# Oldest "new" actor? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 11, 2004, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-new-actor/249785 "2004-06-11T05:18:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pilot141](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e0b2c6/32.png) [@pilot141](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pilot141)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-new-actor/249785/1 "2004-06-11T05:18:02Z")
There might not be a definitive answer for this, so I’m putting it in CS instead of GQ. Although with all of the movie experts here, this is probably the best place for a factual answer. Anyway, here is what I was wondering. AMC (American Movie Classics, for you furriners - and NO, it does NOT live up to it’s name, but that’s another thread) has ben running some Ron Reagan films in honor of his death. Tonight they are showing _The Last Outpost_ from 1951. Reagan fights the Indians, reconciles with his brother, etc. But at one point Reagan faces a bunch of ticked-off townspeople, the leader of which has a shotgun pointed at his gut. When I saw this scene I shouted “Gus!!!”, because the man with the shotgun was none other than [Burt Mustin](http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/PersonDetail/personid-8525), otherwise known as Gus in the _Leave it to Beaver_ TV show. But then I did a double-take. Gus was old in this movie, but it was in color. He was old in LITB, but that was in B&W. A quick punch of the “Info” button (I love DirecTV) tells me that _The Last Outpost_ was filmed in 1951. His first appearance in LITB was in 1957. After that, he had an amazingly prodigous career. I’m wondering: has anyone else had such a prodigious film/TV career after such a late start? Can anyone find our man Burt before 1951? In _The Last Outpost_ he was already 67! This guy was 45 when the stock market crash occured! He was 57 when Pearl Harbor was attacked! And yet he’s shown regularly on TV stations throughout the US. Amazing. Good on you, Gus!!! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-new-actor/249785/2 "2004-06-11T05:24:59Z")
I’m not 100% sure I understand what you’re looking for, but John Houseman made his film debut in the Paper Chase at the age of 71 (although he actually had two uncredited minor movie roles prior to this). ---
**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:** [June 11, 2004, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-new-actor/249785/3 "2004-06-11T12:58:22Z")
\*_[Marie Dressler](http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0237597/). She was 46 when she made her film debut in **Tillie’s Punctured Romance** (supposedly, the same film where Milton Berle first appeared_). Of course, she had to wait until films were made in order to start in them (Tillie was one of the earliest feature films), but Marie dropped out of films for almost ten years, only to return and become one of the biggest stars of the early talkies, winning an Oscar at the age of 63. She was a success despite being rather heavy not all that [physically attractive](http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/bobhope/images/vcvg12.jpg). And I say this with admiration: no actress these days could be a major star if they looked like her, which is a shame. **Sydney Greenstreet** was 65 when he made his debut in **The Maltese Falcon**. Even older, **[Lee Strasberg](http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0833448/)** was 73 when he made his debut in **The Godfather**. Strasberg was a director, the founder of the Group Theater, and, most famouly, director of the Actor’s Studio (he was considered the guru of Method Acting), but had never appeared in a film until Coppola cast him. \*Berle made the claim that he played her baby at the end, but I don’t know if that’s been confirmed. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-new-actor/249785/4 "2004-06-11T12:58:54Z")
[Sydney Greenstreet](http://imdb.com/name/nm0002113/) (1879-1954) was 62 when he made his film debut in _The Maltese Falcon_, though he had acted onstage since 1902. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-new-actor/249785/5 "2004-06-11T13:16:13Z")
Well, Peg Phillips worked in accounting her whole life, and never acted until she’d retired. In 1990, at the age of 72, she got her first professional acting job as a co-star on “Northern Exposure” (she was crusty shopkeeper Ruth Anne). ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-new-actor/249785/6 "2004-06-11T13:40:38Z")
Wilfred Brimley is now 80 but he’s been playing the old guy for 30 years. In Cacoon he was supposed to be a contemporary of Don Ameche who was 20 years older. ---
**Author:** ![pilot141](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e0b2c6/32.png) [@pilot141](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pilot141)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-new-actor/249785/7 "2004-06-11T17:12:32Z")
Thanks for the replies! Not very many actors have done this, which is what I’d suspected. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-new-actor/249785/8 "2004-06-11T20:14:10Z")
There’s a lot more to show business than just movies and television. [IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0615993/bio) says that Burt Mustin dabbled in the biz for decades before 1951: > [@](#): > > Burt Mustin was a salesman most of his life, but got his first taste of show business as the host of a weekly radio variety show on KDKA Pittsburgh in 1921. > > During the 30s and 40s he was a member of the PITTSBURGH SAVOYARDS, the oldest Gilbert and Sullivan troupe in the United States. Although he could barely sing, his character parts were critically praised. Lots of actors in the old days had long stage careers before they ever appeared in a movie. Before Sydney Greenstreet’s debut in _The Maltese Falcon_ at 62 (not 65, per IMDb) he had appeared in hundreds of plays. And the great stage actress Dame May Whitty made a few forgotten silent movies, but her first major screen role was in 1937 when she was 72. There must be dozens more like them. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-new-actor/249785/9 "2004-06-11T20:19:47Z")
**Eve** , darling, how’d you sneak in there and backtime a post to 8:58? It wasn’t there when I previewed. **Chuck** , then **astorian**. Really. I’m sure. Sigh. I’ve got to get these glasses fixed.