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June 22, 2009 | Comments (86)
Over the weekend, The Proposal debuted at number one at the box-office, and one of the best things about the movie was Betty White in a scene-stealing role, playing an 90-year-old no-nonsense grandmother. Seeing just how lively and energetic Betty White was in the film, I actually suspected that 90-years-old was a bit of a stretch. Turns out, Betty White is actually 87 years old, if you can believe that. She doesn’t make today’s list, of ranking the best performances of an actor or actress over the age of 65, but if the list were limited to best performances from an actress over the age of 85, she’d take home the top spot. I’m not sure there’d be much competition.
In the above 65 years old category, however, there’s plenty of it. A lot of actors and actresses, in fact, have given their best performances in what should be their retirement years, while a few other classic actors gave one last great performance before leaving their handprints on Heaven’s Walk of Fame. Here are the ten best performances from an actor or actress over the age of 65, noting that Ed Asner’s Carl Fredrickson in Up may have taken top spot were it not for the fact that he were animated:
10. Richard Harris, Albus Dumbledore (71 Years Old) — Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
9. Michael Caine, Cutter (73 Years Old) — The Prestige
8. Clint Eastwood, Walt Kowalski (78 Years Old) — Gran Torino
7. Robert Duvall, Euliss Sonny Dewey (66 Years Old)— The Apostle
6. Morgan Freeman, Eddie Scrap-Iron Dupris (67 Years Old) — Million Dollar Baby
5. Paul Newman, Sully Sullivan (69 Years Old) — Nobody’s Fool
4. Jack Lemmon, Shelley Levine (67 Years Old) — Glengarry Glen Ross
3. Jessica Tandy, Mrs. Daisy (80 Years Old) — Driving Miss Daisy
2. Henry Fonda, Norman Thayer, Jr. (76 Years Old) — On Golden Pond
1. Ruth Gordon, Maude (76 Years Old) — Harold and Maude
No love for Walter Matthau, Jack Lemon or Burgess Meredith in Grumpy Old Men? Weak.
Posted by: Tracer Bullet at June 22, 2009 4:14 PM
betty white in lake placid!
hell-O.
Posted by: gp at June 22, 2009 4:16 PM
George Burns?
Posted by: malikvlc at June 22, 2009 4:17 PM
Kinda sad not to see Richard Farnsworth as Alvin Straight from the Straight Story on there.
Posted by: J Stride at June 22, 2009 4:18 PM
Crap! See, I stopped to read the list and J Stride went and stole my Richard Farnsworth Straight Story vote.
In that case, I'll say Lloyd Bridges as Izzy Mandelbaum on Seinfeld as my #2.
Posted by: jay two at June 22, 2009 4:24 PM
Man, you forgot that old dude in the movie where he drove a goddam lawnmower across the fucking country to see his brother, man! How could you forget that sonuvabi... BECAUSE I DON'T HAVE THE TIME TO LOOK IT UP, THAT'S WHY! HE'S A CUDDLY OLD COOT ON A GODDAM LAWNMOWER FOR FUCKSAKE! HE SHOULD BE NUMBER ONE ON THIS... No... He should be in every friggin' poster knockoff you've got floating in the header. Every. Mother. Effing. One. THAT GEEZER HAD HEART GODDAMIT, AND I WON'T SEE HIS GREATNESS DENIED! He was that cop guy in that movie about the writer dude who has the kid in the Ocean's movies - the writer guy who went off the rode and that crazy lady who was naked in that one movie saves him and whacks his leg with a sledgehammer and he tries to... BECAUSE I'M TOO BUSY TO LOOK IT UP, THAT'S WHY!
Jesus...
Posted by: Skitz at June 22, 2009 4:24 PM
TB has it right. Also, I loved Carl Reiner in Ocean's 11 (79 yrs old).
Posted by: branded at June 22, 2009 4:24 PM
Loved Eli Wallach's cameo as the liquor store owner in "Mystic River". Guy must've been close to 90 when that film was made.
