I was wondering how old the three lead characters were, and what the age difference between them was. I'm not asking about how old the actors were when the series was made, but the characters they played. I'm curious who was older, Nick or Cody, and if Murray was younger than they were. Thanks to anyone who can help.
"Forget reality, give me a picture"-Remington Steele
I'm watching the first episode right now. Perry King's character says he's 29, almost 30.
shareIn different eps we hear some different things. As ebay says, in the pilot Cody makes reference to pushing 30. That would be pretty much impossible since he is purported to be a Vietnam Vet. Since the pilot aired in early January of 1984, that would really be pushing things. I want to say that he even admitted to be creeping up on 40 in one episode.
The episode Wipe Out which opened season three gives us a good glimpse of Cody as he recalls growing up in California in the 1960s. He even tells us that he was 17 in the summer of 1964. Thus, we can assume that he graduated high school in 1965 and then entered college at that time as we hear him talk about that with his past love Janet Ingram in the two-hour special Smiles We Left Behind. We know that Cody left college and entered into the US Army and then went on to fight in the Vietnam War.
So all of this would mean that Cody was 38 at the beginning of season 3 and about 36 when the show began.
Nick's age is pretty easy to deduce since we see the guys and him attending his 15-year high school reunion (class of '69) in Be True To Your School in season two. This would put Nick at four years younger than Cody and mean that he would be age 34 at the beginning of season three and around 32 at the start of the series.
As for Muarry, I don't think we were given enough background on him to really label him with a true age. We know that he was an MIT Ph.D. and served as a Colonel in the US Army (a rank no doubt achieved more to his education and specialty knowledge rather than experience). I also don't think we ever get confirmation if Boz was really a Vietnam Vet to be honest. I think that Cody and Nick met him after the war when they were MPs and escorting him to a military prison stateside for striking a superior officer.
I find it hard to believe Joe Penny would have the birthdate of 1956 meaning he would have been 27 when the first few episodes were filmed. Since that is how old I am now- I cannot accept that because he looks like a middle-aged man and I still look like a kid everyone thinks they can talk down to.
shareYou're so correct here, Texas! Joe Penny looks very much older than what his IMDB page says he is. I would have guessed him to be around 40 or so on the show. Heck, Cody looked younger than he did.
But maybe Joe had some sort of health problems. I recall the tabloids running with a story in the early '90s or so that he had AIDS because he looked so rundown when he was on Jake and the Fatman. I have no idea on that, but he did look much older than what his listed age would say.
But I will give Joe Penny some credit for being a darn good actor. Home For Christmas is a really nice exhibition of his acting skills.