The ABC reality show The Bachelor was not around in 1959, but it’s an idea at least that old to put a good-looking, multi-talented, ideal-seeming man on TV. While this season’s bachelor Ben Higgins studied business, enjoys line-dancing and once volunteered in Peru, that year’s Renaissance man was 27-year-old “actor-artist-athlete” Gardner McKay, who was also a sailor and schooner captain, a basketball star, equestrian and diver, a fisherman, model, sculptor and photographer. “This is the face that will—well, let’s say, probably will—launch a million sighs and burn its romantic image into the hearts of hordes of American females,” LIFE declared about that year’s “new Apollo for the ladies.”
McKay, who was preparing for a starring role on the TV show that would make him famous, Adventures in Paradise, was by LIFE’s account the paragon of American good looks:
The ideal handsome male…must have a special mixture of handsomeness and ruggedness. Too much of one and the ideal will turn into a pretty boy; too much of the other and he will look like an oaf. The ideal must also appear intelligent; large deep-set eyes can show that he is. He must look like a man other men would like; this may be indicated by a strong jaw. He must be sensitive…
Later in life, after Adventures in Paradise went off the air, McKay would bask in a return to relative anonymity and turn his attention to writing plays, assisting an agronomist in the Amazon and traveling the Egyptian desert on camelback.
But, though he was a reluctant star, McKay did end up launching at least one sigh—the one that truly counted. Though he admitted to having been afraid to settle down in his younger years, he later wrote in an essay that when he met an Irish artist named Madeleine Madigan in his late 40s, “I pulled over to the side of the road and got out.” They were married for two decades, until his death at 69 in 2001.
July 6, 1959 cover of LIFE magazine.Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter @lizabethronk.
Actor, athlete and artist Gardner McKay.Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesGardner McKay gets fitted for a costume.Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesMcKay filming a scene from "Adventures in Paradise."Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesActor, athlete, artist, Gardner McKay.Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesMcKay posing with costar Linda Lawson.Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesMcKay poses for LIFE's Allan Grant.Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesMcKay on set.Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCaption from LIFE. Planning TV clothes he demands "what a guy who's gone native wears," not yachting garb.Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCaption from LIFE. Taking pictures on assignement from model agency, McKay poses Nancy Harmon on park swing.Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesMcKay pages through a book, in the company of smartly dressed women.Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesActor, athlete and artist Gardner McKay.Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesIn addition to acting, McKay worked as a freelance photographer.Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCaption from LIFE. As athlete, McKay plays basketball for 20th Century's Red Foxes against Ozzie Nelson's team.Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesMcKay works on a sculpture.Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCaption from LIFE. As bachelor, he visits Actress Susan Plechette's apartment. They talked about acting and drank tea.Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCaption from LIFE. Frolicking with Susan Plechette, McKay, who dropped in unannounced to visit, spends spare hour.Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesMcKay goes for a drive with a four-legged friend.Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesActor, athlete, artist, Gardner McKay.Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCaption from LIFE. Owns a Chevrolet because he does not want to be identified with what he calls Hollywood's "Thunderbird Pilots" or the "Cadillac set."Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesMcKay plays on the beach with his dog Pussy Cat.Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