He's still alive, I think.
Long Live Tuco!!!
Posted by: oskar667 at June 22, 2009 4:24 PM
James Coburn - Affliction
Burt Lancaster - Field Of Dreams (he always makes me cry)
Posted by: citizen_cris at June 22, 2009 4:26 PM
I am not sure the age, but the scene between Hopper and Walken in True Romance is goddam legendary.
Posted by: badalamenti at June 22, 2009 4:28 PM
There can never be enough Harold and Maude love. I try to get everyone to watch it. It's just so warm and filled with happiness. Plus a great soundtrack.
Posted by: Optimus Rhyme at June 22, 2009 4:29 PM
Ugh. Enough with the Harold and Maude love. Am I the only movie buff on Pajiba that HATES that movie????
No Be Adequite!, you are not the only one. I saw this in the theater when it came out, hated it then and hate it now.
Posted by: EricD at June 22, 2009 4:30 PM
J Stride got it, Skitz. The Straight Story with Richard Farnsworth.
Maggie Smith in anything she's been in ever. Judi, my darling Judi Dench (Both of them Dame's, my apologies, ladies) In anything she's been in, ever.
Does Meryl count when she was in Manchurian candidate given she just turned sixty today?
Bill Nighy has got to be a thousand years old and is amazing and scene stealing in everything he's in.
Posted by: Nadine at June 22, 2009 4:44 PM
Peter O'Toole...Venus.
Posted by: Calliwell at June 22, 2009 4:44 PM
Richard Harris?? RICHARD HARRIS??? There were only two things Richard Harris did in that whole movie: Whisper and Not Die (Yet). It was the most enfeebled take possible on a character who's known for being twinkly/lively/badass. When Woodstock!Dumbledore is an improvement over your performance, you know you've reached a whole 'nother level of decreptitude.
Posted by: cerain at June 22, 2009 4:44 PM
Julien Beck from Poltergeist 2 gave me nightmares for weeks.
I was a Boy Scout doing communtiy service and I was scheduled to help at a seniors center.
After seeing this, the thought of being surrounded by old people had me freaking out.
Needless to say, I was not present for the event.
Posted by: badalamenti at June 22, 2009 4:44 PM
What about all the old coots in Cocoon?
Don Ameche
Wilford Brimley
Hume Cronyn
Jack Gilford
Maureen Stapleton
Jessica Tandy
Gwen Verdon
Posted by: BWeaves at June 22, 2009 4:48 PM
It was actually the last film Farnsworth made. Being a mid-westerner makes me a little biased towards that movie, but I swear the soundtrack alone makes my eyes tear-up a little... but not cry though, I'm a man damnit! Just cuz some lovable old man decides to drive a mower across Iowa to make amends with his dying estranged brother through a picturesque landscape and then that music starts..... darn these alergies making me sniffle.... I have to go.
Posted by: J Stride at June 22, 2009 4:50 PM
BECAUSE I DON'T HAVE THE TIME TO LOOK IT UP,
YOU ALWAYS HAVE TIME TO LOOK IT UP.
Also, Hume Cronyn, Batteries Not Included.
Posted by: twig at June 22, 2009 4:53 PM
Richard Harris for HARRY POTTER?! Please scratch that and turn it into Gladiator, PLEASE. Marcus Aurelius laughs at Dumbledore. Besides, apparently Dumbledore wasn't Harris's most favourite party - by a long shot. And it shows. (Yes, I prefer Gambon.)
And I completely agree with Nadine about Maggie Smith in ANYTHING.
And where's Christopher Lee?! Or some minor actor called SIR IAN MCKELLEN?!
Posted by: Linda at June 22, 2009 4:55 PM
apparently Dumbledore wasn't Harris's most favourite party
PART. Excuse me, I have a typo night tonight.
Posted by: Linda at June 22, 2009 4:56 PM
HOw about Brimley in The Firm?
