At the end of last year I was watching the 1984 Dudley Moore movie Unfaithfully Yours. Whenever I finish watching a movie I head straight to IMDb to get trivia and facts about the movie. One of the pieces of information I picked up at IMDb was the fact that when I watched the movie I was the same age (47) that Dudley Moore was when he made the movie. For some reason this really fascinated me.
Over the last 6 months I have been debating if a movie page that looks at the ages of the stars when they made their iconic movies would be interesting to anybody besides me. About a month ago I decided to do this page….but ran into a huge problem almost right away. My movie database, which my lovely wife designed, did not include the birthdays of the actors and actresses that were in the database. Luckily my talented and lovely wife was able to modify the database and now it provides the ages of actors when their movies were released in theaters.
This page lists 4 performances for each age from 13 to 80. In some cases….trying to pick 4 movie performances for an age was difficult as there were many excellent possible candidates. On the other hand, some ages had very few candidates (I guess I am trying to explain why Michael Douglas in Last Vegas made the page). Finally I must admit…..I have actually found this page a little disturbing. Since I first thought about doing this page, I have turned 48. That now means I am older than when Marlon Brando made The Godfather. I am older than Robert Shaw when he played Quint in Jaws. I am the same age as John Wayne when he made The Searchers. I almost the same age as Shirley MacLaine when she made Terms of Endearment. I am older than those old guys in the movies….how the hell did that happen? So here is a warning for you….although I think this is a fun page….it might get your mind thinking about the your own mortality….I know it did when I was researching and writing this page.
Christian Bale was 13 when 1987’s Empire of the Sun was released.
Iconic Movie Roles By Age – Actors In Their Teens
Age Column = Age of performer when movie was released in theaters.
Actor/Movie Columns = Name of Actor and the movie they starred in.
A Number
AGE of Actor At Release
Actor/Movie - Gold
Actor/Movie - Silver
Actor/Movie - Bronze
9
Tatum O'Neal - Paper Moon (1973)
Shirley Temple - Little Miss Broadway (1938)
Shirley Temple - Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938)
10
Brandon De Wilde - Shane (1953)
Dean Stockwell - Anchors Aweigh (1945)
Elizabeth Taylor - Lassie Come Home (1943)
11
Haley Joel Osment - The Sixth Sense (1999)
Anna Paquin - The Piano (1993)
Ivan Jandl - The Search (1948)
12
Elizabeth Taylor - National Velvet (1944)
Bonita Granville - These Three (1936)
Tatum O'Neal - Bad News Bears (1975)
13
Jodie Foster - Taxi Driver (1976)
Scarlett Johansson - The Horse Whisperer (1998)
Christian Bale - Empire of the Sun (1987)
14
Linda Blair - The Exorcist (1973)
Hailee Steinfeld - True Grit (2010)
Elizabeth Taylor - Life with Father (1947)
15
Patty Duke - The Miracle Worker (1962)
Shirley Temple - Since You Went Away (1944)
Judy Garland - Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938)
16
Ann Blyth - Mildred Pierce (1945)
Sal Mineo - Rebel without a Cause (1955)
Mickey Rooney - Captains Courageous (1937)
17
Natalie Wood - Rebel without a Cause (1955)
Judy Garland - The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Mickey Rooney - Boys Town (1937)
18
Angela Lansbury - Gaslight (1944)
Diane Varsi - Peyton Place (1957)
Keira Knightley - P.O.T.C: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
19
Ron Howard - American Graffiti (1973)
Anne Shirley - Stella Dallas (1937)
Elizabeth Taylor - A Place In The Sun (1947)
19
Leonardo DiCaprio in What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)
Jennifer Lawrence in Winter's Bone
Olivia de Havilland in Captain Blood (1935)
Eddie Murphy was 20 when 48 HRs (1982) was released.
Iconic Movie Roles By Age – Actors In Their Twenties
Age Column = Age of performer when movie was released in theaters.
Actor/Movie Columns = Name of Actor and the movie they starred in.
