"She Was Too Old For Yentl!": Actors in Roles They Were Way Too Old For

Most teenagers in Friday the 13th movies.

Babs in Hello, Dolly

Julie Harris in Member of the Wedding

Lucy in Your. Mine and Ours

Glenn in Albert Nobbs.

R2, that was the opposite. She was too young for the role.

No, she was a child bride.

Babs in Nuts— the $500 a night hooker

Cast of breakfast club.

EVERYBODY in "Grease"

J. Lo as a postmenopausal stripper in Hustlers

Tom Cruise, Jennifer Connelly, Val kilmer and Jon Hamm in the new Top Gun Maverick.

Brooke Shields in Pretty Baby

^ Are they playing the world's oldest fighter pilots?

Joan Crawford as 29-year-old Lucy Harbin in "Strait-Jacket."

Diana Ross in Wiz

The Wiz*^

Mary Martin in South Pacific, Mary Martin in Peter Pan, Mary Martin in The Sound of Music

Leslie Howard And Norma Shearer In Romeo And Juliet 😂😂😂😂

“ Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is one of the most famous works of literature in history. The tale of young love that blossoms between two feuding families is as old as time. Everyone knows the story of the two star-crossed lovers, but what happens when those lovers aren’t as young as they’re supposed to be?

The result is the 1936 adaptation, which starred two leads so old that they could have been Romeo and Juliet’s parents. Leslie Howard, who played Romeo, was a whopping 43 years old at the time, while Norma Shearer, who played Juliet, was 34. Needless to say, their ages didn’t do them any favors while they tried to play romantic teens.

In the end, the age of the cast completely undercuts the film’s messages and themes, proving that Shakespeare’s famous lovers should probably be cast in their right age group in movies.”

Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn in Housesitter. I love the movie and them in it, but both those characters should have been played by 20-somethings.

Barbara Stanwyck in No Man of Her Own was too old to play a single woman in "trouble". She was in her 40s.

Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady. Eliza was supposed to be a young girl, not 35

Laurie Strode's two gal friends in the original Halloween, although Miss Jamie Lee looked too old for the role herself (even though she was just a few years out of high school).

RDJ playing Ironman in his 50s.

CZJ in everything she ever starred in.

Babs as a singer in her recent netflix concert ‘Barbra: The Music...The Mem’.ries....The Magic!’

William Holden as Hal in "Picnic. The character was supposed to be 21. Holden was 37. And looked at least 40.

John Cazale as Sal in "Dog Day Afternoon. The character he played was based on a real person; he was 18 years old. Cazale was 39. And looked a lot older. And weirder.

Lots of actors have played characters that were much younger than their actual ages. It's thought that with makeup and lighting the obvious can be overlooked. But that certainly wasn't the case in "Grease." EVERYBODY in that movie looked ridiculous; none of them even remotely seemed like a teenager. I guess so! They were all in their mid-twenties to early thirties.

Lucy as Auntie Mame in "Mame."

Liam Neeson in his recent action roles

Stockard Channing was 33 years old when she appeared in GREASE the other actors where all in the twenties. Which is not so bad.

"Stockard Channing was 33 years old when she appeared in GREASE the other actors where all in the twenties. Which is not so bad."

They were playing TEENAGERS. Which they obviously weren't. Stockard Channing looked forty. That movie was ludicrous and the old teenagers were just one reason why.

Winona Ryder was about 10 years too old for her role in Girl Interrupted. So was Janet Leigh in Bye Bye Birdie (she looked ridiculous playing a virginal secretary). But the biggest offender was probably Glenn Close in South Pacific; I don't know how old Nellie Forbush is in the original play but I'm pretty sure she's not supposed to be experiencing hot flashes yet.

Umm, Gabrielle Carteris in 90210. She was in her 30s pretending to be a teenager and looked like a 40something.

Ralph Macchio on the Karate Kid movies.

All the students in Welcome Back Kotter.

R33. at least he looked very young for his age.

Bill Holden in "Picnic." He was much too old to play a shirtless drifter courting Kim Novak.

M in Mamma Mia.

Judy Garland in the Wizard of Oz, they had to bind that poor girl’s chest down.

Sorry, R26. I forgot to refresh.

60-year-old Joan Crawford stealing daughter Christina's 26-year-old role in a soap opera.

"He's right, Taffy. For 14, you don't look so good."

Gary Cooper in Love in the Afternoon was so old, it made the movie unintentionally hilarious. Had a 30-/40-something actor been cast, the story would have unfolded as it was meant to with an aging playboy finally settling down with a cute much younger woman. But with Cooper in the role, it comes across more as a hideously old man finally choosing to stop acting like a jackass.

Gary Cooper in "Love in the Afternoon"

Fred Astaire in "Funny Face"

Humphrey Bogart in "Sabrina"

Cary Grant in "Charade"

Jane Fonda in Coming Home

[quote]Babs in Nuts— the $500 a night hooker

We didn't ask about actors in roles they were too UGLY for.

Jimmy Stewart in Vertigo and Bell, Book and Candle. Why would a young, beautiful witch waste a spell and lose her powers over old Jimmy Stewart?

Leslie Howard as Ashley Wilkes in "Gone WIth The Wind." At the beginning of the novel Ashley is 19 or 20 years old. At the start of the movie he looks middle aged, at least 40.

