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Warm & fuzzy: Celebrities with famous facial hair
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Warm & fuzzy: Celebrities with famous facial hair

Some celebrities are remembered for a role or for a huge career moment. Others actually are remembered for their facial hair. Which is better? Who can say? However, we’re here to honor the best celebrity facial hair of the past and present. Those who have shaved off their iconic look, or have passed on, are still eligible for this list. We’re here for the facial hair through the ages. The only people being excluded are athletes, who will hopefully get their own list some day. Let’s get to the facial hair love!

 
1 of 25

Tom Selleck

Tom Selleck
JB Lacroix/WireImage

Selleck’s mustache is an iconic staple of the ‘80s. In fact, we almost got an Indiana Jones with a ‘stache, but Selleck was kept from starring in "Raiders of the Lost Ark" because of his TV role on "Magnum P.I." Still, that role made him a star and made his mustache famous. He rocked it on "Friends," and he’s still rocking it on "Blue Bloods."

 
2 of 25

Billy Gibbons

Billy Gibbons
Per Ole Hagen/Redferns

When you think beards in music, you probably think of ZZ Top. We could have shouted out the late Dusty Hill as well, but it’s Gibbons who is the more famous of the two, and that gives him the more famous beard as well. Funnily enough, the member of ZZ Top without big, bushy facial hair? His name is Frank Beard.

 
3 of 25

Charlie Chaplin

Charlie Chaplin
United Artists

The iconography of Chaplin, one of the first movie stars, is burned into our memory. There’s the bowler hat, the cane and, of course, the little paintbrush mustache under his nose. You don’t see mustaches like that anymore, for complicated reasons, but there’s always that image of Chaplin that has lasted.

 
4 of 25

Alex Trebek

Alex Trebek
Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images

It was legitimately news when Trebek, the longstanding and beloved host of “Jeopardy,” shaved his mustache. For years, Trebek was on TV day in and day out sporting his ‘stache. We got used to seeing the late icon Trebek without his upper-lip facial hair, but it’s still a legendary mustache.

 
Zach Galifianakis
Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

Can you imagine a clean-shaven Galifianakis? It’s hard to envision. He became famous to many with “The Hangover” movies, where he had a bushy beard. That’s the look he has kept through the years. His facial hair is a little wild, but it stands out as a staple of his look.

 
6 of 25

Sam Elliott

Sam Elliott
Rick Kern/Getty Images

Elliott has been rocking a mustache forever. He’s had it since the ‘70s, and he still has it to this day. With his distinct voice, oftentimes we hear Elliott’s performances without actually seeing him. However, even when he’s telling us that beef is what’s for dinner, we can imagine that big ol’ mustache over his mouth.

 
7 of 25

Nick Offerman

Nick Offerman
NBC

In his day-to-day life, Offerman has some great facial hair. Usually it’s a beard. When most of us saw Offerman for the first time, though, it was in his role as Ron Swanson on “Parks and Recreation.” There he sported a mustache that became a classic part of his beloved character. The mustache probably won’t come back now that the show is over, but Offerman’s facial hair remains beloved.

 
8 of 25

Robert Downey Jr.

Robert Downey Jr.
Marvel

Downey was famous, and infamous, for many years sans facial hair. Then he got the role of Tony Stark, aka Iron Man. Stark had a pretty distinct goatee. Next thing we, and he, knew, the Marvel movies blew up. Downey played Stark for over a decade, with the goatee along for the ride.

 
9 of 25

Henry Cavill

Henry Cavill
Keith Mayhew / Echoes Wire / Barcroft Media via Getty Images

We can thank “Justice League” for making Cavill’s mustache famous. The story was so absurd that it made entertainment headlines. Cavill grew a mustache for his role in “Mission Impossible: Fallout.” He was needed for reshoots for “Justice League,” where he played Superman. However, he was contractually requited to have the mustache for “Mission: Impossible.” That meant the folks from “Justice League” had to digitally remove his ‘stache for the movie.

 
10 of 25

Jason Momoa

Jason Momoa
Warner Bros.

Speaking of “Justice League,” Momoa has some famous follicles as well. Some of that is his long, flowing hair. However, he always rocks a beard as well, either as Aquaman or as Khal Drogo from “Game of Thrones.”

 
11 of 25

Dan Haggerty

Dan Haggerty
Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images

You may not know Haggerty’s name. If we say the name “Grizzly Adams,” though, you are probably picturing him right now. His scruffy, robust beard became famous, and to this day you sometimes here somebody with a big beard being described as having a “Grizzly Adams” look.

 
12 of 25

Cesar Romero

Cesar Romero
ABC

When Cavill couldn’t have a mustache as Superman, it was digitally removed. Things were done a little more simply in the beloved ‘60s version of “Batman.” Romero had a mustache, and he refused to shave it to play the Joker. So for the entire run of the show, he simply painted over his mustache with his Joker makeup. It became weirdly iconic in its own way.