AGE
Actor/Movie
Actor/Movie
Actor/Movie
Actor/Movie
20
Timothy Hutton in Ordinary People (1980)
Johnny Depp in Nighmare on Elm Street (1984)
Olivia de Havilland in The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936)
William Holden in The Golden Boy (1939)
21
Charlie Sheen in Platoon (1986)
Eddie Murphy in 48 HRS. (1982)
Jeff Bridges in The Last Picture Show (1971)
Cameron Diaz in The Mask (1994)
22
Kate Winslet in Titanic (1997)
Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman (1990)
Emma Stone in The Help (2011)
Grace Kelly in High Noon (1952)
23
John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever (1977)
Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday (1953)
Anne Hathaway in The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
Tom Cruise in Top Gun (1986)
24
James Dean in Rebel without a Cause (1955)
Ginger Rogers in Top Hat (1935)
Anna Kendrick in Up in the Air (2009)
Orlando Bloom in L.O.R. Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
25
Bette Davis in Of Human Bondage (1934)
Orson Welles in Citizen Kane (1941)
Shirley MacLaine in The Apartment (1960)
Liza Minnelli in Cabaret (1972)
26
Vivien Leigh in Gone With The Wind (1939)
Greta Garbo in Grand Hotel (1932)
Faye Dunaway in Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl (1968)
27
Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca (1942)
Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally... (1989)
Robert Mitchum in Story of G. I. Joe (1945)
Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
28
Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins (1964)
Errol Flynn in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
Jodie Foster in The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Anthony Perkins in Psycho (1960)
29
Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight (2008)
Sigourney Weaver in Alien (1979)
Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music (1965)
Sandra Bullock in Speed (1994)
Marilyn Monroe was 32 when 1959’s Some Like It Hot was released.
Iconic Movie Roles By Age – Actors In Their Thirties
Age Column = Age of performer when movie was released in theaters.
Actor/Movie Columns = Name of Actor and the movie they starred in.
AGE
Actor/Movie
Actor/Movie
Actor/Movie
Actor/Movie
30
Peter O'Toole in Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Sylvester Stallone in Rocky (1976)
Meryl Streep in Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate (1967)
31
Robert DeNiro in The Godfather: Part II (1974)
Tom Hanks in Big (1988)
Jennifer Connelly in A Beautiful Mind (2001)
Hugh Jackman in X-Men (2000)
32
Marilyn Monroe in Some Like It Hot (1959)
James Stewart in The Philadelphia Story (1940)
Montgomery Clift in From Here to Eternity (1953)
Sean Connery in Dr. No (1962)
33
Robert Redford in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
Bruce Willis in Die Hard (1988)
Hugh Grant in Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)
Bill Murray in Ghostbusters (1984)
34
Harrison Ford in Star Wars (1977)
Steve Martin in The Jerk (1979)
Keanu Reeves in The Matrix (1999)
Clark Gable in Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
35
Doris Day in Pillow Talk (1959)
Cary Grant in His Girl Friday (1940)
Kevin Costner in Dances with Wolves (1990)
Chris Pratt in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
36
Charlton Heston in Ben-Hur (1959)
Russell Crowe in Gladiator (2000)
Paul Newman in The Hustler (1961)
Robin Williams in Good Morning Vietnam (1987)
37
Jack Nicholson in Chinatown (1974)
Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity (1944)
Vivien Leigh in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
Frank Sinatra in From Here to Eternity (1953)
38
Angelina Jolie in Maleficent (2014)
Steve McQueen in Bullitt (1968)
Kirk Douglas in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)
Harrison Ford in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
39
Mel Gibson in Braveheart (1995)
Bradley Cooper in American Sniper (2014)
Gene Kelly in Singin' In The Rain (1952)
Joan Crawford in Mildred Pierce (1945)
Humphrey Bogart was 42 when 1942’s Casablanca was released.
Iconic Movie Roles By Age – Actors In Their Forties
Age Column = Age of performer when movie was released in theaters.
Actor/Movie Columns = Name of Actor and the movie they starred in.
