 Paul Gross  This month's man selected by Katy Munger |
Tarts . . Motel . . Madness . . Mom's . . Route 66 . . Studio. . Dungeon . . Mall . . Starlite . . Message BoardWhat would any self-respecting Tart see in such a straight-looking guy as Canada's actor/director/writer/musician Paul Gross?
One word: corruptibility.
Who wouldn't want to drag him away from the chopping block and into the wood shed to rip off his flannel shirt and strip those well-worn Levis straight down to his manly ankles?
Besides, he likes smart women... and he's no slouch himself. In addition to starring as the quintessential Canadian Mountie in "Due South" (watch TNT for reruns), he served as Executive Producer for its final season, plus wrote and unofficially directed many of the episodes -- doing a bang-up job in all of his roles. We're only sorry we weren't there to chase the stress away at the end of each shooting day. Keep in mind that Due South is only a tiny blip in a decades-long multi-faceted career, mind you. But it is your best bet for seeing him in action.
Rumor has it that he is currently concentrating on his stage and music career. He has a band called the Bone Men (we wish! we wish!) with his song-writing partner, David Keeley. Their country-western album is called Two Houses (mine and yours?).
To top things off, he's also straight and has a (scathing) sense of humor. Who could ask for anything more? Okay, okay, for all you shallow Tarts: he's also rumored to be the highest-paid Canadian entertainer in history, if you insist on the grubby details. Personally, it's his mind we're after. And the package it comes in.
(Note to Paul: We have those embarrassing photos of you posing in white leather for a Canadian women's magazine. In order to get the negatives back, you'll have to make us a really attractive offer (one that has nothing to do with money).
Paul comes by his strong jaw honestly: he's a Canadian army brat, who was born in April of 1959 and dragged all over the provinces in his early years. He's been acting and writing since he was a teenager, and graduated with a degree in Drama from the University of Alberta in Edmonton.
Paul first came to the notice of U.S. audiences as the disillusioned, pot-smoking young lawyer in Tales of the City, Armistead Maupin's fabulous mini-series about San Francisco in the 70's. Paul's role as Mountie Benton Fraser in the television series Due South cemented his popularity with audiences just about everywhere. These two roles are just a fraction of the stage, movie and television characters he has played, however. The guy is a megastar in his own country and deserves to be one here as well.
Unfortunately for those of us who take our daydreams seriously, Paul is married to actress Martha Burns. And they not only have two children (a boy and a girl), they also have a dog -- which pretty much makes the whole family thing official, we'd say.
If you want to see him in the flesh, he is slated to appear as Hamlet at Ontario's Stratford Festival this year (2000). But please don't throw your panties on stage -- it's just so tacky and it can really kill the mood of all those soliloquies.
He has won a roomful of awards for his plays, teleplays and various acting roles. If you've suddenly become a hardcore fan (and who can blame you?), we direct you to the following link:
Paul Gross Web Page
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copyright 1999 Katy Munger