Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?

Oct. 13, 2008— -- With Paul Newman's death last month, audiences were reminded just how much he embodied the iconic American leading man, appealing to women and men alike.

Newman's chiseled face and steely blue eyes were characteristic of the Hollywood heartthrob of yesteryear: strong, silent, masculine. Today's generation of leading men is more likely to resemble Leonardo DiCaprio's boyish looks.

"Because of the overwhelming success of 'Titanic,' a lot of men had a hard time relating to DiCaprio," said Wes Gehring, a film professor at Ball State University in Indiana. "He not only had to fight the youthful thing, but he had to fight that he was too pretty. James Dean had that same kind of scenario going on. Women wanted to comfort him; men wanted to slap him around and say grow up."

DiCaprio has grown up. It has been more than 10 years since he became a superstar playing the romantic lead opposite Kate Winslet in "Titanic." He's more likely now to take a more character-driven role, like his latest as a Middle East-based CIA operative in the film "Body of Lies," that plays against his good looks.

In that way, he's like Newman, who also tried to subvert his classic good looks by playing flawed heroes, cads and has-beens.

"DiCaprio has very consciously sought out interesting roles," said Hollywood Reporter film editor Gregg Kilday. "With the success of 'Titanic,' the easy conventional thing for him would have been to do what Matthew McConaughey does -- romantic comedies. Instead, he's adopted different accents ['Blood Diamond,' 'The Departed']. He's interested in taking on more challenging things. For the most part, he's not interested in trading on his heartthrob status."

For those hoping to see a return to romance when he teams up again with Winslet for the film "Revolutionary Road" in December, his fans are bound to be disappointed. The film is about a disintegration of a relationship.

Are we seeing the disintegration of the Hollywood leading man?

"At this point, we are witnessing a kind of shift from that pure grown-in-America country boy," said New York City casting director Patrick Goodwin. "It's really hard to find that."