The 1940s saw a rise in shirtless shots of such stars as Tyrone Power, Guy Madison, Sterling Hayden and Victor Mature; and in the 1950s movie magazines began running swimsuit shots of actors such as Tony Curtis, Rock Hudson, Tab Hunter, Jeff Chandler, Robert Conrad and Robert Wagner almost as frequently as they did with actresses.
This period also included the rise of bodybuilding magazines, which continue to be popular to the present day, as well as musclemen movie stars such as Steve Reeves who were often barely dressed in their action/adventure films.
In the 1980s, heavily muscular actors Arnold Schwarzenegger,[3][4] Lou Ferrigno,[5] and Sylvester Stallone[3] continued to star in beefcake-type action/adventure movies (such as Conan the Barbarian[3] or Hercules[5]).
Today, it is common to see beefcake shots of male sex symbols on the cover of general interest magazines.
A 1999 film of the same name, Beefcake, details the history of the Athletic Model Guild, an early company known for their photos of men in various publications.