# What celebrity surprised you when you first learned of their true age? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 18, 2014, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrity-surprised-you-when-you-first-learned-of-their-true-age/686449 "2014-04-18T22:31:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**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:** [June 14, 2014, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrity-surprised-you-when-you-first-learned-of-their-true-age/686449/101 "2014-06-14T14:46:33Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > Was Scully 21, or was Gillian Anderson 21? The two are not the same, necessarily. In Lost in Translation, Scarlett Johansson’s character is married and has finished university with a degree in philosophy. The character is plenty grown up. She seems positively world-weary. I’d say she’s in her mid-twenties at least. The movie was shot it late 2002. Ms. Johansson hadn’t even turned 18 at the time. :eek: ---
**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 14, 2014, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrity-surprised-you-when-you-first-learned-of-their-true-age/686449/102 "2014-06-14T20:04:08Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > Was Larry Crowne (Hanks’ character) also supposed to be 55 or was he a bit younger? If it was the latter, the age difference would obviously be lot less. (Also, as I get older, I don’t think 12 years is that big a deal either.) I don’t recall them mentioning Crowne’s age. But 55 would be realistic. The movie was about a character starting over late in life. ---
**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 14, 2014, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrity-surprised-you-when-you-first-learned-of-their-true-age/686449/103 "2014-06-14T20:11:50Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > In Lost in Translation, Scarlett Johansson’s character is married and has finished university with a degree in philosophy. The character is plenty grown up. She seems positively world-weary. I’d say she’s in her mid-twenties at least. > > The movie was shot it late 2002. Ms. Johansson hadn’t even turned 18 at the time. :eek: Yes, Johansson just jumped from teen roles to full adult roles. She played high school aged characters in _The Man Who Wasn’t There_, _Ghost World_, _American Rhapsody_, and _Eight Legged Freaks_ and then adult roles in _Lost In Translation_ and _Girl with a Pearl Earring_ - all within a span of just two years. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2014, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrity-surprised-you-when-you-first-learned-of-their-true-age/686449/104 "2014-06-14T22:12:29Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Spencer from iCarly. [Take a look at the cast](http://images5.fanpop.com/image/photos/30300000/iCarly-cast-nickelodeon-stars-30321997-720-533.jpg). > > Around the time that picture was taken, the one on the left was 16, the three on the right were about 20. The tall one in the middle, Spencer, 35. > > I’m sure, to someone that’s just looking at the picture, that’s never seen the show before, you can guess that he’s older. But I’m willing to bet that most people that have watched the show wouldn’t have guessed that Carly’s older brother was 15 years older. This reminds me of Hannah Montana. I never would have guessed that the actor who played Miley Cyrus’s brother (Jason Earles) is 37. I guess he was only 29 when it started. Currently, he’s on another Disney show with actual teenagers in the cast. I think his character is supposed to be an “adult,” though I’m sure younger than 37. After recent growth spurts, some of the teenage actors look more mature than he does. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2014, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrity-surprised-you-when-you-first-learned-of-their-true-age/686449/105 "2014-06-15T10:17:51Z")
Whoa, Teller is that old? I would have thought him about fifty, or maybe 55 at the very most. I’m not that familiar with Melora Walters, but assuming the shots of her on image search are not \*all \*from some time ago, she definitely looks young for her age. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2014, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrity-surprised-you-when-you-first-learned-of-their-true-age/686449/106 "2014-06-16T00:22:39Z")
The recently-deceased Casey Kasem. Up until a few months ago, I didn’t realize he was in his 80s. I thought he was about ten years younger. ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2014, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrity-surprised-you-when-you-first-learned-of-their-true-age/686449/107 "2014-06-16T01:14:15Z")
Madeline Albright is 85 now, and was in her late 60’s-70 when Bill Clinton’s Secretary of State. But she looked well into her seventies back then. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2014, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrity-surprised-you-when-you-first-learned-of-their-true-age/686449/108 "2014-06-16T01:19:29Z")
