Aged to perfection: at age 55, marketing executive Rick Dinihanian is Playgirl's latest openly gay cover man--proving that sex appeal comes at all ages.

At 49, Rick Dinihanian found himself in a place all too familiar to many men his age. The Stanford grad, once a member of his college crew team and an avid runner, had gotten out of the workout habit and found himself about 20 pounds overweight. Just a few months before his 50th birthday, Dinihanian had a revelation.

"One day I looked down and I was like, 'I don't like this,'" he explains. "I think it was time to change." And change he did. Dinihanian not only got himself into the best shape of his life, the out San Francisco fine artist, who is also an art director and partner in a creative design and marketing agency, became Playgirl magazine's June issue centerfold, making him, at 55, the oldest model ever to be on the cover.

"Really, what I wanted to do was feel better about myself and fit into the jeans that didn't fit me anymore," Dinihanian laughs. "I was wearing somebody else's, and they were huge."

Getting into shape at 50 is much harder than it is at 25, but Dinihanian approached his challenge with a good mind-set and some creativity. "I looked in some fitness magazines and I found some hot guy who was my body type, and I put my head on his torso and stuck it on the bathroom mirror," he explains. "I'd say, 'Yes, I can,' and go ride my bike for an hour."

Dinihanian was soon getting noticed by admirers, including a friend who was modeling for photographer Cliff Baker. A shoot for Baker led to one for well-known lensman Tom Bianchi, and soon Dinihanian's marketing skills kicked in. "I thought, Maybe there is something to do with this," he says. He promptly sent off some shots to a men's fitness magazine, which published the photos. Then, 'after a chance encounter with photographer Roger Nguyen at a charity event, the Playgirl spread was set in motion. Nguyen took a few test shots, sent them off to the magazine, and quickly got word that Playgirl wanted Dinihanian.

Dinihanian says he's heard from other men his age who have been inspired by his photos. Some then have even contacted him to make sure he is real. He assures them he is. "I'm not anything special," he insists. "We all have the power to re-create ourselves and be the best of who we are."

Unlike Playgirl's 30th-anniversary centerfold, Scott Merritt--who subsequently came out on the cover of The Advocate--Dinihanian had no issue with his sexuality or with potentially coming across as straight to female readers. "I didn't feel like I was going into the closet [by] answering the questions," he says about the hetero-suggestive queries that go with his Playgirl shots. "They are things everybody can answer regardless of their sexuality." (In response to a question about the most romantic thing he's ever done for a woman, he talked about giving flowers to a close friend.)

For Playgirl--long known as eye candy for gay men as well as straight women--being gay was apparently never an issue. "They didn't ask," Dinihanian explains. As far as he's concerned, his own sexuality is irrelevant to the shoot. "I figured that it was just about being a sexy man," he says. "It's really about the man in the photographs."

Lisotta also writes for L.A. Weekly.