This legendary actor is unrecognizable from his 1970s heartthrob days

For a younger audience, it can be hard to believe that Nolte was the true face and image of the ultimate all-American hero in the 1970s. He was even labeled People magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive.

But how did Nick Nolte become one of the country’s most famous faces?

 

First of all, Nolte wasn’t much of an actor in high school, according to his football coach in Omaha. As a young student, he was a talented football player – but also a ”skinny, awkward kid with a crew cut.”

According to Nolte himself, he was extremely shy as a kid and never felt comfortable as part of a group. He struggled at school, and it wasn’t until later in life that he was diagnosed with dyslexia.

The handsome Nolte, born in Omaha, Nebraska, on February 8, 1941, got his big breakthrough in the TV miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man (1976). Not long after that, he became a household name and an American heartthrob.

However, he started working as a model in the 1960s. One of his most famous shots came while he cut an impressive figure together with Sigourney Weaver for Clairol’s “Summer Blonde” hair coloring campaign back in 1972. According to Eighties Kids, the commercial remains the only time a man has ever appeared on a box of women’s hair dye.