George Peppard: An icon to boys and girls alike

Now that's a hunky chest

 I recently saw Breakfast at Tiffany's at a revival theater; having never seen it before. As I sipped on my bottle of smuggled-in wine (out of a coke cup-classy!), I got the feeling that I recognized the lead actor from somewhere. At first I thought it was Fred Gwynn, from The Munsters and My Cousin Vinny, but this guy romancing Audrey Hepburn seemed too handsome to be the same dude. Well, color me shocked to later learn it was George Peppard aka M.F.n Hannibal from The A-Team.

 

 

 Which got me thinking further, knowing that Coachette, like many other ladies, ranks Tiffany's as one her favorite flicks, and knowing how iconic Hannibal was for deryls my age and older, has any other actor played an iconic role for each sex? It'd be like Hugh Grant starring in Knight Rider or something. Or Molly Ringwald starring in Terminator.

 Of course, being a Natural Born Hater, I'm not down with this summer's big-screen A-Team relaunch. The appeal of the A-Team was in its jackpot casting, not in its premise. Liam Neeson is a fine actor and all, but it's all too gimmicky and stunty. To me, there are Shakesperean franchises, stories capable of being adapted with different actors and different contexts. Think West Side Story, Twilight or James Bond. Then there are stories which work well in only a certain time and place. And that's the A-Team, a story that worked only because of the actors in it and the context of the time it came out. Moreover, I question it's value as a brand, as it no meaning to anyone younger than ourselves save for that Mr. T was in it. 

To coincide with the new movie, a new line of A-Team comics is being released. From the looks of this cover it's waaaay to serious. Backstory and exposition not needed, Hannibal smoking a stog while B.A. blows some shit up is. George Peppard, R.I.P.