Stockard Channing in Grease was older, but it worked fine

Has anyone mentioned the “kids” in Head of the Class yet?

Sure, but you’re not going to talk about how she was too young for Hello Dolly!

The actors in Peggy Sue Gets Married.

Meryl Streep seemed a little old for Mamma Mia. The daughter is supposed to be 20, and Meryl was almost 60 playing this role. So she was close to 40 when she was hooking up with all these dudes in a short span of time. Not impossible, but more believable as the actions of carefree youth. The character comes across as a naive young woman in the diary.

Lillian Gish triumphed as Ophelia in a Broadway production on "Hamlet" at age forty-four! She played opposite a less long in the tooth John Gielgud, as her thirty-two year-old Hamlet. Queen Gertrude was played by Judith Anderson who at forty years of age was four years younger than Gish as Ophelia!

It was supposed to be a magnificent production, go figure!

Most cast members of almost any movie set in high school. -The faculty -Clueless -Superstar (Molly Shannon and will Ferrell looked like they were in their late 30s!) -Cruel Intentions -Etc.

Though closer in age than most, Olivia Hussey at 15 was still two years older than what the character of Juliet actually is supposed to be.

No one’s brought up Mr. Hammer in CMBYN yet? You bitches are slipping.

R56 You know that never bothered me, grad students can be any age really, it’s not like they said he was in high school or even undergrad.

Madonna in Evita. The actual Evita died at the age of 33. Madonna was 38 when she portrayed her.

Bette Davis in Beyond the Forest. Admittedly she knew it and tried to get out of the film but Jack Warner insisted. Was he trying to get rid of her?

Glen Close in South Pacific. Glen Close in Sarah, Plain and Tall.

Lucy in Mame.

Roddy McDowell in Lord Love a Duck (though he pulled it off well)

George Burns in Oh God.

Greer Garson, 36, as the 20-year-old Elizabeth Bennet in [italic]Pride and Prejudice[/italic] (1940).

Diane Keaton in [italic]the Little Drummer Girl[/italic] - The character in the book is 21 or 22 years old. She's a young, left-wing actress manipulated by an Israeli spymaster to act as a double agent in order to find a Palestinian bomb maker. She's a bit of a fool, but masters of the game are playing on her idealism. Diane Keaton was 37. For a woman of that age to be played like that was pathetic. It changed the tone of the story.

Jessica Lange was a little bit too old to play Frances Farmer, since Frances' troubles occurred when she was only in her 20s.

Watching Grease as a 9-year-old truly warped my brain. I could not fathom looking that grown up within ten years time. All through high school I thought I had never “arrived” cuz I looked like a real teenager.

R64, Jessica was in the age range. She was 33 years old when she did "Frances." The real Frances Farmer was around 29-30 when she was dragged out of the courthouse kicking and screaming and eventually landing in the asylum.

R8 That was the first film that I thought of. I've read the play that film is based on and it would make an excellent movie, but Babs just wasn't believable as a high-priced call girl.

Someone needs to make a new version.

When I first saw ‘Grease’, the fact that the actors were not in fact teens didn’t at all register with me. When you’re 12/13, an 18 year old is ancient.

Luke Perry, Beverly Hills 90210.

The entire cast of the "Rent" movie. Using the original Broadway cast was a godawful idea, the characters are all irresponsible and most are self-destructive, but it's possible to have some sympathy for them if they're obviously young.

Nobody sympathizes with people in their thirties, who are whining about having to get jobs and pay rent.

Yes, but that dance scene in Picnic was heaven, R36. Starting with Kim Novak clapping and stepping down the stairs. (Regardless of Holden having the rhythm of a blue footed boobie.)

Closer than Norma Shearer in her early thirties, R55

40 year old Madonna as teenage Eva Peron in the first part of Evita

Either Ava Gardner or Lorne Greene was too old in Earthquake! since they were playing father and daughter.

I wouldn’t change a frame of the film, though. It’s a delightful mess.

Kevin Spacey as Bobby Darin in "Beyond the Sea." Spacey was 45; Darin died when he was 37.

ONJ was 30 in Grease.

Charmian Carr in SoM. 23 is a lot older than 16.

On the tv show FAMILY. Gary Frank as Willie Lawrence. I've been watching the show on youtube.On one episode he's only supposed to be19 years old. He looked 29 years old at the time. He always looked WAY older than the character. Kristy McNicol was 14 years old when she played a 14 year old and looked the same age as her character.

R74- Yes indeed. She looked like his wife, maybe 4 or 5 years younger than him.

[quote]Charmian Carr in SoM. 23 is a lot older than 16.

Not only was she too old, she was the wrong gender. The eldest Von Trapp was a boy, Rupert.

Leslie Howard as a middle-aged Romeo

Carr was 21. She did not reveal her age. Saul Chaplin the co-producer said if he knew he wouldn't have hired her. I had a friend who was 50 who looked 40. When the 30 year old woman who he was dating found out she dropped him.

It’s called ACTING, you fools.

Most of the actors playing the high school students in Sex Education, starting with Emma Mackey and Connor Swindells. Nothing against their performances whatsoever, but half of them look like they're about to graduate from uni. (Fun show, though, and Gillian Anderson steals every scene she's in.)

