# Do they ever do ageing well in tv/movies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 17, 2009, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-they-ever-do-ageing-well-in-tv-movies/510466 "2009-09-17T18:07:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-they-ever-do-ageing-well-in-tv-movies/510466/1 "2009-09-17T18:07:37Z")
It seems to me the hardest thing to do in a tv series or film is to make the actor seem older than their actual age. They can make a decent stab at making an actor look younger but nearly universally people done up to look old just don’t look right. Any decent examples of ageing in shows/movies you can think of? ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-they-ever-do-ageing-well-in-tv-movies/510466/2 "2009-09-17T18:26:43Z")
I thought \*\*\*The Curious Case of Benjamin Button \*\*\*did a great job aging its up (and down). Also, the series finale of **“Six Feet Under”**. ---
**Author:** ![davidw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c4cdca/32.png) [@davidw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidw)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-they-ever-do-ageing-well-in-tv-movies/510466/3 "2009-09-17T18:33:16Z")
Marlon Brando’s makeup in The Godfather was fantastic. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-they-ever-do-ageing-well-in-tv-movies/510466/4 "2009-09-17T18:47:40Z")
> [@davidw](#): > > Marlon Brando’s makeup in The Godfather was fantastic. It was even better in _Part 2_. He looked like an entirely different person! ---
**Author:** ![phreesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@phreesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phreesh)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-they-ever-do-ageing-well-in-tv-movies/510466/5 "2009-09-17T18:55:07Z")
It would be interesting to see the results of an aging attempt on an actor in a (say) 70s movie or TV show and what that actor actually looks like now. I imagine with the advent of surgery, they would be very different. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-they-ever-do-ageing-well-in-tv-movies/510466/6 "2009-09-17T18:59:30Z")
> [@HelloNinja](#): > > I thought \*\*\*The Curious Case of Benjamin Button \*\*\*did a great job aging its up (and down). > > Also, the series finale of **“Six Feet Under”**. This film was a mixed bag. In parts the ageing was excellent but especially as he got to be a young teenager it didn’t work. Granted that’s making him look younger rather than older but the 16 or 17 yr old him looked frankly ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-they-ever-do-ageing-well-in-tv-movies/510466/7 "2009-09-17T18:59:53Z")
> [@phreesh](#): > > It would be interesting to see the results of an aging attempt on an actor in a (say) 70s movie or TV show and what that actor actually looks like now. Will the 60s do? [Captain Kirk](http://www.nulynx.com/web/shatner_2000.jpg) in “The Deadly Years.” [Bill Shatner](http://stupidcelebrities.net/wp-content/williamshatner2.jpg) now(ish). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Why\_Bird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@The\_Why\_Bird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Why_Bird)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-they-ever-do-ageing-well-in-tv-movies/510466/8 "2009-09-17T19:13:16Z")
I’m struggling to find a good picture now, but I remember thinking they did a great job on James Dean in ‘Giant’. It was a few years since I saw it though. It struck me that this film is the closest we will have to seeing what he would have looked like as an old man - we will never know how accurate it was. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-they-ever-do-ageing-well-in-tv-movies/510466/9 "2009-09-17T19:24:37Z")
A very young Dustin Hoffman in **[Little Big Man](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065988/)** Made up to look near his age - [pic](http://www.imdb.com/media/rm1013356544/tt0065988) As a 100 year old man - [pic](http://img.listal.com/image/466877/160full-little-big-man-photo.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-they-ever-do-ageing-well-in-tv-movies/510466/10 "2009-09-17T19:44:30Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > They can make a decent stab at making an actor look younger but nearly universally people done up to look old just don’t look right. Really? I usually find it the opposite. It’s harder to take away features like wrinkles & other signs of aging than it is to add them. If it’s just a couple years younger then sure, but when it’s something like an actor in their 30s-40s playing a teenager or college student, unless they are already extremely youthful looking for their age I find that the makeup almost always looks fake. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-they-ever-do-ageing-well-in-tv-movies/510466/11 "2009-09-17T20:00:48Z")
**A League of Our Own** handled it very well – using older actresses to represent the stars in old age. They picked women who looked enough like the cast members that it worked well. (I remember seeing the first scene and thinking, “Is that Geena Davis? They did a great job with the makeup!”). ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-they-ever-do-ageing-well-in-tv-movies/510466/12 "2009-09-17T20:22:36Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > This film was a mixed bag. In parts the ageing was excellent but especially as he got to be a young teenager it didn’t work. Granted that’s making him look younger rather than older but the 16 or 17 yr old him looked frankly ridiculous. Frankly, you are the first person I’ve heard express this opinion. Before now, I’ve heard people be shocked by how realistic Brad Pitt looked as a teenage at the end of the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-they-ever-do-ageing-well-in-tv-movies/510466/13 "2009-09-17T20:26:39Z")
I thought _The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp_, filmed during the second World War, did a pretty good job of aging the main character. ---
