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Monday, June 8, 2020

Guest Series - BozB's Recollections of Jim Conrad/Rex Ravelle


Another fellow Hawaii resident, BozB, has sent me some photos of an interesting figure who became something of a legend in Hawaii bodybuilding circles.  Born Gennaro De Nuccio in Italy in 1916, his family moved to the USA in 1920.  Upon his naturalization as a US Citizen, he took the name Jerome De Nuccio, which appears on his draft card and Screen Actors' Guild membership from 1940.  Why SAG?  Well, he was a stunt man in the movies and actually did the stunt work for Johnny Weismuller in the Tarzan films.  And we thought ultra he-man and Olympic swimmer Weismuller did his own stunts.  At some point in the 1940's Jerome did two more name changes.  The three nude photos in today's series were done under the name Jim Conrad, and he started doing film work and competitive bodybuilding as Rex Ravelle.  Complicated, eh?  The nudes are generally attributed to Russ Warner.

4 comments:

  1. Wow..a stunner...what a physique...

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  2. No wonder the Italians are so good at designing clothes when they have bodies like that to wear them.

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    1. Having spent a lot of time in Italy, I have to agree heartily. On one six month business assignment spanning three fashion seasons, I never ceased to be amazed by how good looking the general population was in both terms of body types and clothing selection. That goes for men as well as women.

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