Inspired by Estelle Getty’s obit thread. She worked steadily for many years and even made a few TV and film appearances but it wasn’t until she was in her early 60s and cast on Golden Girls that she became rich and famous (at least by her own efforts- no idea if she inherited or married into wealth).
You can define “late” however you like within reason, but for purposes of my ego let’s not define it as under 40 at least.
Peg Phillips, who played the storekeeper Ruth Anne on Northern Exposure, was a Navy wife and mother who worked at various jobs and enjoyed community theater but didn’t take an acting class until her 60s, didn’t get a paycheck until he was 67 (bit part) and then joined the cast of Northern Exposure (filmed near her Washington home) at 72. She was great- her character was actually one of the most interesting and well-fleshed-out seniors on TV.
Abe Vigoda had occasional professional acting gigs but was never a star on screen or stage and was still driving cabs and other jobs to make ends meet in his 40s. He was cast in The Godfather when he was almost 50 basically because Coppolla liked his face and height (he was really only hoping for a very minor role and was very pleasantly surprised to get the role of Tessio). Since then he’s worked as much as he wanted to usually, most famously on Barney Miller playing a much older character than he really was.
A little younger was Whitman Mayo, who did everything from playing professional volley ball in Mexico to picking grapes to make ends meet before being cast as 70 year old Grady on Sanford and Son in his mid 40s. He was never a big star exactly, but he certainly was known and worked steadily until he retired, moved to Atlanta, and became a theater professor in the early 1990s (though he still occasionally took an acting gig after that).
Another Sanford & Son star was Lawanda Page, who was in her late 50s when she got the role of Aunt Esther. She’d worked in show business on “The Chitlin’ Belt” of regional black theaters as a comedienne, actress, and most famously perhaps as The Bronze Goddess of Fire, but not until S&S was she recognizable on the street.
Who are some others who never became known-name stars until they were middle-aged or older?
Harve Presnell. Though he was a romantic lead in The Unsinkable Molly Brown, its failure put his career in the a tailspin and at one point he went over 20 years before being in another movie. But after his success as William Macy’s fathe-in-law in Fargo at age 63, he embarked on a career as a very successful character actor, with a regular role in The Pretender and recurring roles in Lois and Clark and Dawson’s Creek
Anne Ramsey became a star late in life from Throw Momma From the Train.
Bert Mustin never was a star, but he was a regular in 50s and 60s TV; whenever a part called for an old man, Mustin was usually the first cast.
Harold Gould did a little acting but was primarily a drama teaching until he decided to act full time in his 40s. He started being noticed in his 50s and continues to act regularly.
John Houseman was another drama teacher and producer who went into films in his 70s. After winning an Oscar for his first major role in The Paper Chase, he had a very successful acting career.
Selma Diamond who got the role of Selma Hacker on Night Court was already 66. She was a big hit on the show and then died in 1986. She had been around as a writer and character actress since “Your Show of Shows” in the early 50s. You might recognize her very distinct voice in “It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World” where she played Ginger Culpepper, Spencer Tracy’s nag of a wife. She was never seen in the movie though.
**Nicholas Colasanto ** played Ernie ‘Coach’ Pantusso on Cheers. He was great, it was his breakout role and he sadly died a few years into the show. He was 58 years old when the show went on.
**Carroll O’Connor & Jean Stapleton ** both where unknowns until “All in the Family” made them huge stars.
Carroll O’Conner had got noticed for Kelly’s Heroes as Maj. Gen. Colt just before being cast as Archie. He was 46 already.
Jean Stapleton was already 47 and while successful on Broadway and maybe known for her role in the movie “Damn Yankees”, she was effectively an unknown.
I remember wondering once if he had ever been young, because I didn’t remember ever seeing an old movie or TV show in which he didn’t look 80. Turned out there’s a good reason: he didn’t begin acting until he was 67!
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Chief Dan George- he was a construction worker, loading dock worker, bus driver, and a variety of other jobs before getting occasional work in western TV shows in his 60s. His his great fame came with Little Big Man. It was his first major role (though not his last), he was 71 when it premiered, and he was (deservedly so) nominated for an Oscar.
Rodney Dangerfield: Born 1921, Caddyshack was 1980. Even as a comic, he was not famous until he was already 50.
Ruth Gordon born 30 October 1896 and not famous until 1966 at the earliest and I would say 1969 in “Rosemary’s Baby” as Minnie Castevet. BTW: She won an Oscar and an Emmy after she was 70. I should mention, she was a success on Broadway before she was a Hollywood Star.
Haing S Ngor was a Cambodian physician who never acted and won an Academy award fpr best supporting actor in The Killing Fields, He was 44 at the time.