Traci Lords ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2014, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrity-surprised-you-when-you-first-learned-of-their-true-age/686449/109 "2014-06-16T01:24:49Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > Traci Lords For the win. ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2014, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrity-surprised-you-when-you-first-learned-of-their-true-age/686449/110 "2014-06-16T01:25:21Z")
Not now, but when I was a kid I always thought George Michael was older, like 30 something when he was at his peak. But he was in his 20’s, he was 24 when he released his “Faith” album. In Wham he was 22 and younger. He was born in June 1963 and will turn 51 later this month. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2014, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrity-surprised-you-when-you-first-learned-of-their-true-age/686449/111 "2014-06-16T04:57:13Z")
I know Mariska Hargitay is almost 50, but she sure doesn’t look it. I honestly don’t think she does anything special to keep herself looking so good, either, other than taking care of herself and MAYBE hair coloring. Mick Jones of Foreigner is also about a decade older than he originally said he was when the band started. He’s in his early 70s now. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2014, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrity-surprised-you-when-you-first-learned-of-their-true-age/686449/112 "2014-06-16T12:17:55Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > MAYBE hair coloring [Maybe?](https://www.google.com/search?q=mariska+hargitay+hair+color&safe=off&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=WOCeU5mrKIOpsAT94IAo&sqi=2&ved=0CBwQsAQ&biw=1680&bih=913) 😉 ---
**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:** [June 16, 2014, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrity-surprised-you-when-you-first-learned-of-their-true-age/686449/113 "2014-06-16T13:06:52Z")
I’m not surprised at all that Hargitay is 50, and I wonder why anyone is. She became a regular on _Law and Order: Special Victims Unit_ at 35, and she looked it. Since then she’s kept herself up by the usual methods that people in Hollywood do. As Knead to Know has pointed out, she has changed her hair color several times, so it’s impossible to know what it really is now. She presumably has been doing all the standard things that Hollywood people do to disguise their ages - make-up, working out a lot, always being sure that she’s lighted correctly on the set to make her look good, maybe some work on her face. Furthermore, there were news stories about her age at various milestones in her life - the fact that she was 40 when she got married, the fact that she had a child at 42, the fact that she and her husband have adopted two more kids at 47. I’ve just gotten used to the fact that nearly anyone with a reasonably long career in Hollywood appears much younger (on camera at least) than most people. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2014, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrity-surprised-you-when-you-first-learned-of-their-true-age/686449/114 "2014-06-16T14:48:01Z")
For me, it was David Janssen. I knew him not from The Fugitive or Richard Diamond, but his later work, such as The Green Berets, Harry O, and the TV movie Birds of Prey (1973) where he seemed like a worn out old man (he played a WWII Flying Tiger pilot). He was the first celebrity whose passing I took note of, and I thought, “well, all ‘my’ old guys are starting to die off.” He was 48 when he died! In 1980. That means he was 10 years old when the Tigers were flying. He must have always looked about 15-20 years older than he was. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2014, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrity-surprised-you-when-you-first-learned-of-their-true-age/686449/115 "2014-06-16T15:04:33Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > In “Jeepers Creepers”, the babe, Darry’s sister, was something like 30 IRL. Which means she’ll be playing her real age when Jeepers Creepers 3 (which is set 23 years after the first two movies) is released. > [@Nava](#): > > Brendan Fraser played a character in Mummy I and II, that character’s son in Mummy III. There were rumors at the time of the last one that Rachel Weisz refused to play the same character in all three (that is, to play Fraser’s love interest twice and then his mother, in the same movie series). The mother’s character is inded played by another actress, Maria Bello (who is a whole year and a half older than Fraser). You’ve got this a bit mixed up. Each Mummy movie is set ten years apart and Fraser plays the same character (Rick O’Connell) in all three. Rachel Weisz refused to be in the third one because her character would have had a twenty year old son. Weisz would have been 38 at the time, but her character would have been pushing 50. Their characters complained constantly that they were old, but both Fraser and Bello were only 40 (and looked it) at the time. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2014, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrity-surprised-you-when-you-first-learned-of-their-true-age/686449/116 "2014-06-16T23:01:43Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > For me, it was David Janssen. I knew him not from The Fugitive or Richard Diamond, but his later work, such as The Green Berets, Harry O, and the TV movie Birds of Prey (1973) where he seemed like a worn out old man (he played a WWII Flying Tiger pilot). He was the first celebrity whose passing I took note of, and I thought, “well, all ‘my’ old guys are starting to die off.” > > He was 48 when he died! In 1980. That means he was 10 years old when the Tigers were flying. He must have always looked about 15-20 years older than he was. I have never heard of him, but so you’re saying he was like 41 in [this cover photo?](http://www.iverfilmservices.com/uploads/6/9/0/7/6907299/3910964.jpg?674) Whoa. He looked older than Teller does now! ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2014, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrity-surprised-you-when-you-first-learned-of-their-true-age/686449/117 "2014-06-16T23:07:43Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > I’m not surprised at all that Hargitay is 50, and I wonder why anyone is. She became a regular on _Law and Order: Special Victims Unit_ at 35, and she looked it. Since then she’s kept herself up by the usual methods that people in Hollywood do. As Knead to Know has pointed out, she has changed her hair color several times, so it’s impossible to know what it really is now. She presumably has been doing all the standard things that Hollywood people do to disguise their ages - make-up, working out a lot, always being sure that she’s lighted correctly on the set to make her look good, maybe some work on her face. Furthermore, there were news stories about her age at various milestones in her life - the fact that she was 40 when she got married, the fact that she had a child at 42, the fact that she and her husband have adopted two more kids at 47. I’ve just gotten used to the fact that nearly anyone with a reasonably long career in Hollywood appears much younger (on camera at least) than most people. Plus, it’s fairly common knowledge that her mother died in 1967. Sadly, Mariska was in the vehicle when her mother, Jayne Mansfield, was decapitated, although she’s always said she does not remember it. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2014, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrity-surprised-you-when-you-first-learned-of-their-true-age/686449/118 "2014-06-16T23:11:10Z")
Yikes. I’ve never heard of Hargitay, who does look pretty good though not shockingly so; but I had heard of that Mansfield deal. ---
**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 16, 2014, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrity-surprised-you-when-you-first-learned-of-their-true-age/686449/119 "2014-06-16T23:24:56Z")
One TV star who seemed ageless was Robert Conrad. Here he is in _[Hawaiian Eye](http://ctva.biz/US/Crime/HawaiianEye-img.jpg)_ in 1959, in _[Wild Wild West](http://media.gomemphis.com/media/img/photos/2014/06/12/217791_t588.JPG)_ in 1965, in _[Black Sheep Squadron](http://image.toutlecine.com/photos/t/e/t/tetes-brulees-baa-baa-black-sheep-tv-03-1-g.jpg)_ in 1976, and _[High Mountain Rangers](http://i1.sell.com/u/3B/3S4/3NR/4413744-l.jpg)_ in 1987. The strange thing is that after defying age for so long, he got hit [really hard](http://www3.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Robert+Conrad+Wild+Wild+West+Photo+Call+Monaco+fIzriB0x0Vql.jpg) when it finally caught up with him. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2014, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrity-surprised-you-when-you-first-learned-of-their-true-age/686449/120 "2014-06-17T10:42:49Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > One TV star who seemed ageless was Robert Conrad. Here he is in _[Hawaiian Eye](http://ctva.biz/US/Crime/HawaiianEye-img.jpg)_ in 1959, in _[Wild Wild West](http://media.gomemphis.com/media/img/photos/2014/06/12/217791_t588.JPG)_ in 1965, in _[Black Sheep Squadron](http://image.toutlecine.com/photos/t/e/t/tetes-brulees-baa-baa-black-sheep-tv-03-1-g.jpg)_ in 1976, and _[High Mountain Rangers](http://i1.sell.com/u/3B/3S4/3NR/4413744-l.jpg)_ in 1987. > > The strange thing is that after defying age for so long, he got hit [really hard](http://www3.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Robert+Conrad+Wild+Wild+West+Photo+Call+Monaco+fIzriB0x0Vql.jpg) when it finally caught up with him. Here he is at age 39 in a 1974 episode of _ **Columbo** _: [![](https://www.pierceflicks.com/tv/images/RobertConrad20.jpg) ](https://www.pierceflicks.com/tv/images/RobertConrad20.jpg) Damn! I wish I had looked that good when I was pushing 40! (IIRC, his character in that episode was supposed to be 50.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrity-surprised-you-when-you-first-learned-of-their-true-age/686449.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-celebrity-surprised-you-when-you-first-learned-of-their-true-age/686449.md?page=7)