# Ever been surprised by a young version of an old movie star? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 22, 2005, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-surprised-by-a-young-version-of-an-old-movie-star/318097 "2005-08-22T13:23:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Little\_Bird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Little\_Bird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Bird)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2005, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-surprised-by-a-young-version-of-an-old-movie-star/318097/41 "2005-08-22T22:08:25Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > You forgot Willilam Shatner! Also Robert Duvall. ---
**Author:** ![Meaty\_Beaty\_Big\_and\_Bouncy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Meaty\_Beaty\_Big\_and\_Bouncy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meaty_Beaty_Big_and_Bouncy)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2005, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-surprised-by-a-young-version-of-an-old-movie-star/318097/42 "2005-08-22T22:51:07Z")
> [@Sage Rat](#): > > Seeing a young **Marlon Brando** after a childhood of pretty much only having ever seen him in The Freshman was a pretty good, “Daaammmmnnn dude.” > > [Before](http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/54/039_4032.jpg) > [After](http://members.aol.com/donbrndo/brandotrlcombo.jpeg) :eek: [This was on FMC the other night.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056264/) ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2005, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-surprised-by-a-young-version-of-an-old-movie-star/318097/43 "2005-08-22T23:09:43Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Buddy Ebsen was the first choice to play the Tinman in movie version of The Wizard of Oz, only he had a severe allergy to the silver paint. Pointless _WoO_ trivia: They had already recorded all the songs, and the film was waaaay over budget, so when Buddy Ebsen dropped out due to the make-up allergy, they didn’t bother to re-record the songs. If you listen carefully, you can hear his distinctive voice singing, “We’re off to see the Wizard…” ---
**Author:** ![Hung\_Mung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hung\_Mung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hung_Mung)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2005, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-surprised-by-a-young-version-of-an-old-movie-star/318097/44 "2005-08-22T23:23:13Z")
Richard Harris was a handsome devil. [Young](http://www.nndb.com/people/691/000030601/richard-harris-sized.jpg) [Old](http://www.musicalstore.it/Montecristo/foto/Faria%20Richard%20Harris.jpg') ---
**Author:** ![quiltguy154](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/ad7895/32.png) [@quiltguy154](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quiltguy154)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2005, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-surprised-by-a-young-version-of-an-old-movie-star/318097/45 "2005-08-22T23:39:27Z")
Melvyn Douglas underwent an amazing transformation as he aged. As a young actor he was noted for light comedies,and had matinee idol good looks. Segue through the 40’s and 50’s, his share of dramatic roles increased as his face became more craggy. In his later years he was almost unrecognizable from his much younger days in films, such as, “Being There”, “Hud”, and many more. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2005, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-surprised-by-a-young-version-of-an-old-movie-star/318097/46 "2005-08-22T23:56:13Z")
[Sad,](http://www.thinkandask.com/images/jackson1.gif) [iddnit?](http://www.thinkandask.com/images/jackson92.gif) ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-surprised-by-a-young-version-of-an-old-movie-star/318097/47 "2005-08-23T00:17:53Z")
> [@Askia](#): > > [Sad,](http://www.thinkandask.com/images/jackson1.gif) > [iddnit?](http://www.thinkandask.com/images/jackson92.gif) He didn’t age. He evolved. Or devolved… Young Bill Shatner was dubbed the Male Fay Wray for his screaming ability. A young, but still uniquely odd looking Leonard Nimoy was cast in various other worldly roles [and as bad guys.](http://www.liketelevision.com/web1/classictv/dragnet/dragnet7.html) The young John Wayne was rather thin, and I can’t can’t find a [good pic!](http://www.surfnetinc.com/chuck/jwayne2.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-surprised-by-a-young-version-of-an-old-movie-star/318097/48 "2005-08-23T00:41:02Z")
Sam Beckett’s cigar chomping holographic pal Al is unregognisable as [The boy With Green Hair](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040185/) ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-surprised-by-a-young-version-of-an-old-movie-star/318097/49 "2005-08-23T01:03:07Z")
> [@BiblioCat](#): > > Pointless _WoO_ trivia: They had already recorded all the songs, and the film was waaaay over budget, so when Buddy Ebsen dropped out due to the make-up allergy, they didn’t bother to re-record the songs. If you listen carefully, you can hear his distinctive voice singing, “We’re off to see the Wizard…” There may be some stray Ebson in a chorus or two, but it’s definitely Haley’s voice on “If I Only Had a Heart.” For that matter, Haley’s voice is also in the recorded and filmed, but unused, number, “The Jitterbug.” Ebson’s performance of “IIOHAH” with stills of his costume and make-up tests, and Haley and cast’s recording of “The Jitterbug” along with home movie footage of dance rehearsal are included in a number of WoO DVD releases. ---
**Author:** ![pokey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ebca7d/32.png) [@pokey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pokey)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-surprised-by-a-young-version-of-an-old-movie-star/318097/50 "2005-08-23T01:11:42Z")
> [@Rhiannon8404](#): > > I happenned to catch a glimpse of the James Bond film _Live and Let Die_ yesterday and was stunned at a very young Yaphet Kotto as the bad guy Kananga. > > I’d never seen this film before, nor anthing else with a young Kotto. I’m currently working my way through the Homicide: Life on the Streets series on NetFlix. I just saw him in a 1968 movie yesterday! Five Card Stud. He was young alright. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-surprised-by-a-young-version-of-an-old-movie-star/318097/51 "2005-08-23T01:17:26Z")
