# Unnecessary Age Differences Between Characters and Actors **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 6, 2022, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unnecessary-age-differences-between-characters-and-actors/965738 "2022-06-06T11:49:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2022, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unnecessary-age-differences-between-characters-and-actors/965738/21 "2022-06-06T17:34:44Z")
In the cheesy pre-MCU Marvel movie Ghost Rider, starring Nicolas Case, it started out in the past when his character and his love interest were childhood sweethearts, both around 15 years old. Then they grew up to present day, being played by Cage and Eva Mendes. I remember a snarky review saying “somehow Nicolas Cage’s character aged 10 years faster than Eva Mendes’ character”. 🤣 ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2022, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unnecessary-age-differences-between-characters-and-actors/965738/22 "2022-06-06T18:35:09Z")
In one of the films in Cocteau’s Orhpic trilogy, he had Jean Marais play a school boy. In short pants, yet. It was really ludicrous. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2022, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unnecessary-age-differences-between-characters-and-actors/965738/23 "2022-06-06T18:37:32Z")
True. This case just seemed a little odd to me, because there didn’t seem to be any reason to have the character be anything other than actor’s age - but now that I realize that a firefighter of Lowe’s age would be at retirement age, there’s a good reason for the difference. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2022, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unnecessary-age-differences-between-characters-and-actors/965738/24 "2022-06-06T18:45:46Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > There’s at least one movie where a guy in his 50s played _a teenager_. […] > The name of the film escapes me though, so you’ll have to take my word for now. Found it! It’s the movie _The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance_, from 1962. Irish actor O.Z. Whitehead not only played a teenager, but a teenager who is “too young to vote”, at the tender age of 51. [He’s standing in the middle](https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-neHWWmmEsvY/WJr_-jB3PoI/AAAAAAAAc78/mlcCSlvRzMk_kB8aFIlHk65quw_UvjjhwCLcB/s1600/OZ%2BWhitehead%2Bin%2BThe%2BMan%2BWho%2BShot%2BLiberty%2BValance%2B%25281962%2529.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2022, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unnecessary-age-differences-between-characters-and-actors/965738/25 "2022-06-06T19:13:53Z")
> [@solost](#): > > In the cheesy pre-MCU Marvel movie Ghost Rider, starring Nicolas Case, it started out in the past when his character and his love interest were childhood sweethearts, both around 15 years old. Then they grew up to present day, being played by Cage and Eva Mendes. I remember a snarky review saying “somehow Nicolas Cage’s character aged 10 years faster than Eva Mendes’ character”. 🤣 _Exactly_ the same thing happened in **Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005),** where Robert Downey Junior and Michelle Monaghan were supposed to be childhood friends, despite the fact that he was 11 years older than her, and looked 20 years older. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2022, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unnecessary-age-differences-between-characters-and-actors/965738/26 "2022-06-06T20:36:44Z")
I still love that movie though, so I don’t care. Val Kilmer was great! ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2022, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unnecessary-age-differences-between-characters-and-actors/965738/27 "2022-06-06T22:57:02Z")
It’s a fairly well-known bit of trivia that in _Chitty Chitty Bang Bang_, Lionel Jeffries played Dick Van Dyke’s father, despite being six months younger than Van Dyke. Jeffries was 42 years old at the time, playing a character primarily known as “Grandpa.” Jeffries was prematurely bald, and so spent most of his career playing characters who were decades older than he was. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2022, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unnecessary-age-differences-between-characters-and-actors/965738/28 "2022-06-07T02:24:59Z")
Abe Vigoda was only 50 when he filmed _The Godfather_. He is another actor who was prematurely old. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2022, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unnecessary-age-differences-between-characters-and-actors/965738/29 "2022-06-07T04:55:17Z")
In _The Manchurian Candidate_ , Angela Lansbury (37) played the mother of Laurence Harvey (35). ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2022, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unnecessary-age-differences-between-characters-and-actors/965738/30 "2022-06-07T20:28:00Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > And Mary Martin was in her forties when she played the role on Broadway. Who, of course, also played [a boy who still had all of his baby teeth.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Pan) 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unnecessary-age-differences-between-characters-and-actors/965738.md?page=1)