Hollywood And Aging

“First of all, I choose the great roles, and if none of these come, I choose the mediocre ones, and if they don’t come, I choose the ones that pay the rent.” Micheal Caine

This is the old Michael Caine, now it’s different for him according to this article. Caine, now 73 years old can pick and choose his roles. And Michael is just lavishing in the freedom to do that. I’m of the school of thought that aging isn’t all that bad. Hollywood on the other hand, feels that aging is the worse thing that can happen to anyone. The sad thing is that the older actors have a lot to offer and Hollywood will miss out on that if that does not change.

How is it that during the Hollywood Golden Era we saw a lot more older actors than we see today? And many of these older actors had lead roles. Dame May Whitty is one that comes to mind. You may not know the name, but you will know the movies she played in, “The Lady Vanishes“ (1938), “Suspicion” (1941) and others. She always played an older sleuth, or grandmotherly roles. She played the nosey Miss Bessie Thwaites in “Gaslight” (1941) and I’ll never forget her role as Mrs. Bramson in the psychological thriller, “Night Must Fall” (1937). She went on to do as many as 36 movies in her “older” years.

So what am I saying? Hollywood get over getting old and take advantage of experience and quality, maybe you will get more people to actually pay for a movie ticket. You go Michael Caine!