Sixty three year old Laurie Metcalf as the mother of teenagers in LadyBird.

William Frawley

I love Barbra and Yentl at no Point in movie did I think she was too old.

I also thought she was very fetching in Nuts. Not all have price hookers look like top fashion models.

Joan Crawford

Lucille Ball

Streisand in Gypsy would have been yet another inappropriate role for her. She's neither the right age, voice type, or personality type for the role. It's a good thing that never happened.

She should remake Hello, Dolly now that she's more age appropriate.

Got give Barbra props, if anyone knows how to light a scene to knock off a few years or decades it’s her.

Another Lucille Ball

"Though closer in age than most, Olivia Hussey at 15 was still two years older than what the character of Juliet actually is supposed to be."

Oh big fucking deal. Two years? That doesn't constitute "way too old." Actually she and Leonard Whiting looked perfect for their roles; their looks were exactly right.

Many of the cast members of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Apart from Sarah Michelle Gellar, none of them could really pass for teenagers. Nicholas Brendon and Charisma Carpenter were 25 and 26 respectively when their characters were meant to be 16.

The star of Dumplin' was in her late 20s, looked ten years older (obesity makes young people look older and old people look younger), and was playing a teenager.

Leslie Howard in "Gone with the Wind". He was supposed to be about the same age as Scarlett, not old enough to be her father!

He was also supposed to be visibly younger than Rhett, Rhett was supposed to be the man who was obviously too old for Scarlett. But Howard looked about 20 years older than Clark Gable.

To be fair, Vivien Leigh didn’t look like the teenager Scarlett was supposed to be, either.

Scarlett is supposed to age from 16 to 30-ish during the course of the story, no actor can look the right age for an entire film like that.

So I'm willing to give films where characters age a certain amount of leeway when it comes to looking the wrong age, like the lovely film "A United Kingdom" about the King of Botswana and his English wife. The characters were supposed to age from college age to middle age, and the leading actors were about forty when it was made. Which was a bit silly when they were playing college students, at least without a good CGI budget. But when things got dramatic, David Oyelowo and Rosamund Pike were the right age for the characters.

"Got give Barbra props, if anyone knows how to light a scene to knock off a few years or decades it’s her. "

Oh please! Mama Rose is supposed to be the mother of young children for the first act! So I'm sure Babs can knock a decade or two off of her age, but she can't look 1/4 of her actual age.

Robert Redford in The Sting. Newman kept calling him "kid," he was a 37 year old kid.

Robert Redford in The Way We Were. A college student in his late thirties, and he looked ten years older.

Robert Redford in many of his 1970s and 80s movies, list is too long, but let's just say Legal Eagles where under 40s Debra Winger and Daryl Hannah are supposed to find his 50 year old bleached ass devastatingly attractive.

[quote] Scarlett is supposed to age from 16 to 30-ish during the course of the story, no actor can look the right age for an entire film like that.

Possibly, Sissy Spacek in "Coal Miner's Daughter" pulled that off. IIRC, age 14 to 40-ish.

We’ve discussed Grease, but Michelle Pfeiffer did not look remotely like a teen in Grease 2.

Surprised it took 102 replies to surface:

Who / what is that, R102? Mae West? What movie was that and how old was she supposed to be?

R103: That is indeed Mae West, aged 84, playing Timothy Dalton's 28-year old bride in [italic]Sextette[/italic]

"Yes, but that dance scene in Picnic was heaven, [R36]. Starting with Kim Novak clapping and stepping down the stairs. (Regardless of Holden having the rhythm of a blue footed boobie.)"

Think of how wonderful it would have been if an age appropriate actor had played Hal; maybe James Dean or Paul Newman. Gawd, what James Dean could have done with that role! The director reportedly told William Holden, who was stiff in the dance scene, "shake your ass!" To which Holden replied "if you want ass shaking get Marlon Brando." That's pretty funny. At any rate, James Dean would have had no problems shaking HIS ass. Or Brando, either.

Paul Newman was not known as a dancer. When he had to dance in the stage version of Picnic director Joshua Logan said he had a helluva time teaching him.

I'm the biggest action star in the world at 57. Handsome and dreamy. I do all my own stunts. Watch me run, Watch me ride a motorcycle.

"Paul Newman was not known as a dancer. When he had to dance in the stage version of Picnic director Joshua Logan said he had a helluva time teaching him."

Well, he certainly would have been a better choice than Holden. Hal awaked Madge sexually; it was VERY believable that Paul Newman could do that, but the dissipated looking Holden? He seemed like some pathetic old drifter, not a juicy, vital, sexual young man.

So Cruise now looks a couple of years younger than his actual age with the aid of industrial strength Botox.

Ann Todd playing 20 year old Madeleine Smith at aged 41. She had recently married David Lean and persuaded him to make Madeleine and give her the role. Apparently he hated the film.

R102, everybody else should give it up. NOTHING tops that one.

He may not have been the proper age, but Holden just oozes sex in "Picnic". What idiot suggested sexless James Dean for that role?

Emma Thompson in Sense & Sensibility is an example where being "too old for the part" worked. Thompson's age brought a certain maturity and sadness to the character that was very compelling.

What ya'll fail to admit is most of these films were box office successes so your bitchy criticisms are pointless.

