# 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:** 7\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![eunoia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eunoia/32/97_2.png) [@eunoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eunoia)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2019, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-age-disparity-between-actor-character/843776/81 "2019-11-29T17:20:51Z")
> [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](#): > > In the recent van Gogh biopic, _At Eternity’s Gate_, 64 year old Willem Dafoe played van Gogh, who of course never made it past 37. This is the one I came to post. > [@Brayne\_Ded](#): > > First exclude actors playing somebody older than themselves. Agree. > [@Asuka](#): > > So a **36** year age difference between actor and character. (re: O.Z. Whitehead) If this isn’t impressive enough, consider a ~36 year-old Woody Allen playing sperm in Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex \* But Were Afraid to Ask (1972). ---
**Author:** ![TheCuse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thecuse/32/2854_2.png) [@TheCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheCuse)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2019, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-age-disparity-between-actor-character/843776/82 "2019-11-29T18:50:17Z")
In the movie Grease (1978): Stockard Channing (Rizzo) was 33 years old Olivia Newton John was 28 And they played the roles of high school seniors. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2019, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-age-disparity-between-actor-character/843776/83 "2019-11-29T23:53:19Z")
The example that comes to my mind is Joan Allen in _The Mists of Avalon_ TV miniseries. She played Morgause at the age of 13 in the beginning, when when she was 39. Of course, the character aged to maturity over the course of the miniseries. ---
**Author:** ![margin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@margin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/margin)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2019, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-age-disparity-between-actor-character/843776/84 "2019-11-30T01:38:34Z")
Leslie Howard was 43 when he played Romeo in 1936. ---
**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:** [November 30, 2019, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-age-disparity-between-actor-character/843776/85 "2019-11-30T13:22:05Z")
D’Arcy Beth Carden (age 39) on _The Good Place_ plays Janet (age infinity). What do I win? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2019, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-age-disparity-between-actor-character/843776/86 "2019-11-30T15:29:51Z")
You win a re-read of the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2019, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-age-disparity-between-actor-character/843776/87 "2019-11-30T22:03:48Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Dustin Hoffman was 33 in 1970 when he played 121 year old Jack Crabb in **Little Big Man**. That’s 88 years’ difference Just what I came in to post! Probably the most realistic old-age makeup I’ve ever seen (scroll down a little here), and Hoffman’s acting was more than up to the challenge: [http://thegreatwesternmovies.com/2014/03/03/little-big-man/](http://thegreatwesternmovies.com/2014/03/03/little-big-man/) > [@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. Another good one. And consider James Daly, 51 at the time, who played the 6,000-year-old Flint: [Flint | Memory Alpha | Fandom](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Flint) > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Sally Field was 66 when she played Mary Lincoln in _Lincoln_. Mary Lincoln was 48 during the period the movie depicted. And, according to an NPR interview she gave at the time, had to drink a lot of very thick milkshakes in order to plump up like Mary Todd Lincoln. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-age-disparity-between-actor-character/843776.md?page=4)