I still get a chuckle every time I remember that Peter Pan, who’s supposed to be what? 9, is played by a woman who’s usually well past 20. Let’s see Sandy Duncan was born 1946. The 34 year old revived the role of the prepubescent lad in 1979 or 80. Presumably she played it for a few years at least. Although I guess nitpickers could say that although Peter Pan wsa physically 9 or so he was temporally much older since he did not grow older. (side note, I’m a nitpicker myself, out out damn nit!)
As per Arken’s complaint. Does 26 count as a kid? Anyway Doris Day, born April 3, 1924. I believe the teenager she played in On Moonlight Bay in 1951 was 15. There was a sequel a two years later that I’ve never heard of before. Don’t know is the character was still a teenager then.
Robert Redford and Glenn Close playing themselves in a flashback scene in “The Natural” (1984). He was 47, she was 37, and the fog filters were set at maximum power.
Jamie Farr was 38 when he played Klinger in MASH; his character was supposed to be a draftee, so probably 18-19. Farr had actually served in Korea at age 18, 20 years earlier.
Ralph Macchio (sp?) played a high-school junior when he was in his late 20s for the movie “The Karate Kid.” He continued to play that role for the next two movies.
AFAIK, the kids on Saved By the Bell really were kids. This is especially obvious if you see early episodes when they are supposed to be high school freshmen. (I can’t believe I am admitting to watching that show)
For some reason I feel compelled to correct a common misconception about Beverly Hills, 90210. Although the characters were teenagers when the show began (mostly played by people in their early 20’s), they aged as it progressed. All of them graduated first from high school, and then from college. When Gabrielle Carteris left the show at age 34, she was playing a medical student, not a teenager. I’ve seen this “thirty-year-old teenagers” stuff about 90210 before. While a few of the actors were in their thirties by the time the show ended, none of them were still playing teenagers.
Charisma Carpenter was 27 years old when playing Cordelia Chase in the 1st season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Her character was in the 3rd-last year of high school at that time, presumably 16 years old. By the time her character stopped being a teenager (in season 1 of Angel), the actress was 30.
Heh - that’s just what I was thinking! Mary Martin was 47 when she played Peter in 1960.
Did anyone catch the recent production of South Pacific with a 52-year-old Glenn Close playing a 20-something Nellie Forbush? It wasn’t too bad, but they did use an awful lot of soft focus.
