This may be more of a GQ, but since it’s about film I’ll ask it here.
Who are some of the oldest actors ever to appear in major roles (i.e. not as extras or 10 second cameos, but roles essential to the plot) in film or television?
A few I’ve come up with:
Jester Hairston was a regular on Amen at 90 and made a few appearances thereafter. (His last appearance was at 97 in Being John Malkovich, but since it was uncredited I’m guessing it was very small [I haven’t seen the movie]).
John Gielgud gave a phenomenal, critical and physically demanding performance as Aaron Jastrow in War & Remembrance in his early 80s and had a significant supporting role in Shine at 91, but most of his last decade appearances were cameo window dressing (including non-speaking roles in Elizabeth and Hamlet and a five second walk-on in the mini-series Merlin .
Gloria Stuart came out of a long retirement for her crucial role as Old Rose in Titanic at 85 and has made a few appearances since then (in addition to being kind enough to share her love of masturbation in her autobiography).
Have there been any actors older than these who gave great performances at very old ages?
This may be more of a GQ, but since it’s about film I’ll ask it here.
Who are some of the oldest actors ever to appear in major roles (i.e. not as extras or cameos [e.g. Hume Cronyn in Marvin’s Room or Don Ameche in Corrina, Corrina, but roles with dialogue that required acting talent and are essential to the plot) in film or television?
A few I’ve come up with:
Jester Hairston was a regular on Amen at 90 and made a few appearances thereafter. (His last appearance was at 97 in Being John Malkovich, but since it was uncredited I’m guessing it was very small [I haven’t seen the movie]).
John Gielgud gave a phenomenal, critical and physically demanding performance as Aaron Jastrow in War & Remembrance in his early 80s and had a significant supporting role in Shine at 91, but most of his last decade appearances were cameo window dressing (including non-speaking roles in Elizabeth and Hamlet and a five second walk-on in the mini-series Merlin .
Gloria Stuart came out of a long retirement for her crucial role as Old Rose in Titanic at 85 and has made a few appearances since then (in addition to being kind enough to share her love of masturbation in her autobiography).
Have there been any actors older than these who gave great performances at very old ages?
Actors who gave good performances at a later stage were Alistair Sim and Felix Aylmer, although I can’t say they compete with the above. Sim didn’t commence acting until he was middle aged.
A vaguely related trivia point: in 1989 (I believe), Jeanne Calment, who would later become the world’s oldest living person and oldest person ever reliably documented, appeared at age 114 as herself in the Canadian children’s film Vincent and Me about Vincent Van Gogh. She was the only remaining person to have known the artist (though this has been disputed).
I don’t have my Guinness book handy, but I believe the record for oldest actor/actress in a movie is held by Jeanne Calment, who starred in a movie made around her 120th birthday (she died at 122, and also holds the record for oldest person). Since the film was a documentary about her life, she was definitely essential to the plot. Also, she gave an interview and narrated parts of the film, so she had more than a cameo role.
Of course, this may not really qualify as “acting”, since she was just being herself and telling her life story.
Jessica Tandy was in her 80s for Nobody’s Fool, which I believe was her last role. Wonderful movie, if I might ask you hip-types to add it to your “NetFlix” list.
Are we giving “props” for the quality of the production? I don’t think things like Groucho Marx in Skidoo should count. (Though I think he was only 78 for that.)
George Burns was 81 when he starred in “Oh God!”, 83 when he co-starred in “Going in Style”, 88 when he starred in “Oh God! You Devil”, 92 when he co-starred in “18 Again”, and 98 years old when he starred as Milt Lackey in “The Radioland Murders”.
Richard Farnsworth, of Anne of Green Gables fame, was nominated for an Oscar at age 79 in 1999 for “The Straight Story.” That was the film about the guy who rode his tractor across the country to visit his brother. He is the oldest person to be nominated for a regular oscar and he was the star of the film.
Katharine Hepburn and Henry Fonda were both in their mid seventies when they did “On Golden Pond”
George Burns Starred in “Oh God, You Devil!” in 1984 at age 88 and had a brief role in “18 Again” four years later at the age of 92.
I’m having a brain fart as to her name but an actress who played the sweet young thing in silent movies made a comeback some years back. If I remember right her sister was alos in the movies. But I can’t remember the name and I can’t come up with enough detail for a search to find anything.
I dunno how old he was, but Jack Palance played essential roles in both “City Slickers” movies (and actually had more of a part in the second movie, which, naturally, means he was older than he was in the first movie).
“I’m having a brain fart as to her name but an actress who played the sweet young thing in silent movies made a comeback some years back. If I remember right her sister was alos in the movies. But I can’t remember the name and I can’t come up with enough detail for a search to find anything.”
That would be Lillian Gish, who Eve mentioned above.
Not the hamsters’ fault this time, there were two separate threads with the same OP. I’ve merged them into one thread, rather than closing one and providing a link.
Sampiro, you only need to hit the SUBMIT button once. Even if things are going slow, wait. When you hit it a second time, you usually create a second identical thread.