I saw this special yesterday on Entertainment channel that talked about celebrities don't get acting roles once they reach a certain age. They say that older men get more acting roles than older women in hollywood. Examples of that is Harrison Ford, Michael Douglas, Sean Connery, Morgan Freeman. Some of the older women were upset about that especially Doris Roberts who plays Raymond's mother on Everybody Loves Raymond tv show. She said that it seems that hollywood give older men younger actresses to play with them in a movie. She also said the writers & directors for some reason don't wanna see old women actresses with wrinkles but it's ok to look at older men actors which she thinks isn't right. For instance there's a lot of new writers & directors in hollywood & these new writers & directors obviously don't wanna work with old women actresses. They'd rather see younger women actresses on the screen. Christine Lahti also spoke on the fact that she thinks it's a bunch of bull when older men are allowed to be with much younger women but when a older woman actress gets with a much younger man actress, it's a problem. This was a good special. They also talked about child stars who can no longer seem to get acting roles once they get older & some of them end up on alcohol, drugs or on the street cause they haven't prepared themselves for what they're gonna do once their career is over.

I agree with you all the way. There has always been a double standard in Hollywood concering men and women. I think that some of this might have to do with the fact that Hollywood is run by men for the most part. Men that would perfer to see younger women in their movies. This is unfair to women since there are a number of women in show buisness that look better now then they did when they were younger. I think that Jami Gertz, my personal favorite actress, looks better at 38 then ever, and she has always looked great! Michelle Pfeiffer is another great example, she gets more georgeous as she gets older. And even if an actress doesn't look as good as she may have when she was younger, as long as she still has talent, that is all that counts...or at least all that SHOULD count. Right now Hollywood is more about beauty then talent. And I think a lot of actresses are casted in films based on their looks more then on their talent. Someone dosn't put Jennifer Love Hewitt in a film because she has talent. Even a talented actress like Kirsten Dunst is casted in part because of her looks. They would never cast some one that was overweight in a leading lady role, even if she was very talented.

Dukey i definitely agree with u. Jami Gertz does look good for her age & so does Diane Lane. I've always had a thing for Diane since i saw her in The Big Town movie with Matt Dillon. They don't make movies anymore like they used to & these actors that they are casting for these movies are so cheesy. I love movies from the 80's. That is my favorite decade for movies cause the movies were better back then. Nowadays u got all these teeny bopper movies. I've seen some movies with Jami Gertz that i liked her in such as Renegades & The Lost Boys. I saw some of Less Than Zero.

Less Than Zero is a great film as long as you keep in mind while you are watching it that it is a very 80's movie. Jami also had a role in the 1986 movie Crossroad, which is really good too.

Crossroads is the movie with Ralph Macchio right? I also like Michelle Pfeiffer. I've had a thing for her since i saw her in The Witches Of Eastwick. I also liked the scene in Married To The Mob movie she was in with Matthew Modine when he was massaging her feet when they came to her place after their date. I wish that would've been me massaging her feet LOL. When Matthew was massaging her feet, she was moanin & she said i haven't had a man touch me below the waist in awhile LOL. Only scene i liked in The Fabolous Baker Boys movie she was in was when Jeff Bridges was unzipping her red dress & he was massaging her back. She looked so sexy in that red dress. I used to like Meg Ryan back in the 80's too when she was doing movies with Dennis Quaid like Inner Space & DOA. She was cuter back then. She's not that cute to me anymore.

I don't see a problem. There are prenty of roles for older women.

The problem is you have these 40 and 50 year old actressess that think they are supposed to be cast as leading ladies. They aren't being realistic.

Women are at their most attractive between the ages of 15 and 25. With excercise and good eating habbits they can stretch it out to 35. Older women are not leading lady material. But there are other types of roles available to them.

Men can be considered attractive between the ages of 20 and 60. That is just nature. Men age better.

Originally posted by I am Him
I don't see a problem. There are prenty of roles for older women.

The problem is you have these 40 and 50 year old actressess that think they are supposed to be cast as leading ladies. They aren't being realistic.

Women are at their most attractive between the ages of 15 and 25. With excercise and good eating habbits they can stretch it out to 35. Older women are not leading lady material. But there are other types of roles available to them.




I wasnt going to poke my nose into this but you're the one being unrealistic. Just because a woman is 40 to 50 years old doesnt mean that her acting ability has faded as the years have gone by. There are plenty of leading roles out there for women in their 40's and 50's but they arent given the chance because these actresses arent considered "popular" anymore. So in turn, younger actresses are hired and with the magic of makeup, they're aged several years and they get the job over the older actresses who'd probably do a better job anyway. And there are plenty of older women out there who are very attractive and they're in their 40's and 50's and what not. But in today's society, people think you have to be young and anorexic to be beautiful which is completely not true.

Welp that was my two cents.

Crossroad is the movie with Ralph Macchio. As I've mentioned I do think that Hollywood treats older women poorly, and it just continues to get worse. However, this has always been the case. If you look back through the history of film, leading ladies have always been young and beautiful like Grace Kelly and Ingrid Bergman. Bergman didn't get the same amount of roles as she grew older while older leading men like Jimmy Stewart and Cary Grant did. I think for Hollywood to change its additude towards older women they have to change their additude about women in general.

Is it just me or is it mainly an American thing? Because it seems to me that they have penty of older English actresses who still get plenty of work. Like Dames Judi Dench and Maggie Smith. Also the film Calander Girls seemed to all star older women.

I think that it is an American thing. We live in a society that worshops youth and beauty. I also think that women seem to fall into this trap easier then men. I don't think us men care as much about how we look as many women do. I mean this as a blanket comment and am not trying to say that every single female is like this. However, there are a lot of young girls who feel that if they aren't as skinny as Paris Hilton then they are fat.

I think women do find it harder to get roles as they get older- but I think it's also because it's so much easier to make an action film or crime film with men than it is women- even when they do get older. I think older women are better in comedy than older men. If better scripts came along, the older women would be ruling Hollywood.

In England though, the older actresses do get more respect. One thing I'm wondering about is the future of Hollywood- in 30 years time, will all the young actresses (the sort with the implants and all) still be working- because if they are, it'll be hard to get good actors to make costume dramas- or even dramas set in the 70's or 60's- when old people looked like old people! I think Nicole Kidman will still be working well into old age- any other actresses you all think will do this?

I think that Kirsten Dunst will have a long career. She is a great actress. Maybe Natalie Portman too.

Another problem i have with hollywood nowadays is that people who go to drama school to take acting classes so they can become a actor get overlooked cause rappers, singers, comedians are gettin all the roles. It's a damn shame that rappers, singers, comedians are gettin acting roles when they have no acting experience & the directors are puttin them in movies & on tv shows cause they think the fans of these people will wanna see them in movies & tv shows when that's not the case. My biggest problem is with the rappers who get acting roles. Most of the roles they play are degrading & ignorant cause that's how most rappers are. There's a lot of straight to video movies at Blockbuster Video that have rappers in them & nobody is renting those movies cause they're ghetto movies that are low budget & stupid. I was thinkin about taking some acting classes but then i thought how hard it would be for me to probably get a acting role cause i'm not a rapper, singer, comedian & plus i don't wanna be stereotyped into playin certain characters cause i'm black. I'd rather do commercials than act if i'm gonna only be able to play stereotyped roles.