Paul Ford (Col. Hall in the Phil Silvers Show, Mayor Shinn in the *Music Man * etc.) had knocked around in several professions, most recently advertising, when he decided to try acting. He got his first (uncredited) part at the age of 41.
Not a star, but Judith Lowry had a brief stage career then quit to marry and raise a family. She got back into acting at age 54 and had a steady career of character roles until she found success and Mother Dexter in the sitcom Phyllis in her mid-80s.
If “fame” is like “widely seen and appreciated in the movies”, then Adeline De Walt Reynolds waited until she was 78 before appearing in the movies, and continued including TV until she was 97.
And I suppose that you could include people like John Bunny who toured the country as performers for decades before the movies were invented and made them famous.
Or check back in 40 years, when I expect to be no less famous than now.
Christopher Lee has been working forever but he wasn’t really famous and I doubt he was rich before Lord of the Rings came out in 2001. He was 79 at the time. He’s working with about the same frequency now, but on MUCH higher profile projects.
I’ve seen a picture of him in his 1900’s college baseball uniform and you’re right. He was one of those beaky, beady-eye guys who are born looking like old men.
He was not a household name or any kind of draw. And if you think he was, put it this way: his greatest fame/fortune came late (see thread title.) I don’t think anyone could argue that.
I dunno - his Dracula is considered pretty iconic.
He may not have been absolutely huge ( except to horror film fans, to whom he was always instantly recognizable ), but then neither were a number of these folks, even after they “hit it big.” Abe Vigoda? Not a giant, his masterful work on Fish notwithstanding ;).
Lee was a major star in the UK (primarily in horror films) in his 30s and continued to work regularly his entire career. He starred in a whole series of Fu Manchu movies in the 60s.
The Marx Brothers were relatively old when they started making films – Chico was 42 – but had been big Broadway and Vaudeville stars for years.
Similarly, W.C. Fields was 45 when he got his first major role (in the silent filme “Sally of the Sawdust”; Fields without sound is pretty unremarkable), and that didn’t do all that well. He was 53 when he started getting starring roles in sound films again. Again, he was very successful on stage.
Charles Coburn did small parts in the 1930s, but hit his stride in 1940 when he was 63, starring in “The Devil and Miss Jones” and winning an Oscar for “The More the Merrier.”
S. Z. “Cuddles” Sakall didn’t move to the US until he was 53, and became a very successful character actor, most notably in Casablanca, Ball of Fire, Yankee Doodle Dandy, and In the Good Old Summertime
He was in a TON of things before Lord of the Rings. I mean a TON. Any avid movie watcher would have know exactly who he was prior to 2001. He’s been the de facto “creepy guy” for the entire second half of the 20th century.
I would argue Christopher Lee was well known before LOTR. He was famous for playing Dracula in the Hammer films of the 1950s. He hosted Saturday Night Live sometime in the mid 1980s and started his monologue mentioning all the famous films he did: Man with the Golden Gun, Lawrence of Arabia, Khartoum, Zulu. He did have a line about “you may think I appear in films that appear only on late night in channel 9” that he delivered in a manner that made him seem he wasn’t sure what he was saying. The audience chuckled. In New York Channel 9 is WWOR-Tv that was famous for showing sports and old movies, including horror films. They used to have a feature called “Million Dollar Movie” that opened with the theme music from “Gone With the Wind”. Every baby boomer New Yorker I know says the first time they ever saw “GWTW” (which wasn’t on television until the mid 70s) says when the theme music started they said “Million dollar movie”.
Lee may have had his greatest fame but he was pretty well known before LOTR. People knew his name
I’m sorry, but I must agree with the naysayers. LOTR may have been his cash-in, but he was a very well known and doubtlessly wealthy actor.
I don’t like horror movies and don’t watch them and I knew exactly who he was and knew many movies he had been in. He might have been the most famous actor in those movies, in fact.
Furthermore, I’d say it’s pretty clear his greatest fame didn’t come from LOTR, in which he was a supporting character. He’ll be remembered in posterity as Dracula, not Saruman.
He was actually well known for his horror movies of the 60s and 70s. He teamed with Vincent Price a few times and of course made the classic movie the Wicker Man. His work might be bigger now, but he was well known earlier in his career.
He was actually one of the biggest names casted in the Lord of the Rings and older fans of the Hammer films of course all knew who he was. He also got to Ham it up in the excellent 1973 Three Musketeers are Rochefort. Like Vincent Price he has spent a long time specializing in villains, though he was not quite on Mr. Price’s level. He was an excellent Dracula in several films and even got to be Mycroft Holmes in The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes.
I think Mr. Lee is more a case like George Burns, where he was a star when he was younger, but not a big star and then mostly disappeared for a while and then came back bigger than ever as a senior.
Jim
ETA: six posts in 7 minutes all saying the same thing.