 
13 of 25

Hulk Hogan

Hulk Hogan
New Line

He had the 24-inch pythons, which were perfect for ripping shirts. That’s only part of his classic look though. There was also his handlebar mustache, which has been blonde, dyed or otherwise, forever. Well, there was also the time when he was Hollywood Hogan in the New World Order, and he dyed parts of his mustache black. That was weird.

 
14 of 25

Hugh Jackman

Hugh Jackman
20th Century Fox

Sideburns are part of facial hair, especially when they get particularly out there. Jackman became famous for playing Wolverine, aka Logan, in many an X-Men film. As Wolverine, at least at first, he had sideburns that would put an 1800s politician to shame.

 
15 of 25

Scott Ian

Scott Ian
Matthew Eisman/Getty Images

You may not be a fan of his band Anthrax, but if you watched VH1 talking head shows at all during the ‘90s and 2000s, you know Ian’s look. He was the guy with the distinct goatee that was dyed various different colors over the years. That made him stick out among the likes of Michael Ian Black and Hal Sparks when discussing his affinity for the ‘80s and ‘90s.

 
16 of 25

Frank Zappa

Frank Zappa
Ginny Winn/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Zappa was an iconoclastic musician, mixing irreverent, juvenile humor with an affinity for orchestration and elaborate arrangements. He also had the same facial hair for basically his entire career. There was his mustache and then a little patch of hair on his chin. That is the Zappa look.

 
17 of 25

Wilford Brimley

Wilford Brimley
Imeh Akpanudosen/Getty Images

Brimley was only 50 when he was in “Cocoon,” which puzzles people to this day. Whether acting, shilling Quaker Oats or talking about “diabeetus,” Brimley sported a thick, furry mustache through it all. When Brimley passed away at the age of 85, he was still rocking the mustache.

 
18 of 25

Geraldo Rivera

Geraldo Rivera
Jared Siskin/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images

Rivera would probably prefer we remember him for his mustache. After all, what else would we remember him for? That time in Al Capone’s vault? His role in creating sensationalist daytime television? His work as a Fox News talking head? No, the mustache is probably the highlight of his career.

 
19 of 25

John Waters

John Waters
John Lamparski/Getty Images

There’s nothing Waters does that isn’t in some way iconoclastic. He marches to the beat of his own drum. Anybody who has seen his films knows that. That’s also true of his iconic facial hair, which is a unique pencil thin mustache.

 
20 of 25

Groucho Marx

Groucho Marx
Paramount

Should we count Marx? It’s tricky. His famous mustache was painted on, after all. And yet, it’s one of the most memorable mustaches in history. Those glasses with a fake nose and mustache that have been sold for years are called “Groucho glasses.” It may not be a real mustache, but to not include Groucho on a list of famous celebrity facial hair still feels wrong.

 
21 of 25

Joaquin Phoenix

Joaquin Phoenix
Magnolia Pictures

Phoenix’s famous facial hair came in one brief portion of his career. You may recall the time when the star of films like “Walk the Line” said he was retiring from acting to be a rapper. This turned out to be a stunt for a fake documentary called “I’m Still Here.” During that time, he grew out his beard extensively. You probably didn’t see the movie he did it for, but you probably remember him from his awkward David Letterman appearance.

 
22 of 25

Bryan Cranston

Bryan Cranston
AMC

The facial hair of Walter White changed through the years, but every time it became iconic. Cranston started with what he called an “impotent” mustache. Then as White grew into his role as Heisenberg the drug kingpin, he had a goatee. After things fell apart, he grew a beard that was a true surprise when it was revealed.

 
23 of 25

Jeff Bridges

Jeff Bridges
Gramercy

Bridges is one of those actors who always feels like himself in his roles. That’s not a criticism either, as he’s a delightful presence. As such, he’s always got some degree of facial hair. That includes when he played The Dude in “The Big Lebowski,” a role that turned him into a cult hero.

 
24 of 25

Kurt Russell

Kurt Russell
Universal

When Russell was a child actor, obviously he didn’t have much in the way of facial hair. As he grew into an adult, the facial hair came in. His beard in “The Thing” is, well, a thing of beauty. If that wasn’t enough, he brought back that luscious beard for his role in “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.”

 
25 of 25

Rick Rubin

Rick Rubin
Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Spotify

Not many music producers are instantly recognizable. Rubin is though. That’s partially because of how successful his career has been. In 2007 he was called the most important producer of the last 20 years by MTV. What makes him so visibly recognizable, though, is the massive beard he has sported since he first became a known name.

Chris Morgan is a sports and pop culture writer and the author of the books The Comic Galaxy of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and The Ash Heap of History. You can follow him on Twitter @ChrisXMorgan.

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