Posted by: richmac at June 22, 2009 5:14 PM
Even though Richard Harris didn't do a great job with the character, I do miss him with Michael Gambon's Dumbledore skipping around, manhandling Harry and being an unsufferable nuisance. It would be nice if David Yates could direct him to play the part EXACTLY how Jim Dale performs the narration on the audio books. Mr. Dale gets Dumbledore.
Posted by: Agent Scully at June 22, 2009 5:14 PM
Oh, I love this list. Jack Lemmon was quite simply one of the most wonderful actors ever, every role he played was just amazing. I would've added both him and Walter Matthau for Grumpy Old Men.
And I completely freakin adore on Golden Pond. Henry Fonda AND Katherine Hepburn? Hell yeah. And this quote:
"Are there any bears around here?"
"Oh yeah! black bears, grizzlies. One came down last week and ate an old lesbian!"
Never seen Harold and Maude, need to put that on the list.
...Tommy Lee Jones from The Fugitive, and Helen Mirren from anything...
I realize the average age around here is pretty darn young, but Tommy Lee Jones was only about 47 years old when he did The Fugitive and is 62 now. Helen Mirren is about 64 now. I'd respectfully submit that neither of them is actually "really old" by today's standards of age.
Posted by: appwitch at June 22, 2009 5:37 PM
Bill Nighy has got to be a thousand years old and is amazing and scene stealing in everything he's in.
Bill Nighy was born in December 1949, so he's 59.
Posted by: appwitch at June 22, 2009 5:41 PM
Gordon was 73 when Harold and Maude was filmed, turned 75 at the end of October the year it was released.
And yeah, what about O'Toole?
Posted by: Googolygoo at June 22, 2009 5:43 PM
motherfucking Ben Kenobi?
Truly the greatest omission.
Cat Stevens was a hero to most, but he never meant shit to me. Motherfuck him and James Taylor.
I refuse to believe that Morgan Freeman is a day older than 55. You are simply lying to me, and for that I will have to ask you respectfully to get the hell out.
Seriously though - my mind? Blown. The same thing happened when I was informed that Dakota Fanning is no longer 11 years old. The world has become a... strange place.
This one is too easy -- Chief Dan George as Lone Watie in The Outlaw Josey Wales. He joked about his age and circumstances to make sure everyone underestimated him, but in truth he was still one badass dude.
Posted by: sansho1 at June 22, 2009 6:13 PM
Me, Sunday afternoon, with Mrs. , in the ,room.
Oh, wait, "over 65"?
I got a few years to make that cut.
Posted by: , (the commenter formerly known as bucdaddy) at June 22, 2009 6:16 PM
appwich- I realize that...just wanted to offer some (if perhaps a teensy bit younger) options to the predictable Maude at #1 pick...
Honestly I had never seen Tommy Lee before Fugitive- and what shocked that an "OLD" man could have such a great ass.
Posted by: Be Adequite! at June 22, 2009 6:27 PM
PS- and sorry but 47 is considered old, by the standards of our fu$ked up society. Hell, 27 is old according to advertising, movies, fashion, etc!
Posted by: Be Adequite! at June 22, 2009 6:30 PM
Right on, meaux! Pinsent also excelled in Due South, with another fellow Canuck and oldster (of incredibly longevity but decreasing quality) - Leslie Nielsen!
Posted by: lordhelmet at June 22, 2009 6:40 PM
James Whitmore as Brooks in Shawshank.
Posted by: sfmarx at June 22, 2009 6:42 PM
Martin Landau in Ed Wood. "No one gives a fuck for Bela."
Posted by: stryker1121 at June 22, 2009 7:05 PM
Andy Griffith in Waitress.
Posted by: Caroline at June 22, 2009 7:11 PM
Ian McKellen in LOTR and Apt Pupil
Robert Duvall in Open Range
Martin Landau in Ed Wood
Juliet Christie & Gordon Pinsent in Away from Her
Burgess Meredtih in Rocky
Posted by: John W at June 22, 2009 7:20 PM
Jay, what is up with you and Cat?