AGE
Actor/Movie
Actor/Movie
Actor/Movie
Actor/Movie
40
Ray Milland in The Lost Weekend (1945)
Alan Ladd in Shane (1953)
Laurence Olivier in Hamlet (1948)
Sidney Poitier in In the Heat of the Night (1967)
41
Gene Hackman in The French Connection (1971)
Bing Crosby in Going My Way (1944)
Liam Neeson in Schindler's List (1993)
Cher in Moonstruck (1987)
42
Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca (1942)
Bette Davis in All About Eve (1950)
James Cagney in Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
Woody Allen in Annie Hall (1977)
43
Robert Downey, Jr. in Iron Man (2008)
Alec Guinness in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
George C. Scott in Patton (1970)
Lee Marvin in The Dirty Dozen (1967)
44
Paul Newman in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
Steve McQueen in The Towering Inferno (1974)
Katharine Hepburn in The African Queen (1951)
Bob Hope in The Paleface (1948)
45
Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie (1982)
Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side (2009)
James Mason in A Star Is Born (1954)
Richard Widmark in The Alamo (1960)
46
James Stewart in Rear Window (1954)
Gregory Peck in To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)
Charlie Chaplin in Modern Times (1936)
Denzel Washington in Training Day (2001)
47
Marlon Brando in The Godfather (1972)
Robert DeNiro in Awakenings (1990)
Robert Shaw in Jaws (1975)
Joe Pesci in Goodfellas (1990)
48
John Wayne in The Searchers (1956)
Fred Astaire in Easter Parade (1948)
Joan Crawford in Johnny Guitar (1954)
Jack Nicholson in Prizzi's Honor (1985)
49
Shirley MacLaine in Terms of Endearment (1983)
Spencer Tracy in Father of the Bride (1950)
Frederic March in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Susan Sarandon in Dead Man Walking (1995)
Morgan Freeman was 57 when 1994’s The Shawshank Redemption was released.
Iconic Movie Roles By Age – Actors in Their Fifties
Age Column = Age of performer when movie was released in theaters.
Actor/Movie Columns = Name of Actor and the movie they starred in.
AGE
Actor/Movie
Actor/Movie
Actor/Movie
Actor/Movie
50
Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood (2007)
Henry Fonda in Mister Roberts (1955)
Shelley Winters in The Poseidon Adventure (1972)
Colin Firth in The King's Speech (2010)
51
Humphrey Bogart in The African Queen (1951)
Gloria Swanson in Sunset Blvd. (1950)
Gary Cooper in High Noon (1952)
Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man (1988)
52
Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman (1992) Hoo-ah!
Morgan Freeman in Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
Dean Martin in Airport (1970)
Bill Murray in Lost in Translation (2003)
53
Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Charles Bronson in Death Wish (1974)
Bette Davis in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
James Stewart in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
54
Peter Sellers in Being There (1979)
Cary Grant in North by Northwest (1959)
Edward G. Robinson in Key Largo (1948)
William Powell in Life with Father (1947)
55
Marlene Dietrich in Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men (1992)
Michael Caine in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)
Marlon Brando in Apocalypse Now (1979)
56
Sean Connery in The Untouchables (1987)
Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady (1964)
James Cagney in Mister Roberts (1955)
Burt Lancaster in Airport (1970)
57
Morgan Freeman in The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Paul Newman in The Verdict (1982)
Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
Tom Hanks in Captain Phillips (2013)
58
Gene Hackman in Mississippi Burning (1988)
William Holden in Network (1976)
Sean Connery in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
Charles Laughton in Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
59
J.K. Simmons in Whiplash (2014)
Robert Duvall in Days of Thunder (1990)
Marlene Dietrich in Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
Cary Grant in Father Goose (1964)
Paul Newman was 69 when he made 1994’s Nobody’s Fool
Iconic Movie Roles By Age – Actors in Their Sixties
Age Column = Age of performer when movie was released in theaters.
Actor/Movie Columns = Name of Actor and the movie they starred in.
