# If a book/movie character lived to great age **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 21, 2019, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-book-movie-character-lived-to-great-age/837390 "2019-07-21T03:56:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2019, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-book-movie-character-lived-to-great-age/837390/1 "2019-07-21T03:56:40Z")
When we read a book, and come to the end, or watch a period piece movie, and see the end credits roll, the characters we have experienced tend to stay there in our minds, in the past. But if they are young enough, and live to great age, they could live on and see, and be involved in, much later events. For example, Jean Louise Finch could still be alive now, in 2019. We see her in _To Kill a Mockingbird_, in the 1930s, as a young girl. She would not even have to be one hundred to be around now and seen all the changes in civil rights. Scarlett OHara Hamilton Kennedy Butler was sixteen at the beginning of the Civil War. If she lived to be one hundred she could have been around when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. But in or minds she is still the girl in a hoop skirt, wanting to go to parties. What characters would you like to see in their future, to know how they would react, or what they would do? ---
**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:** [July 21, 2019, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-book-movie-character-lived-to-great-age/837390/2 "2019-07-21T12:41:22Z")
Kate Winslet’s character in _Titanic_ could have lived long enough to be present for the salvage recovery efforts. Oh, wait… ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2019, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-book-movie-character-lived-to-great-age/837390/3 "2019-07-21T15:21:00Z")
Some of the characters in Méliès’ _A Trip to the Moon_ (1902) could have lived to see people walk on the Moon if you take the actors’ ages as the character ages. E.g., Phoebe (born 1878) and the captain of the rocket (born 1873). The actor for the latter lived to 1976! I don’t know the ages of the major characters in Welles’ _The First Men in the Moon_ (1901). They sound a bit on the older side so maybe they didn’t live til Apollo 11. Since Verne’s _From the Earth to the Moon_ came out in 1865, I think we can rule any of those out surviving to 1969. Any such survivors would, of course, have wondered what the fuss was all about. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2019, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-book-movie-character-lived-to-great-age/837390/4 "2019-07-21T21:37:57Z")
Chauncey Gardiner _(Being There)_ could still be a strong presidential contender. Probably would’ve been in his 90’s by now, but _Stranglove_’s General Ripper would’ve made an appropriate Secretary of Defense. Senator Blutarski would’ve been in Washington for close to 60 years now. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2019, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-book-movie-character-lived-to-great-age/837390/5 "2019-07-21T21:54:26Z")
> [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > Chauncey Gardiner _(Being There)_ could still be a strong presidential contender. > > Probably would’ve been in his 90’s by now, but _Stranglove_’s General Ripper would’ve made an appropriate Secretary of Defense. > > **Senator Blutarski would’ve been in Washington for close to 60 years now**. Bolding mine. When we look at the current crop of old politicos, I wonder which were just as wild as Bluto was. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2019, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-book-movie-character-lived-to-great-age/837390/6 "2019-07-21T22:18:53Z")
Rick Blaine would have come through World War 2 having provided material help to the Allies. And then, with a Presidential pardon for whatever got him to leave the USA in the first place, would have returned to New York City to take over the nightclub, opened in 1927\*, that eventually became Studio 54. Ilsa Lund, sadly, died during the war. So Rick ended up with a woman-of-mystery called Anna Koreff, who some said was actually the Russian Grand Duchess Anastasia. - [Studio 54 - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studio_54) ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2019, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-book-movie-character-lived-to-great-age/837390/7 "2019-07-21T22:19:52Z")
If they were alive today, all the feral boys in _Lord of the Flies_ would be pensioners, and no doubt complaining on a regular basis of the morals and manners of the youth of today. Non fiction section: Most of the people in Solomon Northup’s _Twelve Years a Slave_ would have been around for the Thirteenth Amendment, 25 years later (than the start of the book). Little Emily, who’s sold away from her mother near the start, would have been in her late 30’s. Patsey, probably in her forties. I hope they all lived a good long time after 1865 ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2019, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-book-movie-character-lived-to-great-age/837390/8 "2019-07-22T13:39:54Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > Bolding mine. When we look at the current crop of old politicos, I wonder which were just as wild as Bluto was. Scalia? John Bolton? A bolt-gun-toting Anton Chigurh coming to terms with himself and ultimately chilling out and making artisanal cheeses and soap. Basil Fawlty still running Farty Towels or whatever it’s called. ---
**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:** [July 22, 2019, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-book-movie-character-lived-to-great-age/837390/9 "2019-07-22T14:00:18Z")
I’ve always wondered what happened to Dr. Zhivago’s wife Tonia and their two children, and especially Tania, his daughter with Lara. ---
**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:** [July 22, 2019, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-book-movie-character-lived-to-great-age/837390/10 "2019-07-22T14:19:44Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > …Most of the people in Solomon Northup’s _Twelve Years a Slave_ would have been around for the Thirteenth Amendment, 25 years later (than the start of the book). Little Emily, who’s sold away from her mother near the start, would have been in her late 30’s. Patsey, probably in her forties. I hope they all lived a good long time after 1865 You’ll appreciate this: > **[To My Old Master](https://news.lettersofnote.com/p/to-my-old-master)** > > A former slave writes to his old owner and tells him to get stuffed > **[Jordan Anderson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_Anderson)** > > Jordan Anderson or Jourdon Anderson (December 1825 – April 15, 1905) was an African-American former slave noted for an 1865 letter he dictated, later titled by publishers as "Letter from a Freedman to His Old Master". It was addressed to his former master, Colonel P. H. Anderson, from whom Jordan Anderson had taken his surname, in response to the colonel's request that Anderson return to the colonel's plantation to help restore the farm after the disarray of the war. It has been described as a ... ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2019, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-book-movie-character-lived-to-great-age/837390/11 "2019-07-22T14:24:31Z")
In _ **The Brotherhood of the Wolf** _ (2001), Marquis Thomas d’Apcher bookends the movie as he recalls the events of 1764. He is shortly thereafter led away to his execution during the French revolution, so that’s probably a time-span of 30 years or so. ---