Posted by: Cindy at June 22, 2009 7:41 PM
I have no idea who the actor is, but this weekend I watched Into The Wild and was very impressed with the old man in the last chapter of that movie. And by "very impressed" I mean, that old bastard made me cry a little.
Posted by: chickle at June 22, 2009 7:47 PM
Maggie Smith in anything she has done since 1999 (born 1934)
Especially Gosford Park; Ladies in Lavender; Keeping Mum
Posted by: Doc P at June 22, 2009 8:10 PM
Dammit, stryker, I was gonna nominate Bela Lugosi for "Plan 9" and you went stole my thunder.
*makes pissed-off face*
Alright, then ... There's got to be a movie for which James Cromwell qualifies. I say "Babe" or "L.A. Confidential," for which I know he wasn't 65 yet but he has LOOKED at least 65 since he was 55, so that should count for something.
Posted by: , (the commenter formerly known as bucdaddy) at June 22, 2009 8:13 PM
you don't have sean conery or the old lady from titanic i found out she is as old as the titanic.
Posted by: Utah Dynamo at June 22, 2009 8:13 PM
I am stunned to see William Hickey was only 70 when he died. Man looked 115 and on a deathbed in everything ("Prizzi's Honor").
Posted by: , (the commenter formerly known as bucdaddy) at June 22, 2009 8:18 PM
What, no love for Michael Gambon? You put the Potter movie on a Pajiba list and dared the hipsters to throw veggies?
And no one has any love for Gambon?? Bastards.
Posted by: idiosynchronic at June 22, 2009 8:34 PM
Jack Albertson aka the original Grandpa Joe from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
Posted by: branded at June 22, 2009 8:55 PM
ooh peter finch was only 64. how sad.
on another note, FUCKING HAROLD AND MAUDE! (that was a good fucking)
my heart forever belongs to that movie
Posted by: the chaplain at June 22, 2009 9:49 PM
Seriously. where is the love for mr. hal holbrook?!?! "When you forgive, you love."
AHHH. constant tears.
Fix this, pajiba.
Posted by: soto at June 22, 2009 10:00 PM
I say Ruth Gordon should be on this list twice. She was in her seventies when Rosemary's Baby came out. I believe she earned the Oscar for that one.
Posted by: ed newman at June 22, 2009 10:20 PM
I'm with crm.
Jason Robards in Magnolia.
Posted by: Anonymous Jerk at June 22, 2009 10:25 PM
Jay, what is up with you and Cat?
Whaddaya mean? He turned into a dreadful hippie. Nothing strange about distaste for that.
Katherine Hepburn (74) On Golden Pond (or Rooster Cogburn - 68)
Jackie Gleason (70) Nothing in Common
John Gielgud (77) Arthur (or >20 other roles after 1969)
Jack Nicholson (69) The Departed
Small (but great) parts
Conrad Bain (67) Postcards from the Edge
Betty White (77) Lake Placid
Cab Calloway (73) Blues Brothers
Posted by: LwoodPDowd at June 23, 2009 12:10 AM
Holbrooke in Wall Street as Lou Mannheim, the account manager with a conscience.
Michael Gambon in Layer Cake, as the wizened blue blood gangster.
Posted by: Recondite at June 23, 2009 1:09 AM
hal holbrook ... into the wild
eli wallach ... holiday
Posted by: snake at June 23, 2009 1:16 AM
james coburn robbed in two threads, two days in a row!
dustin, go see affliction!
also, i second robards in magnolia and would like to add albert finney in big fish.
Posted by: celery at June 23, 2009 5:27 AM
Bweaves,
seconding all the oldsters in Cocoon. A silly movie, but with some lovely moments from the older actors.
Posted by: Tarn at June 23, 2009 6:54 AM
Turned into? He was always a hippie, but I've no idea how to rate one.
