# "The Lion in Winter" anti-curse **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 17, 2006, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lion-in-winter-anti-curse/373044 "2006-09-17T05:59:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**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:** [September 17, 2006, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lion-in-winter-anti-curse/373044/1 "2006-09-17T05:59:39Z")
I’m pretty sure it’s been mentioned here before, but I was just reading about it and it’s still impressive. _The Lion in Winter_ - a great film. Made in 1968 - thirty-eight years ago. The cast: Henry - Peter O’Toole - 74 years old, still living Eleanor - Katharine Hepburn - died in 2003 at the age of 96 Richard - Anthony Hopkins - 69 years old, still living Geoffrey - John Castle - 66 years old, still living John - Nigel Terry - 61 years old, still living Philip - Timothy Dalton - 62 years old, still living Alais - Jane Merrow - 66 years old, still living The director - Anthony Harvey - 75 years old, still living The producer - Martin Poll - 84 years old, still living (and produced the 2003 remake) The writer - James Goldman - died in 1998 at the age of 71 The composer - John Barry - 72 years old, still living The cinematographer - Douglas Slocombe - 93 years old, still living! The editor - John Bloom - age unknown, still living Not only are all but two of these people still alive; all but two of the living people (Merrow and Slocombe) still have active careers. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2006, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lion-in-winter-anti-curse/373044/2 "2006-09-17T06:24:37Z")
THe numbers aren’t really that remarkable. According to [official statistics](http://www.statistics.gov.uk/CCI/nscl.asp?ID=7528) (2001), males in Great Britain who reach the age of 65 live an average of 15.94 years more. Females who reach the age of 65 live an average of 19.03 years more. ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2006, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lion-in-winter-anti-curse/373044/3 "2006-09-17T08:29:05Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon] THe numbers aren’t really that remarkable. According to [official statistics](http://www.statistics.gov.uk/CCI/nscl.asp?ID=7528) (2001), males in Great Britain who reach the age of 65 live an average of 15.94 years more. Females who reach the age of 65 live an average of 19.03 years more. [/QUOTE] Yeah, but we’re not talking about people, we’re talking about movie stars. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2006, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lion-in-winter-anti-curse/373044/4 "2006-09-17T14:53:34Z")
Oh, great, give them all a kina hora, why don’t you? (Goes off to check today’s obits) ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2006, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lion-in-winter-anti-curse/373044/5 "2006-09-17T15:40:50Z")
I love _Lion in winter._ John, whingingly: Mother, he’s got a knife! Eleanor: Of course he’s got a knife! We’ve all got knives! It’s 1183 and we’re all barbarians! ---
**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:** [September 17, 2006, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lion-in-winter-anti-curse/373044/6 "2006-09-17T16:53:40Z")
Which Hepburn made sound so much classier than: “That’s not a knife…This is a knife!” ---
**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:** [September 17, 2006, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lion-in-winter-anti-curse/373044/7 "2006-09-17T16:55:42Z")
> [@](#): > > THe numbers aren’t really that remarkable. According to official statistics (2001), males in Great Britain who reach the age of 65 live an average of 15.94 years more. Females who reach the age of 65 live an average of 19.03 years more. Can you find another example of a movie in which the entire cast was alive 35 years after the movie was made? ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2006, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lion-in-winter-anti-curse/373044/8 "2006-09-17T17:36:10Z")
> [@](#): > > Can you find another example of a movie in which the entire cast was alive 35 years after the movie was made? But the “entire” cast of _The Lion in Winter_ isn’t alive. Katharine Hepburn is is _dead_. MASH (1970): 10 of the top 12 cast members are alive. Five Easy Pieces (1970): 14 of the 16 cast members are alive. Lovers and Other Strangers (1970): 10 of the top 12 cast members are alive. The Last Picture Show (1971): 11 of the top 12 cast members are alive. McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971): 11 of the top 12 cast members are alive. Carnal Knowledge (1971): The entire cast is alive, as are the writer and director. Summer of '42 (1971): 6 of the 7 cast members are alive. The Sterile Cuckoo (1969): The entire cast is alive. Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969): 10 of the top 12 cast members are alive. Bonnie and Clyde (1967): 7 of the 9 cast members are alive. ---
**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:** [September 17, 2006, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lion-in-winter-anti-curse/373044/9 "2006-09-17T20:20:03Z")
Katharine Hepburn was alive 35 years after the movie was made. She died later that year. ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2006, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lion-in-winter-anti-curse/373044/10 "2006-09-17T21:24:24Z")
Dalton was born in '46. He’s only 60. He was, like, five minutes out of drama school when he made a movie with his hero, Peter O’Toole. Cool! ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2006, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lion-in-winter-anti-curse/373044/11 "2006-09-17T21:38:12Z")
After doing some research for another thread, I’ve found that the best way to live to a ripe old age is to write science fiction. ---
**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:** [September 17, 2006, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lion-in-winter-anti-curse/373044/12 "2006-09-17T23:43:43Z")
> [@](#): > > Dalton was born in '46. He’s only 60. He was, like, five minutes out of drama school when he made a movie with his hero, Peter O’Toole. Cool! I got my dates off IMDB. They say he was born in 1944. Admittedly, they’re often wrong. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2006, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lion-in-winter-anti-curse/373044/13 "2006-09-18T02:28:46Z")
[QUOTE=Little Nemo] Which Hepburn made sound so much classier than: “That’s not a knife…This is a knife!” [/QUOTE] Actually, that’s a spoon. ---
**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:** [September 18, 2006, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lion-in-winter-anti-curse/373044/14 "2006-09-18T02:31:40Z")
[QUOTE=mobo85] Actually, that’s a spoon. [/QUOTE] There is no spoon. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Punkyova](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@The\_Punkyova](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Punkyova)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2006, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lion-in-winter-anti-curse/373044/15 "2006-09-18T02:35:02Z")
This is my favorite Christmas movie. I watch it every year. It’s a marvellous film, and it cuts through all the treacly glurge of the season like a … spoon? ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2006, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lion-in-winter-anti-curse/373044/16 "2006-09-18T02:35:49Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] There is no spoon. [/QUOTE] Ah. Very well. I see you’ve played knifey-no-spooney before. ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2006, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lion-in-winter-anti-curse/373044/17 "2006-09-18T14:12:56Z")
[QUOTE=jsgoddess] After doing some research for another thread, I’ve found that the best way to live to a ripe old age is to write science fiction. [/QUOTE] Sadly, it didn’t help Octavia Butler much. ---
**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:** [September 18, 2006, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lion-in-winter-anti-curse/373044/18 "2006-09-18T14:24:31Z")
> [@](#): > > Can you find another example of a movie in which the entire cast was alive 35 years after the movie was made? Daws Butler (Elroy, among other things) once bragged about how the entire cast of **The Jetsons** was still alive and came back to perform in their original roles when they started making new episodes in the 1990s, about thirty years after the original series. Howe many other shows could make that claim? ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2006, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-lion-in-winter-anti-curse/373044/19 "2006-09-18T15:52:35Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > There is no spoon. ROF etc.