Jon-Erik Hexum was born to Norwegian immigrant parents on November 5th, 1957. He was 6’1”, weighed about 190 pounds, and had sandy blond hair and baby blue eyes.
Incredibly hot, ruggedly handsome Jon-Erik Hexum, with his beefcake body and deep vibrating voice - suddenly dead at 26 in 1984 because of an accidental, self-inflicted, gunshot wound to the head.
“Are you a hunk?” - PM Magazine Interview (1983) where Jon-Erik is interviewed by cousin Eric Paulsen. (play-time 3:13)While working cleaning offices in New York City in 1981, he met Bob LeMond of LeMond/Zetter Management, the manager of John Travolta. Jon-Erik once said that the guy must have seen a lot of talent in the way he cleaned the Venetian blinds – for Bob became his manager and Hexum relocated to Los Angeles.
| During his time in Los Angeles, Hexum worked as a nightclub doorman, cab driver and carpet cleaner to pay the bills. Jon-Erik Hexum was soon cast as the lead (Phineas Bogg) in the television show Voyagers! – which lasted for one season (1982-83), mainly because it was shown during the same time-slot as the popular television show 60 Minutes. |
VOYAGERS! On The Titanic (play-time 8:44)
After a promotion tour which he financed himself, Jon-Erik was cast for the movie Making of a Male Model with Joan Collins in 1983. He played Tyler Burnett, a ranchhand, who is invited by a modeling agent (Collins) to move to New York and pursue a modeling career. The film was Hexum’s breakthrough, but it also labeled him as a hunk and sex symbol.
Jon-Erik Hexum in “The Making Of A Male Model” (play-time 9:45)
In 1984 Hexum continued his television career as Green Beret Mac Harper in the Cover Up series (1984), a show about a fashion photographer and a model who were actually secret agents.
Jon-Erik Hexum Interview in 1984 with Merv Griffin (play-time 8:48)
Jon-Erik’s life was cut short during the filming of what would be his last episode of Cover Up. On October 12, 1984, after a long and draining day of shooting, Hexum became bored with the extensive delays. Imitating Christopher Walken’s Russian Roulette scene from The Deer Hunter, he jokingly put a prop .44 magnum revolver to his temple and pulled the trigger. What started out as a joke or tension breaker quickly turned to horror.
Even after 23 years I have to question why a man with such a bright future died in such a tragic way. There had been speculations of suicide but it seems that Jon-Erik Hexum was just unaware that blanks discharge paper and plastic wadding at high speed when they are fired.
I remain a fan of Jon-Erik Hexum – may he never be forgotten.
Posted in Celebrity Men