**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:** [July 22, 2019, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-book-movie-character-lived-to-great-age/837390/12 "2019-07-22T14:50:49Z")
The literary James Bond was born around 1920 (John Pearson’s fictional bio has him born on November 11, 1920). He’d have to be born around then to have been able to participate in the activities he’s credited with during WWII. So today he’d be almost 100, assuming that he actually survived all those encounters and the ravages of time and injury. Fleming’s character didn’t put money aside for the future, assuming he’d be dead before he got old. But we can imagine him surviving on some sort of pension, having sold his Bentley and other class gadgets. He’d be complaining about politics and the current crop of ludicrous spy movies. I suspect he’d become more conservative (he always was on the conservative side, and age would probably move him further that way. Would he applaud Brexit as a move to keep the UK apart from the rest of Europe? He might even approve of Boris Johnson and Trump. ---
**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:** [July 22, 2019, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-book-movie-character-lived-to-great-age/837390/13 "2019-07-22T15:02:15Z")
Holden Caulfield (_Catcher in the Rye_) and Jim Stark (_Rebel Without a Cause_) would both be around 80 today. Caulfield became a minor figure in the Beat Generation of writers but then sold out and went into advertising, where he had a successful career. Stark became a successful driver on the Nascar circuit. Currently, they are both retired and living in Southern California, where they frequently rail about the miserable state of “kids these days” to anyone who will listen. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2019, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-book-movie-character-lived-to-great-age/837390/14 "2019-07-22T15:49:21Z")
Thomas Magnum served only four more years in the Navy. Because of his record, he’d never make Captain, and since it was “up or out”, he got out. He didn’t go back to live at Robin’s Nest but he did stay in Hawaii. He and Carol tried a relationship\*\*\*, but it didn’t work out. They still remain friends. He never married again. TC and Rick moved to the mainland. As he got older, he understood Higgins a bit more, and free of the “responsibilities” of living on the estate, they became friends. After Higgins died, he pretty much had no friends. Now he is a 70 year old beach bum trump Republican who unironically complains to anyone that listens about people expecting free stuff and sponging off the government. A couple of ideas where two movies are really about the same character: Lloyd Dobler realized he wasn’t good enough to support a family without selling something that had been processed or bought, or any combination thereof, so he got a boring job and hated it, and hated his life, and eventually Diane left him. So in his directionless state he started Fight Club\*. Ferris Bueller grew up into a beloved high school teacher in Omaha\*\* who got involved with one of his students, which ruined his life. \*Different actor, same character \*\*same actor, different (maybe) character \*\*\* I always thought they had one before the show started ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2019, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-book-movie-character-lived-to-great-age/837390/15 "2019-07-22T16:00:45Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > things I said I think I misread the OP and totally missed the point, but too late to edit. Sorry, please ignore my post! ---
**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:** [July 22, 2019, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-book-movie-character-lived-to-great-age/837390/16 "2019-07-22T16:04:42Z")
To Kill a Mockingbird’s Jeremy “Jem” Finch grew up, got married, and had a son named Dennis finch who went to work at a fashion magazine, where his co-workers were so crazy he was often heard to mutter “Just Shoot Me.” ---
**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:** [July 22, 2019, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-book-movie-character-lived-to-great-age/837390/17 "2019-07-22T16:26:13Z")
Dorothy Gale would be pushing 100 right now, and amusing her caregivers by recounting for the umpteenth time the “trip” she took when she was a teenager. She could never understand what the big deal was back in the '60s: “Tune in, turn on, get high, shiiiiiiiiiiit! Been there, done that!” After retiring from vigilante law enforcement out West, the Lone Ranger and Tonto found themselves sharing a cold-water walkup in New York City, creating endless gossip among their immigrant neighbors. They were among the first to receive Social Security in 1935. ---
**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:** [July 22, 2019, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-book-movie-character-lived-to-great-age/837390/18 "2019-07-22T16:34:08Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > To Kill a Mockingbird’s Jeremy “Jem” Finch grew up, got married, and had a son named Dennis finch who went to work at a fashion magazine, where his co-workers were so crazy he was often heard to mutter “Just Shoot Me.” In Harper Lee’s _Go Set A Watchman_, we learn that Jem died before the mid-1950s setting of the book. A disappointing novel for that and many other reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2019, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-book-movie-character-lived-to-great-age/837390/19 "2019-07-22T16:43:36Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > What characters would you like to see in their future, to know how they would react, or what they would do? I’d like to see John Rambo as an elderly ma- oh wait, we ARE going to see [John Rambo as an elderly man.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rambo:_Last_Blood) :eek: ---
**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:** [July 22, 2019, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-book-movie-character-lived-to-great-age/837390/20 "2019-07-22T16:52:00Z")
When Bonanza’s Adam goes East to study, he takes his mother’s birth name of McIntrye to escape The Cartwright Curse." He marries, has a song Ben, who has a son John McIntyre who serves in a Korean M_A_S\*H unit and later practices medicine with Gonzo Gates, whose son Gregory Gates takes the last name of House and becomes a doctor. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-book-movie-character-lived-to-great-age/837390.md?page=2)