Sissy Spacek also played a very convincing high schooler in Carrie and she was 26 or 27 at the time. Looking at her now, it's easy to see why. She still looks great and quite younger than her actual age.

"That is indeed Mae West, aged 84, playing Timothy Dalton's 28-year old bride in Sextette"

I don't see a problem here

Obvious choice

"What idiot suggested sexless James Dean for that role?"

James Dean "sexless?" You are truly a clod. He was magnetic; in all his movies he ellipses everyone else. And indeed he was VERY sexual. You just prefer old men, old worn out looking men, that's all. And by the way the only thing Holden "oozes" in "Picnic" is incongruity. He is SO wrong as Hal; he and Kim Novak look ridiculous together.

Both Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand in their respective A Star is Borns. I don't know about Lady Gaga, I didn't see it - couldn't take another one.

So many stars how used CGI to appear younger. Why can’t Barbra. I would love one more musical from her

Sexette is on Amazon Prime and it’s not a bad movie. Then again I had just seen the truly horrible Jay and Silent Bob reboot. Any movie would be good by comparison.

Newman would have been more appropriate than Holden for Picnic. OTOH, Cliff Robertson also was too old. Dean would have made the character seem too juvenile. Brando might have been more interesting.

Through the 50s into the 60s leading men like Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart were cast too young and paired with much younger actresses. Maybe risk-averse producers just wanted their continuing box office appeal. But even younger male leads then like Glen Ford and William Holden looked aged.

Just you wait for me and Tammy's new volleyball scene in Top Gun Maverick. Sizzle.

"Daddy Long Legs" with 56-year-old Fred Astaire, paired with 24-year-old collegiate, Leslie Caron.

R122 Is that Patty Duke Astin in her last days?

^ I thought it was Martha Stewart at first

"Through the 50s into the 60s leading men like Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart were cast too young and paired with much younger actresses."

Occasionally it worked well, such as when Cary Grant was involved, because who wouldn't want Cary Grant?

And Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak made a completely believable couple in "Vertigo", because their relationship wasn't based on mutual attraction, it was based on obsession and guilt. But in "Bell, Book, and Candle", Novak was just supposed to be hot for Stewart's aging ass, and it's ridiculous. Same for Stewart and Grace Kelly in "Rear Window".

Rear Window is an otherwise awesome movie.....but I didn't buy that a young, beautiful socialite like Kelly would be all over a grouchy guy old enough to be her dad who freely admits that he doesn't make much money.

Fred McMurray in My Three Sons.

June Harding in The Trouble with Angels. I think her character is supposed to be 15 years old, she was 29 in real life. I never noticed it until I watched it on TCM recently and wondered why Hayley Mills kept hanging around with some old lady and acting like she was her best friend.

Arlene Francis played a pregnant wife in the Doris Day comedy The Thrill of it All. She was 56 years old.

R84 - it is mentioned in the film the mother Laurie Metcalf is playing was in her 40s when her daughter was born - they couldn't have children so they adopted their son, and as is sometimes the case, having an adopted baby initiated a pregnancy. It was based on Gerwig's family situation.

"I would love one more musical from her"

but.she.can't.sing

Gable, though dreamy in his youth, was a tub of lard in the 1950s - still bedding the young beauties.

Anyone remember Beaver's friend Larry on LITB? His mother was played by Madge Blake, who looked like June's mother, when she should have been June's contemporary.

In Something To talk About, Dennis Quaid and Julia Roberts play college sweethearts who marry. Quaid looks way too old for her. Conversely, In Everybody's All American, Dennis Quaid and Jessica Lange start out playing college students in love, and she's WAY too old.

Also, Kathleen Turner in the Peggy Sue movie. Seemed much older than Nicolas Cage.

Another vote for Jimmy Stewart!

Jimmy Stewart was a fug in his youth let alone as a geezer.

Any truth to the rumor that Babs campaigned to have Eminem play Rebbe Mendel?

I thought Stewart was cute in a Joe Average way when he was young. He did not age well, though.

He wasn't all that fug.

[quote] Stockard Channing looked forty. That movie was ludicrous and the old teenagers were just one reason why.

Some people can be so touchy!

Love me some Kevin Bacon, but he was too old to play Ren in Footloose

Stewart stumbled and stammered... physically awkward, like 6'2" and 130 pounds. His whole career was an episode of Revenge of the Nerds.

Ecchy guys with good looking gals should be its own thread, but while were at it - Jack Lemmon and Catherine Deneuve in The April Fools. My stomach took a major TURN. The title song was nice though. Lemmon was good with kooky women like Shirley MacLaine, Judy Holiday and even Doris Day. But Lee Remick? Kim Novak? Deneuve? It must make nerdy straight guys feels sooooooo good to watch jerks like Jack Lemmon getting women who would never go near him in real life.

[quote]Any truth to the rumor that Babs campaigned to have Eminem play Rebbe Mendel?

He could play that part about as well as he could play Rebbie Jackson in "The Michael Jackson Story."

Alec Guinness in Dr. Zhivago.

Ingrid Bergman in Joan of Arc (1948). She was 32. Joan was a teenager.

Robert Redford in every film made after 1990. He was always too old for every love interest opposite him. I'm still trying to figure out when he started wearing that ratty piece on his head. He always wore bangs so it was not clear when and if he started losing his hair. All I can tell is he's way too old to have what has been up top for quite a while now.

