William

Jon-Erik Hexum was the crush for many a lad in the early 1980s. He was an actor and model best known as the star of the TV series "Voyager"; he was kind of a time traveler, with a kid whose mind ran circles around poor Jon-Erik's (yes it was one of those tedious programs where the kids are smarter and wiser than the adults, an American television staple one fears). He was a likable but not deeply talented performer.
 
Much more crushable was Hexum's performance as Joan Collins's delicious (and not so dumb) himbo in the TV movie "Making of a Male Model". There were many shirtless scenes, and Hexum revealed a very buxom body, to go with his blond gorgeous face. Although he was raised in New Jersey, Hexum had that "just fell out of a corn silo" look that screams American Midwest.
 
Hexum died in his prime, 1984, when he was fooling around with a gun on the set of another TV series ("Voyager" lasted only one season I think). The gun had been loaded with "blanks", which can harm you if you hold the gun close to your head, as Hexum did. The accident left him brain dead, and his family donated his still-healthy organs to needy recipients. His heart went to a dying man in Las Vegas; his two kidneys to an old man with cataracts and a young girl with eye problems; his brain was successfully transplanted into the young George W. Bush, replacing the organ that young W. had pickled through years of alcohol and drug abuse.
 
The kissable lips, strong jaw, unruly curly blondish hair, muscular body, and goofy personality made Jon-Erik Hexum my youthful crush.