AGE
Actor/Movie
Actor/Movie
Actor/Movie
Actor/Movie
60
Jack Nicholson in As Good as It Gets (1997)
Katharine Hepburn in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
Spencer Tracy in Inherit the Wind (1960)
Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart (2009)
61
Helen Mirren in The Queen (2006)
Gregory Peck in The Boys from Brazil (1978)
Sydney Greenstreet in The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Katharine Hepburn in The Lion in Winter (1968)
62
Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven (1992)
John Wayne in True Grit (1969)
Henry Fonda in Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
Gene Hackman in Unforgiven (1992)
63
Albert Finney in Erin Brockovich (2000)
Claude Rains in Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Michael Keaton in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014)
Walter Huston in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
64
Ethel Barrymore in None but the Lonely Heart (1944)
James Mason in The Mackintosh Man (1973)
Sylvester Stallone in The Expendables (2010)
Barry Fitzgerald in The Quiet Man (1952)
65
Sean Connery in The Rock (1996)
Victor McLaglen in The Quiet Man (1952)
Laurence Olivier in Sleuth (1972)
Ray Milland in Love Story (1970)
66
Michael Caine in The Cider House Rules (1999)
Tommy Lee Jones in Lincoln (2012)
James Garner in Maverick (1994)
Sally Field in Lincoln (2012)
67
John Huston in Chinatown (1974)
Morgan Freeman in Million Dollar Baby (2004)
Burt Lancaster in Atlantic City (1981)
Spencer Tracy in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
68
Melvyn Douglas in I Never Sang for My Father (1970)
Michael Douglas in Last Vegas (2013)
Jack Lemmon in Grumpy Old Men (1993)
Lionel Barrymore in It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
69
Burgess Meredith in Rocky (1976)
Helen Hayes in Airport (1970)
Paul Newman in Nobody's Fool (1994)
Jack Nicholson in The Departed (2006)
Henry Fonda was 76 and Katharine Hepburn was 74 when 1981’s On Golden Pond was released.
Iconic Movie Roles By Age – Actors in Their Seventies
Age Column = Age of performer when movie was released in theaters.
Actor/Movie Columns = Name of Actor and the movie they starred in.
AGE
Actor/Movie
Actor/Movie
Actor/Movie
Actor/Movie
70
Laurence Olivier in The Boys from Brazil (1978)
Clint Eastwood in Space Cowboys (2000)
John Houseman in The Paper Chase (1973)
Charlton Heston in True Lies (1994)
71
Edward G. Robinson in The Cincinati Kid (1965)
Ruth Gordon in Rosemary's Baby (1968)
Gene Hackman in The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
Martin Sheen in The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)
72
Lauren Bacall in The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996)
Michael Caine in Batman Begins (2005)
Jack Palance in City Slickers (1991)
James Garner in Space Cowboys (2000)
73
Bette Davis in The Watcher in the Woods (1981)
Gregory Peck in Old Gringo (1989)
James Mason in The Verdict (1983)
Michael Caine in The Prestige (2006)
74
Katharine Hepburn in On Golden Pond (1981)
Stanley Holloway in My Fair Lady (1964)
Clint Eastwood in Million Dollar Baby (2004)
Dame Edith Evans in Tom Jones (1963)
75
Fred Astaire in The Towering Inferno (1974)
Burt Lancaster in Field of Dreams (1989)
Jane Fonda in Lee Daniels' The Butler (2013)
Morgan Freeman in The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
76
Henry Fonda in On Golden Pond (1981)
Dustin Hoffman in Chef (2014)
Peggy Ashcroft in A Passage to India (1984)
Robert Redford in All Is Lost (2013)
77
John Gieglud in Arthur (1981)
Don Ameche in Cocoon (1985)
Robert Redford in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
Bruce Dern in Nebraska (2013)
78
Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino (2008)
George Burns in The Sunshine Boys (1975)
Melvyn Douglas in Being There (1979)
Judi Dench in Philomena (2013)
79
Bette Davis in The Whales of August (1987)
Edward G. Robinson in Soylent Green (1973)
Robert Duvall in Get Low (2010)
Richard Farnsworth in The Straight Story (1999)
80
Jessica Tandy in Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
Christopher Plummer in The Last Station (2009)
Leonard Nimoy in Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013)
Michael Caine in Now You See Me (2013)
(Visited 1 times)
42 thoughts on “Iconic Movie Roles By Age”
Cogerson
You have no real problems. You are now older than this or that actor when he did a famous role. Wait until you get my age. Then you will be older than almost everybody was when they died.
One thing that is confusing to me is that the dates I guess are of the shooting schedule rather than the date of release. Judy Garland for example was 16 when TWOO was shot, but 17 when it was released. You credit her as being 16. Vivien Leigh was 25 when GWTW was shot, but 26 when it was released. You credit her as being 26.