Shut up, R146. Redford thinks he looks good - just like it's 1975.

[quote]R53 Lillian Gish triumphed as Ophelia in a Broadway production on "Hamlet" at age forty-four!

She should be MUCH more of a DL icon for this. (“Mid-40s, but look 25...”)

At 26, Gish also played a 10-year-old in BROKEN BLOSSOMS.

And so the foundation was laid - -

In this iconic final scene, the dying child puts a V to her lips, pitifully trying to communicate she just once wants to feel what it’s like to have a vagina on her face.

It really was ahead of its time.

[quote]T55 Olivia Hussey at 15 was still two years older than what the character of Juliet actually is supposed to be.

Pathetic cow.

[quote]R76 Charmian Carr in SoM. 23 is a lot older than 16.

One review called her “Sixteen Going On Twenty-Five.”

Mary Pickford also played the "little girl" roles when she was way too old for them

[quote]In this iconic final scene, the dying child puts a V to her lips

I can help with that.

[quote]R153 Mary Pickford also played the "little girl" roles when she was way too old for them

They had fewer stars to choose from then, so the public accepted them in a wider variety of roles.

Mary Pickford’s fans were also practically Victorians. They loved seeing her in sweet, girly roles that spoke to their old fashioned values. Nothing made them happier than seeing her pretend to be a virtuous innocent (even if she was a hardbitten drunk in real life)

Mary Pickford was criticized in her day for playing children when she was a grown woman with multiple husbands, and she spent much of the 1920s looking to break out of her sugary kiddie image. But that's what her fans wanted to see.

I saw one of her costumes at the Hollywood Costume Exhibit, she was the size of a ten-year-old child. And in her day, film resolution was lower, and screens were smaller. Actors could get away with more age fudging, particularly if their audiences really wanted to willingly suspend disbelief.

[quote]R156 I saw one of her costumes at the Hollywood Costume Exhibit, she was the size of a ten-year-old child

Yes. She was just 5 feet tall.

Coquette

Jennifer Jones in The Song of Bernadette. The real Bernie was aged 14 when she first had her vision. Jennifer was 24.

Richard Gere as Billy Flynn (the lawyer) in Chicago. Seemed too old. I did some research and it's not clear how old Flynn is supposed to be. Maybe Gere is just wooden in the role.

Richard Gere is a terrible actor in everything. Mercifully he never gets cast in anything anymore. Some stars are borderline stupid. Gere is one of them.

He’s okay in UNFAITHFUL.

He also deserves credit for playing a gay man on Broadway in BENT (1979) right after AMERICAN GIGOLO, which I’m sure some people told him would ruin his career.

Not on stage it wouldn't hurt his career, R163, and Gere's career was in its early stage at that point. In fact, it progressed so slowly I hoped he would never become a major star. I saw Bent with Gere on Broadway, btw. Can't remember him.

A 26-year-old Paulette Goddard playing "A Gamin" in Charlie Chaplin's "Modern Times." "Gamin" does not mean "street hooker."

I’ll never forget seein Bent onstage a fully nude James Remar held Gere in a very sexual way ( grabbing his buttocks) I don’t think was written in play Gere acted like a blushing bride.

Did anyone say Armie from Call me By.....

Miss Kay Lenz was too old to play Breezy. She was supposed to be 18 but she was really 20. True story.

Breezy was a whore...a Bree Daniels who didn’t get paid.

Judy Garland in "A Star is Born."

She is playing an ingenue breaking into pictures.

And she looks 50.

I might still play Yentl as a young girl.

Yes, Barbra was RIDICULOUS playing a young girl in Yentl.

And she was too vain to cut her hair and go without makeup to look like a boy.

It's a beautiful movie, but she is so wrong in it.

Did Babs at least cut the nails?

A big, oversized newsboys’ cap always makes you a believable 15-year-old.

The thread closer is Mae West in "Sextette."

"And she was too vain to cut her hair and go without makeup to look like a boy."

It's a wig. And I did think the push-up padded bra was a bit much,

Dustin Hoffman was 29 playing a 21 year old in "The Graduate." He looked about 30. Anne Bancroft, the older woman Mrs. Robinson, was only 35. Makeup and lighting was used to make her look older. Hoffman's acting seemed to transcend the fact that he looked older. Actors frequently play roles that are younger or older than they are. Sometimes that works out. Sometimes it doesn't.

Suzanne Somers played herself as a teen mom. Of course she got away with it. Some beauty is ageless, Ms. Somers is timeless.

It was just the opposite for Walter Brennan. Losing his teeth when he was young made him a natural for much older roles, like the 3 that got him Oscars.

Ellen Corby always looked old. She finally settled into the perfect role for her, the grandmother on "The Waltons." It was a role she seemed born to play.

In the opening scenes of "Lady Sings the Blues" 28year-old Diana Ross plays Billie Holliday aged... 12-14. Very young, in braids and a pinafore. And she actually looked 12-14!

I still don't know how they did it without CGI, but she had soft features, no visible makeup, and she was so damn thin she actually had the build of an underfed teen.

R177, I'm sure Anne Bancroft, who was a character actress, was more than happy to play old enough to be Hoffman's mother in The Graduate. It was a great role and she was perfect in it - and she was Oscar nominated in the Best Actress category.

This kind of stuff happens all the time and works more often than it doesn't. Pat Hingle, only 13 years older than baby Warren Beatty in Splendor in the Grass, played his father believably. Ed Begley was only six years older that "daughter" Barbara Stanwyck in Sorry Wrong Number, etc etc. When it's TOTAL vanity, such as Bill Cosby's too youngish parents in the Cosby Show, that's something else.

Lorne was only seven years older than Ava....

Cary Grant in North By Northwest -- his mother is almost the same age he is.

Like someone said above Grant gets a pass he didn’t look too old until he stopped making movies I have never seen Walk Don’t Run Grant doesn’t play an actual love interest for Samantha Eggar does he?

Of all the movies that cast too old actors I just don’t think Barbra’s was that bad. Even at one point one character says something about her not having a husband at her age. Which probably meant 16 back then. Barbra doesn’t look that age but she does look young.

Julie Christie in Far from the Madding Crowd

Kirsten Dunst in "Interview With The Vampire".

Kirsten was 11 when she played Claudia, the doomed vampire. Claudia was described in the novel as a 5-year-old girl. It would've been impossible to find a 5-year-old actor who could successfully play a character with a woman's mind , who was trapped in the body of an immortal child.

[quote]I have never seen Walk Don’t Run Grant doesn’t play an actual love interest for Samantha Eggar does he?

No, he acts as matchmaker between Eggar and Jim Hutton. It's a remake of the far-better [italic]The More The Merrier[/italic] (1943) with Jean Arthur, Joel McCrae and Charles Coburn.

The entire cast of WHERE THE BOYS ARE '84

James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause. I thought he looked a little too old to be a teenager; he had huge bags under his eyes and his face looked rough. Most of the cast looked like they were in their 20s, the only one who resembled a teenager was Sal Mineo, because he actually was a teenager. And in contrast to Sal everyone else was obvious.

Natalie Wood was an actual teen when she made RWAC

R191 But Natalie Wood was such a bad actress she couldn't even play her own age convincingly.

'He is SO wrong as Hal; he and Kim Novak look ridiculous together.'

Which is why the movie was a big flop and is completely forgotten.

Not completely I watched it recently and thought the film was very charming. I think Kim Novak is getting more credence as a movie star then she did then. Here movies are very special.

I just got through watching "The Birdcage" and I think virtually everyone is too old for their roles. Most egregiously, Dan Futterman was 30 playing a 20-year-old, while Calista Flockhart was 31 playing a 17-year-old.

I play my 16 year old self!

Sophia also played a mother of a small child in Nine recently.

Taina was 52, r197.

[quote]I'm sure Anne Bancroft, who was a character actress, was more than happy to play old enough to be Hoffman's mother in The Graduate. It was a great role and she was perfect in it - and she was Oscar nominated in the Best Actress category.

I don't think it's fair to call her a character actress. She'd already won an lead actress Oscar and had been nominated in that category another time before "The Graduate." And she got two more Lead noms AFTER "The Graduate" ... the final one being in 1986. She had a LONG career as a leading lady.

Character actor doesn’t always mean supporting. Geraldine Page for instance.

Olivia de Havilland as Catherine Sloper in The Heiress. Catherine is a 16 year old girl in the book—in the movie, I don't recall what her age is supposed to be but I'm certain she's still a young woman. Olivia was around thirty-two at the time but she looked like she was in her 40s. Looking like a hag, it was difficult for me to believe this person was an innocent, young, naive woman so unaware of the world around her and of people of the likes of Morris Townsend. Not only did she look old, but she managed to appear quite unattractive next to her co-star Monty Clift—who played Morris Townsend and looked much younger than her even though he was closer to her age range.

Olivia De Havilland is a most unattractive and rightfully uncelebrated actress of old Hollywood. That plummy voice and her watery Pekingese eyes were grotesque. She is without distinction, or a chin.

Joan Fontaine has risen from the dead!

I loved Fred and Ginger movies when I finally discovered them. Before then I saw the Astaire's MGM movies as a kid. I think of all his non RKO color films as "MGM". He struck me as a creepy old man stalking younger women and I'd be incredibly confused when she'd end up with him. Nothing was worse than Funny Face when he plants a kiss on Hepburn. He was skinny, had an oily tan and tons of wrinkles, particularly on his neck, wrinkles enhanced by a bandanna or scarf. Much of the problem was he had a sort of stagey juvenile persona and he didn't adjust when he got older. Same with Easter Parade - who the hell would take the 1940s Fred Astaire over the 1940s Peter Lawford?

R199, your post is too ignorant for any of us to BEGIN to educate you.

In Funny Face, Astaire looks like Hepburn's grandpa

Audrey Hepburn turned down The Diary of Anne Frank claiming she didn't want to relive her war years. But at age 29 she would have been too old to play the teenage girl.

Millie Perkins who took the role was 22.

[quote]R192 But Natalie Wood was such a bad actress she couldn't even play her own age convincingly.

Yeah... but she could play a slutty starlet well enough, spreading her legs for director Nicholas Ray as her audition!

"Millie Perkins who took the role was 22."

And was truly awful in it. First of all, she was too pretty (she'd been a model). Second of all, she looked her age; a young woman at least 20 years old. Anne Frank was 13 when she and her family went into hiding and was 15 when they were arrested and deported. And last but not least her acting sucked. She WAS no actress; she was a model when plucked to play Anne Frank. She ridiculously tries to act like a little girl (that wee little girl voice of hers!) even though she looks like an adult and it makes her seem like a retard. There was a tv presentation called :"Anne Frank: The Whole Story"; it was a much more accurate representation of what happened to the Frank family and Anne was played by a young actress named Hannah Taylor-Gordon. I don't know what her actual age but she certainly looked age appropriate for the role and even bore a resemblance to Anne Frank. And God knows her acting was better than Millie Perkins' was.

40 year old Faye Dunaway as Eva Peron, who died at age 33.

[quote]40-year-old Faye Dunaway as Eva Peron, who died at age 33.

[italic]SACRILEGE ! ! !

R211’s nothing but a rotten, crooked Madge Fan... supplying the grease that makes this shitty website work. He thinks his life's a mystery? There isn't a sock puppet war on this entire site that I don't know about, and HIS hand is in EVERY ONE of them... he REEKS OF IT!

Sock puppet war, r213?

I just saw My Cousin Vinny again this morning. While I always enjoy Joe Pesci, how old was his character supposed to be? I couldn't tell except his facelife and horrible wig do not make him look under 50. Twenty-something Marisa Tomei as his girlfriend was not only ridiculous, but it made him seem older. Pesci had the facelift sometime between Raging Bull and Goodfellas - see "facelift ear."

The 37-year-old Robert Redford as a college athlete in "The Way We Were."

Critic Judith Crist noted Carroll Baker made a rather “world weary 14” at the beginning of SYLVIA (1965)

She’s also the [italic]scabrous bitch [/italic]who called Baker “more bomb than bombshell” (!)

R216, I still have a full head of blond hair and I can pass for 20

Bob and Babs as college students is the Grease of Romance.

I remember seeing complaints at the time that Kathleen Turner looked too old to be playing a high schooler in Peggy Sue Got Married ... but she wasn’t playing a high school girl, she was playing a woman in her 40s (though KT was in her 30s) who was reliving being in high school. It seemed obvious to me that we were seeing her as she really was but the other kids would have been seeing her as a kid.

The female reboot of Ghostbusters.

The new Top Gun Maverick cast. Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer, Ed Harris and Jon Hamm

Both Julianne Moore and Bette Midler are too old to be playing Gloria Steinem and Bella Abzug in The Glorias.

Brandon Flynn as Richard Madden's boyfriend.

Historians don't know the exact age of Salome when she danced for Herod but the range goes up to her as a young adult. Rita Hayworth was a mature looking 34 when she played Salome. Her failed marriage to Aly Khan seemed to have really taken the bloom off the rose.

Norma Shearer as the post-menopausal teen Maria Antoinette.

R223 Moore looks younger than her actual age, Midler, not so much.

Norma Shearer was actually under consideration for the role of Scarlett O'Hara at one point....can you picture her as the 16-year-old Scarlett?

R228 Age aside, she would have ruined Gone With The Wind with her hammy, affected acting.

Kris Kristofferson played Billy the Kid in "Pat Garretson and Billy the Kid." Billy the Kid died at age 21. Kristofferson was 37. And looked 40.

Joaquin Phoenix played the quadriplegic cartoonist John Callahan in "Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far On Foot." Callahan was paralyzed at age 21 in a car accident. Phoenix was in his forties, yes in his forties and playing a 21 year old. He looked every bit of his forty something years.

Tom Welling playing a 14 year old Clark Kent on Smallville. Makes Lex look like such a creep 😄

Most of Robert Redford's entire career as has been mentioned a few times. What grosses me out is when old men like Redford have young children. In a better than average movie like The Company You Keep (2012), SEVENTY FIVE year old Redford has an ELEVEN year old child. Old great-grand dad Redford is so deluded he thinks if his bleached rug falls over his forehead he looks forty. I'll give Jackie Evancho credit for a good performance in the movie, she tried hard to make it look believable.

Glenn Close in Sunset Boulevard, the musical film failure of sometime in the 20s.

A couple of people mentioned Gary Cooper in "Love in the Afternoon." Cooper was an actor who aged fast and badly. He made that movie in 1957. By 1961, he would be dead of cancer. Even in some of his earlier roles, he looked older than his years.

How dare you say that, R234?

R201, you do understand that Catherine being unattractive is an important part of the story.

I think de Haviland looked too good. She had weird hair, but otherwise looked ordinary. Cherry Jones dived headfirst into the character's ungainliness and really breathed some life into the story by doing so.

Steve McQueen as a teenager in The Blob

Christ! Are you kidding me, R237? He looks like the 54 year old FATHER of a teenager. I'd only seen the remake of The Blob, so this makes me want to watch the original.

"I'd only seen the remake of The Blob, so this makes me want to watch the original."

Yes, watch the original "The Blob." Actually it's an effective little low budget horror movie.Steve McQueen was 28 at the time, but definitely looked older.

Here's some trivia: Steve McQueen received $3,000 for his starring role. He turned down an offer for a smaller up-front fee in return for a 10% percent share of profits, thinking that the film would never make money; he needed his signing fee immediately to pay for food and rent. However, The Blob ended up a hit, grossing $4 million at the box office. Well, fuck him!

