# Question about age of actors/characters in films **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 23, 2015, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-age-of-actors-characters-in-films/718387 "2015-04-23T20:59:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dahu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dahu/32/3416_2.png) [@Dahu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dahu)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-age-of-actors-characters-in-films/718387/1 "2015-04-23T20:59:21Z")
I was reading about the film Alexander and how Angelina Jolie played Colin Farell’s mother despite only being 1 year older. Got me thinking. Has there ever been a film where the actor playing the mother was _younger_ than the actor playing the child? Or vice versa? ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-age-of-actors-characters-in-films/718387/2 "2015-04-23T21:05:23Z")
Bea Arthur was a year older than Estelle Getty in “Golden Girls.” Lionel Jeffries was a year younger than Dick Van Dyke in “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.” (Not exactly a ‘mother,’ thought.) ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-age-of-actors-characters-in-films/718387/3 "2015-04-23T21:25:39Z")
[Siân Phillips](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Si%C3%A2n_Phillips) played Livia in _I, Claudius_. [George Baker](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Baker_%28actor%29) played her son Tiberius. Baker is two years older. There may be more examples from that show, I didn’t go through the whole cast. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-age-of-actors-characters-in-films/718387/4 "2015-04-23T21:42:11Z")
Sort of related: Frankie Muniz, aka Malcolm from _Malcolm in the Middle_, was three months older than the actor who played his older brother. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-age-of-actors-characters-in-films/718387/5 "2015-04-23T22:56:44Z")
Film questions are better started in Café Society rather than General Questions. Moved. **samclem** , moderator ---
**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:** [April 23, 2015, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-age-of-actors-characters-in-films/718387/6 "2015-04-23T23:27:29Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > Sort of related: Frankie Muniz, aka Malcolm from _Malcolm in the Middle_, was three months older than the actor who played his older brother. The same was true on _8 Simple Rules_. When the show started, seventeen year old Kaley Cuoco was playing the older sister of twenty-three year old Amy Davidson. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-age-of-actors-characters-in-films/718387/7 "2015-04-23T23:45:16Z")
Taraji P. Henson, 7 years younger than Brad Pitt, played his mother in _The Curious Case of Benjamin Button_. Though the premise was indeed curious, it does technically meet the criteria of the OP’s question. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-age-of-actors-characters-in-films/718387/8 "2015-04-24T01:03:55Z")
In Lawrence Olivier’s film of _Hamlet_, Gertrude was played by an actress almost eleven years younger than Olivier, who played Hamlet. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-age-of-actors-characters-in-films/718387/9 "2015-04-24T01:29:17Z")
Ioan Gruffudd plays Judd Hirsch’s father on Forever despite being something like 40 years younger than him. Granted, he’s playing an unaging immortal, so they kind of had to cast that way. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-age-of-actors-characters-in-films/718387/10 "2015-04-24T01:54:00Z")
“Gone with the Wind” has Barbara O’Neil playing the mother Ellen O’Hara. She was 3 years older than Vivien Leigh, 6 years older than Evelyn Keyes and 7 years older than Ann Rutherford, her on-screen daughters. On the other hand Leslie Howard was 20 years older than Leigh and only a year younger than Thomas Mitchell. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-age-of-actors-characters-in-films/718387/11 "2015-04-24T02:10:28Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > “Gone with the Wind” has Barbara O’Neil playing the mother Ellen O’Hara. She was 3 years older than Vivien Leigh, 6 years older than Evelyn Keyes and 7 years older than Ann Rutherford, her on-screen daughters. Which is almost exactly not what the OP is asking about. 😉 (Or, well, what I assume the OP is asking about. The “vice versa” certainly leaves it open to interpretation. But “actors who were older than the actors playing their parents” sure sounds like a more interesting list than the other way around.) ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-age-of-actors-characters-in-films/718387/12 "2015-04-24T02:18:50Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > Ioan Gruffudd plays Judd Hirsch’s father on Forever despite being something like 40 years younger than him. > > Granted, he’s playing an unaging immortal, so they kind of had to cast that way. Similarly, Monte Markham played Arthur O’Connell’s father in the TV series “The Second Hundred Years.” O’Connell was 27 years older than Markham. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-age-of-actors-characters-in-films/718387/13 "2015-04-24T04:20:31Z")
Yvonne De Carlo (Lilly) was older than Al Lewis (Grandpa) in The Munsters. ---
**Author:** ![Dahu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dahu/32/3416_2.png) [@Dahu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dahu)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-age-of-actors-characters-in-films/718387/14 "2015-04-24T05:08:48Z")
> [@Dahu](#): > > Or vice versa? Lol don’t know what I was thinking of there!:smack: ---
**Author:** ![qualityleashdog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/9f8e36/32.png) [@qualityleashdog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qualityleashdog)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-age-of-actors-characters-in-films/718387/15 "2015-04-24T07:39:24Z")
Rachel Griffiths (born 1968) played Johnny Depp’s (born 1963) mother in _Blow_. ---
**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:** [April 24, 2015, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-age-of-actors-characters-in-films/718387/16 "2015-04-24T21:09:38Z")
Nancy “Bart” Cartwright is 4 days older than Dan “Homer” Castellaneta. And since there’s a Simpsons _film_ … If you allow voice actors, then there’s going to be a lot of hits. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-age-of-actors-characters-in-films/718387/17 "2015-04-24T22:23:44Z")
Kate Nelligan played Nick Nolte’s mother in _The Prince of Tides_, and she is nine years younger than he is. She played the role in age make-up, though, and also played the character in flashbacks without the age make-up, and with a child playing Nolte’s character, so that may not be exactly what the OP is looking for. Examples where the parent actor was older, but not old enough to actually be the parent abound, especially on TV, where teen characters are “Dawson cast,” (played by actors over 18 who look younger, in order to be able to work as adults, and not require the short hours, and teachers on the set, and all that are required for actors under 18), but “parents,” and pretty much anyone over 25 is frequently younger than the character’s stated age, in order to assure that the character is going to age well. If you want, not exactly a vice-versa, but just an odd situation, on _One Day at a Time_, both Mackenzie Phillips and Bonnie Franklin were younger than their stated ages-- Frankiln still wasn’t quite old enough to be Phillips mother, being about 15 years older than Phillips, but Phillips was about a year younger than the character she was playing, while Franklin was three years younger than her character. More interesting, in reverse Dawson casting, Valerie Bertinelli was only a few months younger than Phillips, but she her character was supposed to be almost two years younger. So, Bertinelli wasn’t really young enough to be Franklin’s daughter either. IMO, Bertinelli continues to look a few years younger than her actual age. Like I said, TV is full of examples such as that. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-age-of-actors-characters-in-films/718387/18 "2015-04-24T23:40:10Z")
Not a film, but television. On the original 1960s version of _The Forsyte Saga_, Kenneth More, who played Young Jolyon, was 4 years older than the man who played Old Jolyon, his father.