Actors paired with much younger actresses

Michael Douglas and Gwyneth Paltrow as husband and wife in a Perfect Murder (1998). What's even ickier about this pairing is that Michael Douglas and Bruce Paltrow were friends. Michael probably knew Gwyneth when she was a little girl and watched her grow up.

Fred Astaire (b. 1899) was paired with Leslie Caron (b. 1931) in Daddy Long Legs (1955). But that was no more ludicrous than Astaire playing the brother of Jane Powell (b. 1929) In Royal Wedding. It didn't help that Astaire always looked like a little old man, and by the time he really was one, he could have easily passed for the grandfather of both of these actresses, not the love interest or brother.

Other examples of ludicrously ageing actors paired with sexy young actresses - grizzled old James Stewart with young, sexy Kim Novak in Vertigo and grandfatherly Bing Crosby with beautiful young Grace Kelly in High Society. I can't watch any of these movies for long because these pairings are just so creepy.

That's Audrey Hepburn and who?

Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly in "High Noon".

Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly in "High Noon".

R4 Adolphe Menjou

Baby Boomer Tom Cruise’s last three love interests in movies have all been Millennials (Rebecca Hall, Cobie Smulders and Sarah Wright).

Wasn't Vanessa Kirby from The Crown also a recent love interest?

The creepiest movie with this age different is The Moon is Blue, from 1953, starring William Holden, David Niven and Maggie MacNamara. To be fair, Holden was ONLY 35 and MacNamara was 25, but really... a movie about 2 middle aged men (yes 35 was middle aged in the 1950s!) seducing a "virgin" was and/is so creepy.

There's plenty of talk about this in forums, articles written, even "award" categories from feminist critic groups. But I'm surprised there's very little outrage from actresses in the industry. Either they secretly like it, don't want to piss off some big male colleagues or they're too busy frying bigger fish.

John Amos and wife on GOOD TIMES.

yeah, that would be the reverse R12, haha ....

R4 It's Gary Cooper in Billy Wilder's "Love in the Afternoon". Great film if you can get past the fact that he looks like her grandfather. She's LOVELY in it!

Nearly 40 years between Sean Connery (69) and Catherine Zeta Jones (30) in Entrapment.

Whilst noting C Z-J did go for someone 25 years older in real life, but four decades’ difference seems to be really pushing it on-screen.

[quote]My problem is that you rarely see the opposite (and when you do, the age difference is always brought up).

The age difference does get brought up when actors are paired with much younger actresses in shows and movies. But, I agree opposite of women being paired with much younger women rarely happens. I recall some movie critics bashing How Stella Got Her Groove Back for the age difference, but they probably didn't say much about movies that showed men paired with much younger women.

Daniel Craig and Anne Reid.

Ha! I thought OP meant in life.

Cary Grant and Sophia Loren, 31 years apart in age.

The movies r just depicting real life. Women are drawn to money and power. If it alienated women viewers , Hollywood would not do it.

Actually, nowadays it does, and they don't. You don't see this nearly as much any more, unless a specific point is being made about or by the age gap.

You rarely see it the other way around onscreen - and when you do, the age difference is brought up virtually every time. Usually cougar BS. When an older guy is paired with a younger girl, the age gap is almost never a thing.

Although you see articles about this and some reviewers pointing it out, there's not much of a stink being made about it by the people in the industry. I'm surprised actresses and other powerful women don't really make a big deal out of this. They don't even push for equality with more older women-younger men pairings. I don't get it. Are they afraid of the almighty male ego? Or is it a "we have bigger fish to fly" mentality?