Lori Saunders was the middle daughter on Petticoat Junction.
Last worked in 1980 but apparently still alive.
Also loved Agent 99!
Not sure why this is a reply to johnspartan, meant to reply to my own previous post.
I knew that didn’t sound right. Yep, Princess Ardala, Pamela Hensley, yowzers!
What, only two mentions of Diana Rigg? She was one of my childhood TV crushes, and though there were probably others, she’s the only one I remember. Furthermore, when I mentioned it to a friend, he said he felt the same way as a kid.
For those who may not know, she passed away only last month.
Nobody has mentioned my big crush: jamie Summers from the Bionic Woman. It was too early for me to understand what was happening but she knocked me out.
Bailey Quarters, definitely.
But weirdly, I had a thing for Velma on Scooby-Doo. Even though she was a cartoon, it was her intelligence that attracted me. Daphne may have been the looker, but Velma solved the mysteries. I liked that.
Even more weirdly, I would eventually date a real-life Velma when I did my undergrad. Nobody you’d typically look at twice–short of stature, nothing-special hairstyle, and big glasses; but intelligent and logical like you wouldn’t believe. Again, I liked that.
In thinking about the Petticoat Junction gals, unless I’m missing something, what’s interesting to me is that the women specifically chosen to be “objects of desire” haven’t been mentioned:
- no “Charlie’s Angels” angels (Cheryl Ladd was my favorite, but I wouldn’t say I had a “crush”)
- no “Baywatch” babes
- far more “Bailey” than Loni Anderson
I am sure these have been mentioned already but…
Loni Anderson and Jan Smithers from WKRP in Cincinnatti, Erin Gray from Buck Rogers, Martha Quinn on MTV
I think those kinds of women tend to appeal to mid-teens rather than younger kids, who instead usually go for girl-next-door types.
Fair enough, but I’m pretty sure I was pretty young when I first noticed how a whip-wielding Julie Newmar filled out her tights while she was breathily talking about brushing her pussy willows.
(Come to think of it, I was young enough that I was Adam-West-as-Batman for Halloween.)
I think when you are pre-teen, the ones that you crush on tend towards the ones you imagine would make really fun baby-sitters. All the sexy stuff would have gone over my head at that age. Another early one I just thought of was a British actress that I saw a couple times on the Walt Disney show that came on on Sunday nights. I think her name was Susan Hampshire and she was in some movie about a cat. (Goes off to look it up.)
Yes, Susan Hampshire in the Three Lives Of Thomasina. Thought cats had nine lives?
The movie only dealt with three of them. I remember going to see it every day for a week in the summer of 1964.
Susan Hampshire was also in the pilot episode of The Time Tunnel. She was a passenger on the Titanic, going to New York for experimental brain surgery.
I haven’t seen The Three Lives of Thomasina, but I remember being a bit surprised when I realized that the woman from Monarch of the Glen had also been in Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies.
Yeah, I remember first seeing her in American Werewolf in London when I was 6 or 7. My parents were a little lax in what they allowed me to watch.
Oh, I was way into her when I was a kid, but the OP wanted crushes from before age 12, and I don’t think reruns of The Avengers were playing on any station we got before I was 12. I remember that it was on very late at night, when it was on, and I used to set an alarm to get up to watch it. Half the time I fell asleep, but I always tried.
In high school, I had a T-shirt with a picture of a note on it that said “Mrs. Peel, we’re needed.” Wish I could remember where I got it. Or knew what happened to it. Probably got lost in a move.
When DH and I were planning our wedding (or, when I was, and he was occasionally answering a question about his preference for this or that with “whatever”), he got me a boxed set of VHS tapes with all the Mrs. Peel episodes.
I saw Jenny Agutter in a stage play in 1985. Gemma Jones was also in it. I sneaked backstage and met Gemma Jones, who was unbelievably nice, and signed my program. Didn’t know enough at the time to get Agutter’s signature as well.
This. Also, Mary Ann, but I had it hard for Laura Ingalls. But, really, most of my crushes were on real girls…
Lynne Grizzard. Samantha Tonely. Susan McAllen. Anna Galifianakis. Joley Modine. Seriously, I still remember them all these years later. Lynne was the first crush, probably in 3rd grade. (Hope & Holly Alewine too!) Joley and Anna were 7th, right up to (maybe a bit past) the age limit here. I’m sure if I put my mind to it I can remember some others.
Natasha Fatale…
I remembered another early one. There was a show (totally blanking on the name but would have been mid sixties) about some rich dude that lived in a luxury apartment in the big city. He had a butler with a beard and somehow was taking care of three kids. Two girls and a boy . I don’t think they were his. The older sister that was probably in her mid teens (the character) was a huge crush of mine for a while.
Family Affair. Brian Keith as “Uncle Bill,” Sebastian Cabot as “Mr French,” the butler.
“Buffy” (Anissa Jones) and “Jody” (Johnny Whttaker) were the adorable twins, “Cissy,” (Kathy Garver) was the big sister.
Family Affair?''https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDeDGFzvwPU