# Greatest age disparity between actor/character? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 21, 2019, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-age-disparity-between-actor-character/843776 "2019-11-21T15:18:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-age-disparity-between-actor-character/843776/21 "2019-11-21T17:14:38Z")
Damn, the OP’s last paragraph took the wind out of my snappy response. Oh well, I’ll say it anyway. In The Lord of the Rings movies, Liv Tyler played Arwen who was 2,777 years old at the time. Cate Blanchett played her grandmother Galadriel who was considerably older, but as far as I know her exact birth date in the First Age isn’t explicitly stated anywhere by Tolkien. Gandalf is much older still, having existed before the creation of the world. I agree that these types of things aren’t very interesting compared to human characters. ETA: whoops, missed that What Exit? has already mentioned these. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-age-disparity-between-actor-character/843776/22 "2019-11-21T17:22:38Z")
Mark Lenard played Sarek at age 67 (in the TNG ep “Unification”. The character died at 202 for a disparity of 135 years. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-age-disparity-between-actor-character/843776/23 "2019-11-21T17:52:38Z")
A couple of the actors on _Riverdale_, Cole Sprouse (Jughead) and Casey Cott (Kevin) are 27, playing 17-year-old high school students. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-age-disparity-between-actor-character/843776/24 "2019-11-21T17:52:43Z")
> [@Chingon](#): > > I also think its funny that Tobias Menzies (45) is slathered in aging make up to look like 43 year old Prince Phillip. Interestingly, actual pictures of Prince Philip from that time show he didn’t look particularly old or middle aged. Alex Guinness was 48 when he played the at the time 30 year old Prince Faisal in Lawrence of Arabia. Rose McIver was 23 playing a 13 year old in _The Lovely Bones_. Gwen Stafani was in her mid 30’s when shooting the _Aviator_ playing the 19 year old Jean Harlow. ---
**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:** [November 21, 2019, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-age-disparity-between-actor-character/843776/25 "2019-11-21T17:55:48Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > Mark Lenard played Sarek at age 67 (in the TNG ep “Unification”. The character died at 202 for a disparity of 135 years. And, a related, amusing point: Sarek was, of course, Spock’s father. However, Lenard was only seven years older than Leonard Nimoy, who played Spock. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-age-disparity-between-actor-character/843776/26 "2019-11-21T18:01:04Z")
Bea Arthur is actually a year younger than Estelle Getty, who played daughter and mother respectively on “Golden Girls.” Getty was born in 1923, but her character Sophia was about 18 years older, born around 1905. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-age-disparity-between-actor-character/843776/27 "2019-11-21T18:01:12Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > A couple of the actors on _Riverdale_, Cole Sprouse (Jughead) and Casey Cott (Kevin) are 27, playing 17-year-old high school students. Good example. Madeline Petsch (Cheryl) is 25 Lili Reinhart (Betty) is 23 Camila Mendes (Veronica) is 25 Vanessa Morgan (Toni) is 27 Charles Melton (Reggie) is 28. The actor who plays Moose is nearly 30. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-age-disparity-between-actor-character/843776/28 "2019-11-21T18:33:48Z")
The first thing that came to my mind was Sue Lyon in Kubrick’s _ **Lolita** _. A nyphette she wasn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-age-disparity-between-actor-character/843776/29 "2019-11-21T18:41:25Z")
> [@Dobbs](#): > > From IMDB - > > [Shirley] Henderson was born November 24, 1965, making her 37 when she played Moaning Myrtle (the ghost of 14-year-old Myrtle Warren) in “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” (and, therefore, 40, when she reprised the role in “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”). > > Henderson was the oldest actress (and, in fact, the oldest _person_) to play a Hogwarts student in any of the films. (The oldest–or Seventh-Year–students were supposed to be 17 at the start of the school year on September 1.). Also 55’ish Alan Rickman played a 31’ish Severus Snape while filming the first film. ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-age-disparity-between-actor-character/843776/30 "2019-11-21T18:45:50Z")
In _Private Parts_ (1997), Howard Stern was 43 when he played himself during his college years when he would have been in his early 20s. Nazimova was 43 when she played the teenage Salome in the 1922 version of Oscar the Wilde’s play, which she also produced. ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-age-disparity-between-actor-character/843776/31 "2019-11-21T18:49:10Z")
What about the other way? Albert Finney played Scrooge at the age of 33. Not really sure how old Scrooge was supposed to be but I’d guess at least in his 60s or so. ---
**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:** [November 21, 2019, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-age-disparity-between-actor-character/843776/32 "2019-11-21T18:53:52Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > And, a related, amusing point: Sarek was, of course, Spock’s father. However, Lenard was only seven years older than Leonard Nimoy, who played Spock. Vulcans go into Pon Far at a young age. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-age-disparity-between-actor-character/843776/33 "2019-11-21T19:12:01Z")
There’s The Graduate, Anne Bancroft was 6 years older than Dustin Hoffman, and 9 years older than Katherine Ross. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-age-disparity-between-actor-character/843776/34 "2019-11-21T19:32:18Z")
The biggest legitimate one I can think of that doesn’t involve fantasy or the same actor playing a character through a lifetime is in **The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance** where Oz Whitehead, who was 50 at the time of filming, plays a character who was literally suppose to be in his early teens (he’s chided at one point for playing hooky from school to go fishing). As you can expect this casting doesn’t work at all, for the longest time I thought he was suppose to be mentally disabled because he was acting so oddly for a full grown man. So a **36** year age difference between actor and character. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-age-disparity-between-actor-character/843776/35 "2019-11-21T19:50:25Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > The first thing that came to my mind was Sue Lyon in Kubrick’s _ **Lolita** _. A nyphette she wasn’t. The disparity wasn’t nearly as much as other examples cited here. Lolita was 12 and a half in the book; her age is kept vague in the movie. Lyons was 14 when filming started, but was chosen because she looked relatively mature for her age. ---
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-age-disparity-between-actor-character/843776/36 "2019-11-21T19:54:04Z")
In the file “Spirit of St. Louis”, Jimmie Stewart, 47 years old at the time, played a 25 year old Charles Lindbergh. Did a pretty good job, too. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-age-disparity-between-actor-character/843776/37 "2019-11-21T19:58:38Z")
Walter Matthau was 55 when he made **The Sunshine Boys** , playing a character who was supposed to be in his 70s or 80s. That may not be much, but he was playing opposite George Burns who actually was in his 80s at the time, and they looked well matched. Great movie, BTW. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-age-disparity-between-actor-character/843776/38 "2019-11-21T20:11:28Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > The disparity wasn’t nearly as much as other examples cited here. Still the first thing that came to my mind. ---
**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:** [November 21, 2019, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-age-disparity-between-actor-character/843776/39 "2019-11-21T20:23:15Z")
In the sitcom _Eight is Enough_[Betty Buckley](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_Buckley) who played the stepmom was several months younger than [Laurie Walters](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurie_Walters) who played the third eldest sibling( and Walters was also several years older than even the next closest actor playing a sibling). ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-age-disparity-between-actor-character/843776/40 "2019-11-21T20:30:37Z")
Hack-O-Lantern has a hilarious one. Gregory Scott Cummings portrays what appears to be a high school kid. He was 32-33 years old. [Wanna see? This is supposed to be a high school senior.](https://rogueriffers.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/vlcsnap-2013-10-13-16h20m59s143.png) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-age-disparity-between-actor-character/843776.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-age-disparity-between-actor-character/843776.md?page=3)