More trivia: the premise of "The Blob" was derived from a very good short story by Joseph Payne Brennan called "Slime." It can be found in the great horror story anthology "Alfred Hitchcock's Monster Museum."

Please, NO Steve McQueen trivia. That that no-talent ever had an acting career is shocking enough.

Bullshit, R240. Steve McQueen is considered one of the greatest movie stars. He was the epitome of cool.

R241 =unable to distinguish between actor and move star

Gary Cooper looked so bad in Love in the Afternoon. He and Hepburn had no chemistry

Sidebar: I know an actor who had a supporting role in one of Steve McQueen's best known movies. He said McQueen was arrogant and an asshole

R220 , bravo. I can't believe no one else seemed to get that.

R117, Speaking as the Frau I am, I find William Holden in the dance scene to epitomize raw masculine sexuality. The sensual slow tempo makes us, and most definitely the Rosalind Russell character, know that we are truly observing "the horizontal expression of a vertical desire."

I think Holden's age suits him, for you can tell his character's been around the block that counts. Moreover, Hal's circumstances can be seen and believed in his yearning, hungry, steady gaze at the swaying siren Marjorie.

Could James Dean pull off the "experienced with women" vibe? Would Paul Newman have been credible as "needy"?

I'm not sure what more the director might have wanted. As Shakira sings, "Hips don't lie." Nor do hands.

"Could James Dean pull off the "experienced with women" vibe? Would Paul Newman have been credible as "needy"?"

Sure he could. James Dean was sexy as hell. And why would Paul Newman be credible as "needy?" Hal was NOT needy. I guess as Holden played him he seemed needy; Holden played him as a pathetic drifter. But the Hal in the play "Picnic" was not needy. He was rebellious, unfocused, irresponsible and loaded with sexuality. And he was YOUNG. Poor William Holden looked like Madge's father.

"Hal in the play "Picnic" was not needy. He was rebellious, unfocused, irresponsible and loaded with sexuality. And he was YOUNG. "

Hal really needed to be played by someone who looked young, because that sort of behavior is only forgivable in the young. And it's not very forgivable even then.

Holden was sexy in a mature and worldly way, but he was SO FUCKING WRONG for the role of Hal. He looked forty-five, at least.

R230 Robin Williams was originally cast as Callahan in the 90s.

R245 I agree.

I enjoyed Matt Damon in "Beyond the Candelabra" but he was about 40, where the character was 19/20.

Not so much "too old for the role," but ridiculous for the age of the character: In the nightclub scene in Basic Instinct, Michael Douglas looks like a dad who went there to drag home his kids home from staying out past curfew.

Nicole Kidman in Big Little Lies. She was 50 playing the mother of two 6 year olds.

Most of the actresses playing the mothers of six year olds were in their forties and fifties on "BLL" . The scenes at the grade school seemed a bit off, with mothers with an average age of 45 gathered around the entrance. I mean, Kidman and Laura Dern?

Sure, at a posh school like that you expect some of the moms to be older, the ones who put off having kids until their careers were established and the bio clock was ticking. But not 90% of them.

Here's a recent one: "The Fighter" (2010), starring Mark Wahlberg as a aspiring boxer, and Christian Bale as his older brother, a failed former boxer.

Wahlberg and Bale were both about forty when the film was made, and people don't become professional boxers at forty! No, they break into pro boxing in their late teens or early twenties, and are mostly out by age thirty. That really annoyed me watching the movie, the actors tried and tried, but it was clear that the story was about two men half the age of the actors I was watching.

Don’t forget about me? I played their mother and I’m almost the same age as both actors. Even though I won an Oscar I bitched and bitched about it.

[Quote] Even though I won an Oscar I bitched and bitched about it.

Watching Melissa campaign was so embarrassing.

The was never a better Juliet on screen and the only actress to be nominated in the role of Juliet.

He was definitely too old but she pulled it off.

Now this is the kind of important thread that needs reviving. When times are tough & uncertain, we can still, calmly, discuss actors who were too old for their parts.

I've contributed upthread. I need some time to think ...

Liz in Butterfield 8. Gloria , the character inJohn O’Hara’s novel is 18 yo

R253 Having briefly lived in a posh area, I bought it. Of the four main characters, only two (Kidman and Dern) seemed a little old to have little kids, but they were the kind of focused career woman who would wait.

R254 That bothered me too. I could buy Bale because he was supposed to be a crackhead, so one could assume he just looked rough for his age, but Marky Mark looked ridiculous.

[quote]R257 There was never a better Juliet on screen, and she was the only actress to be nominated in the role of Juliet.

Norma The Cross Eyed Bear was married to practically the head of MGM, the most important studio in town. Of COURSE she was nominated.

Has there ever been a more radiant Juliet than Norma?

Probably, in second rate high schools across America.

r262=Joan Crawford, still bitter.

We should like Norma for The Women alone. the ultimate frau and outfoxed the Joan Crawford character. Janet Leigh had only glowing things to say about her.

"Norma The Cross Eyed Bear was married to practically the head of MGM, the most important studio in town. Of COURSE she was nominated."

And of course she won an Oscar, for a movie called "The Divorcee." She posed for photographs holding it before the awards ceremony even occurred.

smdh