> [@pokey](#): > > I just saw him in a 1968 movie yesterday! Five Card Stud. He was young alright. He was also one of the criminals in 1968’s _The Thomas Crown Affair_. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-surprised-by-a-young-version-of-an-old-movie-star/318097/52 "2005-08-23T01:57:43Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > There was an old “Bonanza” where a very young DeForest Kelly played an imprisoned doctor. One of his lines is (I’m not kidding): What do you want me to do? I’m a prisoner, not a surgeon. Another early \*Bonanza \* (“Gift of Water”–11 Feb. 1962) features James Doohan \*and \*Majel Barrett. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-surprised-by-a-young-version-of-an-old-movie-star/318097/53 "2005-08-23T02:24:46Z")
> [@marque elf](#): > > I was watching a 30’s screwball comedy starring Cary Grant and a very comely blonde wench that I didn’t recognize. I turned the TV on just after the movie had started so I’d missed the opening credits. When the credits scrolled I was astonished to find that the cute, young babe was Irene Ryan, Grannie from _The Beverley Hillbillies._, perhaps the most unattractive woman on TV at that time. I’d known she done comedies in the 30’s but based on her looks alone, she should’ve been a huge star. You must have misread the credits. Irene Ryan and Cary Grant never made a movie together. Nor was Ryan a cute, young babe in the 1930s. She was a plain-looking, skinny-necked comic character actress. Maybe you’re thinking of Irene Dunne with Cary Grant in _The Awful Truth_ and _Penny Serenade_. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-surprised-by-a-young-version-of-an-old-movie-star/318097/54 "2005-08-23T02:34:47Z")
> [@want2know](#): > > If you really want a shock, check out the early (1930’s-40’s) films of Shelley Winters! She didn’t make any movies in the 1930s. First movie role in 1943. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerous\_Nan\_McGrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecd19e/32.png) [@Dangerous\_Nan\_McGrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerous_Nan_McGrew)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-surprised-by-a-young-version-of-an-old-movie-star/318097/55 "2005-08-23T06:13:35Z")
I have just the opposite experience, usually, but it’s just as jarring. I watch a lot of silents and pre-codes, and when I finally started watching newer movies ('40s, '50s) I would see people that I had only ever seen young before. That was weird. It was, to me, as though they had aged overnight. Watching **The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer** was weirder more for the older (but still gorgeous) Myrna Loy than it was for seeing a grown-up Shirley Temple. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-surprised-by-a-young-version-of-an-old-movie-star/318097/56 "2005-08-23T12:13:11Z")
Alec Ginness was Yevgraf Zhivago prior to Obi-Wan. ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-surprised-by-a-young-version-of-an-old-movie-star/318097/57 "2005-08-23T12:27:21Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > You must have misread the credits. Irene Ryan and Cary Grant never made a movie together. Nor was Ryan a cute, young babe in the 1930s. She was a plain-looking, skinny-necked comic character actress. > > Maybe you’re thinking of Irene Dunne with Cary Grant in _The Awful Truth_ and _Penny Serenade_. You took the words right out of my mouth. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-surprised-by-a-young-version-of-an-old-movie-star/318097/58 "2005-08-23T12:39:23Z")
> [@Dr. Rieux](#): > > Another early \*Bonanza \* (“Gift of Water”–11 Feb. 1962) features James Doohan \*and \*Majel Barrett. [Spock](http://tesla.liketelevision.com/liketelevision/tuner.php?channel=79&format=tv&theme=guide) on _Bonanza_. Seems _Star Trek_ really was a _Wagon Train_ to the stars. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-surprised-by-a-young-version-of-an-old-movie-star/318097/59 "2005-08-23T13:07:02Z")
Lots of Star Trek folk were in previous TV series (Shatner and Nimoy both appeared in the same episode of **The Man from U.N.C.L.E.** pre-Star Trek), so that’s not a surprise. What isd a surprise is Nimoy as an extraterrestrial in **Zombies of the Stratosphere**. Regarding Bernard Lee, I’ve always been srprised at how young he looks in \*\* The Third Man\*\*. The James Bond films started not all that much later, but even in **Dr. No** Lee looks like an aged curmudgeon. One of the more interesting _deliberate_ examples of juxtaposed old and new was an episode of , I think, **Murder, She Wrote** where they took scenes out of some old movie to use for flashbacks, then got the same now-aged actors to portray their older selves. You really can see how they aged. IIRC, Henry Morgan was one of the actors, so you get to see his old and new self side by side. (Morgan was in a _lot_ of TV series since the 1950s, always with white/grey hair. I suspect he looked old before his time, which is why he seemed to be the same age for so long. Not opnly Dragnet, but also Kentucky Jones and December Bride. It’s kind of shocking to see him with dark hair.) ---
**Author:** ![awldune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@awldune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/awldune)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-surprised-by-a-young-version-of-an-old-movie-star/318097/60 "2005-08-23T13:40:33Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Alec Ginness was Yevgraf Zhivago prior to Obi-Wan. I had a similar experience with him in The Ladykillers (1955) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-surprised-by-a-young-version-of-an-old-movie-star/318097.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-surprised-by-a-young-version-of-an-old-movie-star/318097.md?page=4)