War/government protester who listens to Cat Stevens: OK Hippie
Smokes pot and looks like Cat Stevens: Questionable Hippie
Goes to music festival dressed like Cat Stevens: Hipster Hippie
Is Cat Stevens: Horrible Hippie!
Posted by: Cindy at June 23, 2009 7:55 AM
Well, he started out different. Then he got sick a couple years later and found himself apparently, and found that beard too, and started bringing the pain.
Re-write this list with a Top 20 Old People title and don't put in the youtube clips. That way we can add more people.
Also the guy from Network. C'mon, you all know the line :-)
"I'M MAD AS HELL! AND I'M NOT GONNA TAKE IT ANYMORE!"
Posted by: scorzi at June 23, 2009 9:19 AM
Following up on appwitch, many have mentioned Wilford Brimley, who was only 51 at Cocoon's release and not yet 60 in The Firm. He always played older than he was. The cutoff is 65 at the time of the film's release -- read the assignment people! :-)
I'm with the Harold & Maude haters. The intensity of the hate is magnified in proportion to the love some heap on it. Unusual alone doesn't make a film great; there are lots of quirky films that suck.
Paul Newman in Nobody's Fool is a textbook on film acting.
Anybody wanna count 78-year-old Nimoy this year? :-)
Posted by: Ned at June 23, 2009 10:02 AM
...and sorry if I missed it bt Frank Langella, at 70, in Frost/Nixon.
Posted by: Ned at June 23, 2009 10:20 AM
Put a dude down for changing his life after almost dying? Plus, what's better than Hard Headed Woman?
Maybe if Bono converted? And you don't see Yusuf running around in sunglasses all the time.
Posted by: Cindy at June 23, 2009 12:41 PM
Where's Judi Dench? Mrs Henderson Presents, Notes on a Scandal, M? C'mon
Posted by: Agente Provocatrice at June 23, 2009 1:49 PM
Here is news that should take your mind off both Steven and Paul.
Posted by: Cindy at June 23, 2009 2:02 PM
Any list like this is gonna be subjective, and all the performances listed are great.
But there is one GLARING omission- it's recent and the name is huge, so I can't imagine why it's gone missing:
Peter Fucking O'Toole in VENUS. The guy had one foot in the grave and gave an oscar nominated (which he should have won) performance. Scrolling down the list, I felt sure i'd run into him at No. 1- I was shocked to see he wasn't even listed.
Posted by: Martin at June 23, 2009 3:22 PM
I could quibble about this list, but you included Paul Newman in Nobody's Fool and for that, alone, I declare you a genius. What a great performance.
Posted by: Louise at June 23, 2009 3:25 PM
Spencer Tracy in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner is hands down the greatest performance by an old man EVER. The real-life romance between Hepburn and Tracy adds a deep melancholy to every scene as you watch a noticeably frail Tracy talk about love and what it means to love and how it can conquer even deep division. His speech at the end reduces me to tears every damn time because you can see Hepburn's tears and you know they're real. I honestly can't think of anything more powerful from an elderly performer.
I love Maude.
Therefore, Be Adequite!, I hate you.
Posted by: James at June 27, 2009 7:14 PM
I think this list is really kind of insulting to older people. It's like you're surprised that "older" actors can actually act. Um, Jack Lemon, Richard Harris, Henry Fonda, and Paul Newman, for example, all gave great performances all throughout their careers, so why should it be surprising that they continued to do so when they were older?
Look, I get that there have been some actors who seemed to have grown bored or tired of acting as they got older--like Brando or Elizabeth Taylor, for example. But a lot of actors actually get better, as they age.
Ugh. Enough with the Harold and Maude love. Am I the only movie buff on Pajiba that HATES that movie????
Great list otherwise.
I'd suggest two more actors and one actress-Tom Wilkinson from Michael Clayton, Tommy Lee Jones from The Fugitive, and Helen Mirren from anything.