On Mork & Mindy, when Mearth showed up and was supposed to age backward, I took this to mean that Jonathan Winters was so old as to be near death in real life, and so he was being very generous by being on a television show for us.
On Different Strokes, Mr Drummond had a fiftieth birthday party where he got a bit of ribbing for being old. They made fifty sound old enough to be sort of…sad to contemplate.
On Gilligan’s Island, The Skipper seemed old. I think his light hair seemed gray all over to me.
Abe Vigoda has seemed old forever. So it seems weird to realize he was 54 (which is my age) when he began doing Barney Miller. He was 51 when he played Tessio in The Godfather.
Imagine a 2015 remake of The Godfather with Rob Lowe (who’s also 51) cast in the role of Tessio. Or a new version of Barney Miller with 54-year-old Ralph Macchio playing Fish.
At some point in the last years, my mind shifted when I watch 1980’s - early 90’s movies from “These are all old grownups” to “they all look so young!”
I mean, I watch Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon and I’m like “how are they allowing this teenager to run around with a gun?”
One of my Uncles loved him, and played his songs in the car. Because the songs were kind of old fashioned and at least one was bout sailing ships I always figured he must be ancient.
I was surprised to find out he was still alive in the 90s. It turns out he was only in his 40s when I was a kid.
It’s a weird feeling when you overtake someone that was once older than you.
I remember feeling quite comfortable with my mortality when Homer Simpson was older than me. But then one day I was watching an episode where Homer mentions his age. I was now officially older than him! and all the sudden, my world startied closing in on me. It became very apparent, that I am indeed NOT bullet proof.
Of course Homer Simpson is somewhere between 28 and 31. Marge became pregnant with Bart while he was in high school, making him at most 21 when Bart was born and most likely 19. Bart is 10, therefore Homer is 29.
Of course Homer’s age has been stated to be in his 30s to late 40s depending on the episode. Consistency isn’t a major element to the Simpsons.
When I was rewatching the early seasons of All in the Family a little while ago, it astonished me when I realized that Archie and Edith were only in their 40s… younger than I am now.
When I was about 5 or 6, I asked my grandmother how old she was, and she said 22. I decided 22 was pretty ancient. (She was actually 45 or 46 at the time…)
I’m awful at guessing ages - gray hair automatically meant old. But that works - I’m nearly 62, and I have no gray yet… yet…
I was watching Highlander (again) recently and found myself trying to figure out how old Rachel is. I mean, when I first saw the film she seemed ancient. Right?
The scene where he finds Rachel (which doesn’t stand up to too much scrutiny, I know) let’s say she’s six, and it’s 1942. Highlander is set in 1985, which makes Rachel… 49. Yup, younger than I am.
Yea, when I was a kid growing up in the 1970s, the “old guy” on TV was always George Burns.
I vaguely remember a TV special where they celebrated his 100th birthday. Bu he was not 100 years old - he was 90 or something. George explained, “I won’t be around when I am 100, so I am celebrating my 100th birthday right now.”
LBJ. I was in 2nd grade when JFK was assassinated, and I remember seeing LBJ on TV and thinking: that guy is really old!! Probably I was used to identifying JFK = president = young guy. I would not have known any other president.
I first read Anne Frank’s diary when I was 7 or 8. I wondered why it was called “The Diary of a Young Girl” - she was a teenager! That’s basically like an old woman! I returned to it every few years, understanding the book on a new level each time. I still remember the feeling of realizing I had become older than she was when she died.
