MovieChat Forums > The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) Discussion > They really started young back then, huh...

They really started young back then, huh?


Helen Benson (Patricia Neal- January 20, 1926) was 25 years old.

Bobby Benson (Billy Gray- January 13, 1938) was 13 years old.

That means she was 12 when she gave birth?






~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Make me a sergeant and charge the booze!

reply

That is very common. The acress who played Marty McFly's mom was less than 5 years older than Michael J Fox, the dad in good times was only about a year or 2 older than JJ Walker, The Valley Girl's mom was only 9 years older than her.

_______________

My iMDB profile http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4297325/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

reply

[deleted]

"The acress who played Marty McFly's mom was less than 5 years older than Michael J Fox"

This obviously doesn't count because of the huge make-up she wore.

reply

Another funny one is Cuba gooding Jr. And Lawrence fishburne in the boyz in the hood. Cuba is only 6 years younger than his dad in that movie lol

reply

[deleted]

In "The Vikings" Kirk Douglas was four months older than his father in the movie, Ernest Borgnine.

reply

What many people refuse to acknowledge is that actors act. The age of the actor is not relevant to the age of the character. Now, if you thing Helen Benson looks too young, that is a different question. But I don't care if she is 15 or 110 if she carries the character she is playing. And for the record, I had no issues. She did not look to young to have a child in the 10-12 age range.

reply

Actors act? Really?

I don't think anybody's complaining about the casting. It's just an amusing observation, nothing more.

reply

If that is all it was intended as, I apologize.

I see all too many posts that object to a particular actor because they are too old or too young or some other thing. Often it is just, well this character is supposed to be 22 and this actor is 29. Why didn't they cast a 22 year old. Or this actor plays the father of a 18 year old and he's only 37! Why!

Amusing anecdotes and observations are fine. But with so many objections for minuscule or insignificant reasons it is often hard to tell.

reply

In The Graduate Anne Bancroft is only 6 years older than Dustin Hoffman and he's dating her daughter.

It's not uncommon for actors to play other than their real ages or for ages to not work out.

reply