perfectly-formed, colossal piece of steel wool that stuck out from the chin of his sidekick. Equally remarkable is how Engels’ mustache seems to extend down far below his mouth, which I can only imagine made eating a complicated task. Needless to say, the inspiring portrait of Engels’ taped to my wall has long outlasted my fleeting embrace of communism.
Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton. First translator of the Arabian Nights and the Kama Sutra, snuck into the forbidden city of Mecca disguised as a pilgrim at a time when doing so carried a death warrant, as well as discovered the lakes of sub-Saharan Africa. He spoke 29 different languages and is a founder of the field of modern anthropology. To say nothing of the thousand other little things he did. Check him out, and do his mustache justice: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Francis_Burton
Why isn’t legendary NASCAR driver #3, aka Dale Earnhardt on this list? Talk about one of the manliest men out there, Earnhardt epitomized manliness in more ways than one.
How can you omit John L. Sullivan?
How about Brian Blessed? I think Prince Vultan is about as manly as a beard can get. Add to it the fact that Blessed is an accomplished mountaineer as well as an entertainer, and has been happily married to the same woman for more than thirty years and I think you’ve got a beard to look up to.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Blessed
A great bearded look was Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane in Iron Man. He looked bad to the bone with the shaved head and full beard!!!
Well If we are adding Santa Clause, we may as well include Thor, the Thunder God. His beard was so epic, that it raw power actually mentioned several times throughout Snorri’s Edda. Thor was rarely angry enough that his beard would “shake”, but when it did, it was to the sound of thunder and directly preceded a Godly ass kicking!
Do yourself a favor and google search Tio Kleberg of the King Ranch.
One totally kick ass beard was the “other” father of communism, Friedrich Engels. Not a fan of communism myself, but that dude had an UNBELIEVABLE beard. Check it out at Wikipedia. Look up “beard” and scroll down. You could hide a bus in that thing!!!!
Scott Ian
Ufc’s Andrei Arlovski is a definite