I am in Miami this week – home of spectacular sunrises, a pretty good basketball team and THE red-haired hero.
I speak of Horatio Caine – CSI Miami’s taciturn but oh-so-sexy hero – played by David Caruso.
Horatio has risen above a great handicap to become a hero. His intelligence and strength, moral fibre and sexy voice were as nothing compared to the fact that he has….. whisper it please … red hair.
When I first started writing, I was told that heroes don’t have red hair. In fact, some editors have been known to make a writer change the hero’s hair colour.
Why is this?
There are many, many heroines with red hair… from Nicole Kidman to Maureen O’Hara and Jessica Rabbit – flame haired screen sirens have men falling at their feet.
But where are the red haired men?
Red is fine for a side kick, like dark-haired Harry Potter’s carrot-top friend Ron Weasley.
Scarlett O’Hara may have thought she loved Ashley Wilkes, who tended towards ginger (at least in the movie), but he was never going to win out over Rhett Butler in the hero stakes.
Hair does not make a hero. A hero has to be so much more. Give him strength. Give him honesty and kindness. Give him flaws, a troubled past or a limp. Give him a killer smile and yes – please – don’t be afraid to give him red hair!
In my days as a news reporter, I worked with an elite police task force – intelligent and tough, but also thoughtful and honourable. They put themselves in harms way to help others. That’s the stuff of heroes… and every single one of them had red hair.
So – lets declare ourselves for those of a carrot persuasion!
And in case you’re not sure – here’s Horatio again.
What that man does to a pair of sunglasses!