# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-surprised-by-a-young-version-of-an-old-movie-star/318097/81 "2005-08-24T18:02:49Z")
Watch Apocalypse Now to see a skinny Laurence Fishburne. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-surprised-by-a-young-version-of-an-old-movie-star/318097/82 "2005-08-24T19:01:14Z")
The coked up heavy metal singer in **The Dead Pool** is credited as James Carey. Seeing it again after having been exposed to Ace Ventura made me do a double take. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-surprised-by-a-young-version-of-an-old-movie-star/318097/83 "2005-08-24T19:15:34Z")
Shh, don’t tell the people in the MASH Trivia thread, but… In the movie _The Red Violin_, there is a segment that takes place in Shanghai. It’s all in Chinese. It stars a middle aged (but still hhhhhot!) actress named Sylvia Chang. Little did I realize that decades ago she played a prostitute in an episode of MASH. I think it was her only English-speaking role. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-surprised-by-a-young-version-of-an-old-movie-star/318097/84 "2005-08-24T19:27:20Z")
> [@Kythereia](#): > > Which one was that? _curious now_ [Here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=283275&highlight=famous) ya go. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-surprised-by-a-young-version-of-an-old-movie-star/318097/85 "2005-08-24T19:46:24Z")
I must have seen **Miracle on 34th Street** four or five times before it dawned on me that the little girl is played by Natalie Wood. Yes, **that** Natalie Wood. When I realized this, I literally whacked my forehead, and I would have said “d’oh,” except that Matt Groening hadn’t invented “d’oh” yet. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-surprised-by-a-young-version-of-an-old-movie-star/318097/86 "2005-08-24T19:55:35Z")
> [@pinkfreud](#): > > Matt Groening hadn’t invented “d’oh” yet. No, but James Finlayson had. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-surprised-by-a-young-version-of-an-old-movie-star/318097/87 "2005-08-24T22:11:17Z")
> [@Earl Snake-Hips Tucker](#): > > No, but James Finlayson had. Neat! I never made the connection. Thanx, **Earl**! ---
**Author:** ![don\_Jaime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b4bc9f/32.png) [@don\_Jaime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_Jaime)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-surprised-by-a-young-version-of-an-old-movie-star/318097/88 "2005-08-25T04:07:27Z")
…and Finlayson leads into the Laurel and Hardy collection, where we can pop _A Chump at Oxford_ into the tape deck to see a young Peter Cushing. Odd to see the cadaverous old man from Hammer and _Star Wars_ doing slapstick as a scheming college kid. ---
**Author:** ![mamboman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@mamboman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mamboman)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-surprised-by-a-young-version-of-an-old-movie-star/318097/89 "2005-08-25T10:43:41Z")
Seeing Steven Hill in _Law and Order_ and then remembering him, 25 years before in _Mission Impossible_… mm ---
**Author:** ![rayh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@rayh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rayh)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-surprised-by-a-young-version-of-an-old-movie-star/318097/90 "2005-08-25T12:03:48Z")
On a related note how about some pictures of [Celebrities as Kids](http://www.davesdaily.com/pictures/411-pictures-of-celebrities-as-kids.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-surprised-by-a-young-version-of-an-old-movie-star/318097/91 "2005-08-25T12:15:55Z")
If you’ve only ever seen James Earl Jones in Star Wars 😉 you should check him out in Dr. Strangelove from 1963. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-surprised-by-a-young-version-of-an-old-movie-star/318097/92 "2008-09-15T01:39:43Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > Nor was [Irene] Ryan a cute, young babe in the 1930s. She was a plain-looking, skinny-necked comic character actress. [Some early photos](http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0752576/board/thread/117186846?d=117249883&p=1#117249883). Now, she might not have been a raving beauty, but she wasn’t bad lookin’, either. ---
**Author:** ![as\_u\_wish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6f9a4e/32.png) [@as\_u\_wish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/as_u_wish)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-surprised-by-a-young-version-of-an-old-movie-star/318097/93 "2008-09-15T02:29:52Z")
Leslie Nielsen is impressive as a young, serious romantic lead. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-surprised-by-a-young-version-of-an-old-movie-star/318097/94 "2008-09-15T02:38:55Z")
I believe some of the celebrities who were young when this thread was created may now count as old. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-surprised-by-a-young-version-of-an-old-movie-star/318097/95 "2008-09-15T03:34:29Z")
Leslie Nielsen Not only did he look odd without the white hair, but he was a pretty damned good DRAMATIC actor. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-surprised-by-a-young-version-of-an-old-movie-star/318097/96 "2008-09-15T05:39:48Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > The young Lucille Ball in the Three Stooges shorts was just damn _hot_, I tells ya. Thirded (or it fourthed?). What I thought of when I saw the thread title. ---
**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 15, 2008, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-surprised-by-a-young-version-of-an-old-movie-star/318097/97 "2008-09-15T06:16:40Z")
I just watched the newly available on DVD [_Dragonwyck_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038492/), which includes a 31-year-old Harry Morgan and a 37-year-old Jessica Tandy (although she convincingly plays a girl of about 19 or 20). ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-surprised-by-a-young-version-of-an-old-movie-star/318097/98 "2008-09-15T08:42:45Z")
I’ve never really liked westerns, but as a kid for some reason I loved “The Big Valley” which had, for one of its stars, Barbara Stanwyck. Years later while flipping through the channels I came across a movie…(looking up the name in IMDB)…I think it was [Lady of Burlesque](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036094/) Wow, what a difference about 20 years can make. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-surprised-by-a-young-version-of-an-old-movie-star/318097/99 "2008-09-15T09:06:29Z")
You should have seen how cute this thread looked three years ago 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2008, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-surprised-by-a-young-version-of-an-old-movie-star/318097/100 "2008-09-15T13:29:48Z")
I know **tdn** still posts, so… > [@tdn](#): > > It was an episode of Night Court, probably from around mid-season. The plot involved Roz going into anger management therapy, and the whole gang going with her. While there, a young black man broke into the place and threatened everyone with a gun. It was hard to see his face (bad TV lighting and dark-skinned people often make for unrecognizable faces), but the voice was unmistakably that of a very young Don Cheadle. The credits bore this out. If you catch any more old episodes of _Night Court_, look for the Wheeler family as defendants. They were a down-on-their-luck immigrant couple who seemed to attract unlikely misery. Bob Wheeler was played by Brent Spinerbefore he became famous. Here’s a [clip](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrLvtoKZfxY). Unfortunately for those of you playing along at home, the title gives away the answer. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-surprised-by-a-young-version-of-an-old-movie-star/318097.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-been-surprised-by-a-young-version-of-an-old-movie-star/318097.md?page=6)