Hey John…..thanks for checking out this page….which did not turn out as well as I had hoped it would. I will gladly take my time to reach your age and be older than almost everybody was when they died…..I can only hope to reach the achievement that you have reached.
As for the age issues…WoC…..did something with the program….and it automatically calculated the top performances simply by subtracting year of movie from year of birth. This caused a few issues like the Leigh and Garland ones you mentioned. In the end we left the age at whatever age the computer selected. In many cases…the performer’s age was younger during filming…than the age when the movie finally got into theaters. Supposedly this will be the first page to go “Dynamic”….when we get to that point at our website. I will be sure to double and triple check the ages when we get that project moving.
Hey Elizabeth….you are in good company. I actually agree with you about the format of that page. Hopefully we will be giving this fun page a major facelift which should make this a better page. 🙂
hey trina….thanks for checking out that page….I like the idea of the page…..but I do not like the way it turned out visually….maybe one day we can get it to look better.
Since you normally have new stuff, I find myself searching your site index not that you are in a drought. I find this one interesting and depressing, so I see your point. I am the same age Frank Sinatra was in From Here To Eternity, Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity and Jack Nicholson in Chinatown. It really makes me feel old. And later this year I match Harrison Ford in Raiders and Steve McQueen in Bullet. Very surreal.
Hey Stein glad you found this page…I like the idea behind it…..just need to make it more user friendly….probably one table versus all the ones listed here.
As for your current group it is pretty impressive and your next group is not too bad either. Sorry I do not have access to edit button….so your “error” will be around a little bit longer.
At the end of last year I was watching the 1984 Dudley Moore movie Unfaithfully Yours. Whenever I finish watching a movie I head straight to IMDb to get trivia and facts about the movie. One of the pieces of information I picked up at IMDb was the fact that when I watched the movie I was the same age (47) that Dudley Moore was when he made the movie. For some reason this really fascinated me.
Cogerson
You have no real problems. You are now older than this or that actor when he did a famous role. Wait until you get my age. Then you will be older than almost everybody was when they died.
One thing that is confusing to me is that the dates I guess are of the shooting schedule rather than the date of release. Judy Garland for example was 16 when TWOO was shot, but 17 when it was released. You credit her as being 16. Vivien Leigh was 25 when GWTW was shot, but 26 when it was released. You credit her as being 26.
Hey John…..thanks for checking out this page….which did not turn out as well as I had hoped it would. I will gladly take my time to reach your age and be older than almost everybody was when they died…..I can only hope to reach the achievement that you have reached.
As for the age issues…WoC…..did something with the program….and it automatically calculated the top performances simply by subtracting year of movie from year of birth. This caused a few issues like the Leigh and Garland ones you mentioned. In the end we left the age at whatever age the computer selected. In many cases…the performer’s age was younger during filming…than the age when the movie finally got into theaters. Supposedly this will be the first page to go “Dynamic”….when we get to that point at our website. I will be sure to double and triple check the ages when we get that project moving.
I am in good company. There is me Robert Redford, Bruce Willis, Hugh Grant and Bill Murray. Fun page but not a fan of the format.
Hey Elizabeth….you are in good company. I actually agree with you about the format of that page. Hopefully we will be giving this fun page a major facelift which should make this a better page. 🙂
fascinating but depressing
hey trina….thanks for checking out that page….I like the idea of the page…..but I do not like the way it turned out visually….maybe one day we can get it to look better.
should say “now that you are in a drought” versus “not that you are in a drought” can you edit this for me?
Since you normally have new stuff, I find myself searching your site index not that you are in a drought. I find this one interesting and depressing, so I see your point. I am the same age Frank Sinatra was in From Here To Eternity, Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity and Jack Nicholson in Chinatown. It really makes me feel old. And later this year I match Harrison Ford in Raiders and Steve McQueen in Bullet. Very surreal.
Hey Stein glad you found this page…I like the idea behind it…..just need to make it more user friendly….probably one table versus all the ones listed here.
As for your current group it is pretty impressive and your next group is not too bad either. Sorry I do not have access to edit button….so your “error” will be around a little bit longer.
Thanks for checking out one of my older pages.