**Author:** ![nivlac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3bc359/32.png) [@nivlac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nivlac)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-they-ever-do-ageing-well-in-tv-movies/510466/14 "2009-09-17T20:39:01Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > It seems to me the hardest thing to do in a tv series or film is to make the actor seem older than their actual age. They can make a decent stab at making an actor look younger but nearly universally people done up to look old just don’t look right. Any decent examples of ageing in shows/movies you can think of? I’ve always felt the opposite. Always easier to fake getting old with makeup, walk, mannerisms, and the posts above give great examples. It’s going the other direction that’s hard. To make people look younger, they resort to softer lighting, shadows, doubles, ridiculous hairpieces, and even old footage! ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-they-ever-do-ageing-well-in-tv-movies/510466/15 "2009-09-17T20:44:34Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > It seems to me the hardest thing to do in a tv series or film is to make the actor seem older than their actual age. They can make a decent stab at making an actor look younger but nearly universally people done up to look old just don’t look right. Any decent examples of ageing in shows/movies you can think of? No. Old age makeup ruins pretty much every movie that has attempted it. They should just quit. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-they-ever-do-ageing-well-in-tv-movies/510466/16 "2009-09-17T20:45:35Z")
What about Back to the Future? I can’t find any pics, but Michael J. Fox goes older in the second one, as does the girlfriend. And both parents in the first one and Biff have to play two ages. Actually, three for Biff if you count old Biff. What are our assessments? The only ones I thought were really good were the parents playing old and young. They convinced me. Though I was pretty young when I first saw it. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-they-ever-do-ageing-well-in-tv-movies/510466/17 "2009-09-17T20:46:51Z")
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman was done 35 years ago. Cicely Tyson was aged from her[20s](http://img.listal.com/image/productsus/1000/B00005UWAA/tv/autobiography-miss-jane-pittman.jpg)to [110](http://www.fungkeblakchik.com/wp-content/uploads/theautobiographyofmissjanepittman1.jpg) and it was an incredible job, though I read an interview in which she said she could only film the centenarian scenes for a couple of hours at a time because of the breathing problems and allergies she had from the latex (which was in its infancy at the time). Of course the brilliance of Miss Jane/Cicely Tyson’s performance was that it was a combination of makeup and acting that made her so believable. Every move she took and the way she spoke, moved her eyes, _everything_, was perfect. (In the same interview mentioned above she said she grew hoarse after filming her centenarian scenes as well due to the raspy voice.) I grew up around relatives in their 90s and it was clear to me she’d either lived with or studied people that age very closely, because it’s not the Tim Conway “Little Old Man” walk or just using a cane but the concentration that goes into their movement, the way they lead with one side, when they use the cane and when they don’t, etc… This is one problem that some movies have: the actor relies completely on the makeup. I think the main problem however is that when they age people in movies or on TV they often slap on some latex wrinkles and a gray wig and call it a day. They don’t take into account changes in weight (loss or gain, most people have significant differences over time), body shape, posture, jawline, etc., that happen with age. I’ve also noticed some where the hands aren’t aged as much as they should be, or they don’t have liver spots. It’s the details and the acting that really make it convincing. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-they-ever-do-ageing-well-in-tv-movies/510466/18 "2009-09-17T20:48:03Z")
**The Adventures of Baron Munchausen** ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-they-ever-do-ageing-well-in-tv-movies/510466/19 "2009-09-17T20:52:49Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman was done 35 years ago. Cicely Tyson was aged from her[20s](http://img.listal.com/image/productsus/1000/B00005UWAA/tv/autobiography-miss-jane-pittman.jpg)to [110](http://www.fungkeblakchik.com/wp-content/uploads/theautobiographyofmissjanepittman1.jpg) and it was an incredible job . . . It doesn’t work to show stills; the biggest challenge in old age makeup, a challenge that has never yet been overcome, is the artificiality that becomes apparent as soon as there is any movement–expression, speech, whatever. Stills might as well be a painting; you’re just showing a sculpture of an old person, which is obviously not that huge an accomplishment. But start that image moving and the illusion is instantly blown. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-they-ever-do-ageing-well-in-tv-movies/510466/20 "2009-09-17T20:55:34Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > It doesn’t work to show stills; the biggest challenge in old age makeup, a challenge that has never yet been overcome, is the artificiality that becomes apparent as soon as there is any movement–expression, speech, whatever. Stills might as well be a painting; you’re just showing a sculpture of an old person, which is obviously not that huge an accomplishment. But start that image moving and the illusion is instantly blown. [The famous water fountain scene](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVv1VR8OTfg&feature=related)(starts at :22). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-they-ever-do-ageing-well-in-tv-movies/510466.md?page=2)