# Great Comedies w/ Older Man as The Lead? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 2, 2019, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-comedies-w-older-man-as-the-lead/831945 "2019-04-02T20:15:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-comedies-w-older-man-as-the-lead/831945/41 "2019-04-04T22:37:11Z")
Don’t know how many people think it’s “great,” but _Diamonds_ (1999) starring a then-86 y.o. Kirk Douglas got me chuckling. (I can’t figure out how I ever got the idea that its title was actually _13 Diamonds_.) ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-comedies-w-older-man-as-the-lead/831945/42 "2019-04-04T22:39:10Z")
Groucho Marx was no spring chicken. And I’m ashamed of you all that I’m the first to mention him. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-comedies-w-older-man-as-the-lead/831945/43 "2019-04-04T22:52:01Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > In what sense is _The Grey Fox_ a comedy? In absolutely no sense. I was reading through the thread and got caught up in the older actor discussion and completely forgot about the comedy part of the OP. I’m going to claim advancing age as my excuse :p. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-comedies-w-older-man-as-the-lead/831945/44 "2019-04-04T23:10:13Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Groucho Marx was no spring chicken. > > And I’m ashamed of you all that I’m the first to mention him. Well, by the time he died, at age 86, no, he wasn’t. 🙂 While [he appeared in a few movies](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000050/?ref_=nv_sr_1#actor) (usually in small / uncredited roles) after the age of 65, in the core of his film career with his brothers, in the 1920s and 1930s, he was only in his 30s and 40s. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-comedies-w-older-man-as-the-lead/831945/45 "2019-04-04T23:16:44Z")
Groucho Marx turned 65 on October 2, 1955, so these are films he appeared in at age 65 or greater, and the parts are basically small: _The Candidate_ _Skidoo_ _Birds Do It_ _The Story of Mankind_ _Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?_ _Showdown at Ulcer Gulch_ ---
**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:** [April 5, 2019, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-comedies-w-older-man-as-the-lead/831945/46 "2019-04-05T13:21:32Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Groucho Marx turned 65 on October 2, 1955, so these are films he appeared in at age 65 or greater, and the parts are basically small: > > _The Candidate_ > _Skidoo_ > _Birds Do It_ > _The Story of Mankind_ > _Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?_ > _Showdown at Ulcer Gulch_ Why is 65 the cutoff? Groucho had a pretty significant, definitely non-cameo, part in _Double Dynamite_ in 1951, when he was 61. Actually, I see that it was filmed three years earlier, when he was a summer chicken of 58 ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2019, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-comedies-w-older-man-as-the-lead/831945/47 "2019-04-05T14:00:06Z")
It’s the cut-off because it’s explicitly stated in the OP that it’s the cut-off. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-comedies-w-older-man-as-the-lead/831945.md?page=2)