By Jill Jackson
HOLLYWOOD … Time out from the present. Looking back, lets look at some “ages.” When Angela Lansbury played Laurence Harvey’s mother in “The Manchurian Candidate,” she was only three years older than Larry. … When Barbara Bel Geddes played Larry Hagman’s mother in “Dallas,” she actually was only nine years older than Hagman. … Sean Connery played Harrison Ford’s father in “Indiana Jones.” Sean was only 12 years older than Ford. … And Richard Ney played Greer Garson’s son in “Mrs. Miniver.” He was a great deal younger, but a few years later, in real life, they were married.
And look at this! When Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones co-starred in “Entrapment,” he was 39 years older. … In “A Perfect Murder,” Michael Douglas was 28 years older than his screen wife, Gwyneth Paltrow. … Jack Nicholson was 26 years older than Helen Hunt in “As Good As It Gets.” … In “Mad Dog and Glory,” Robert DeNiro was 27 years older than Uma Thurman. … Gary Cooper was 26 years older than Patricia Neal when they made “The Fountainhead.” They fell in love off-screen, as well as on. … In “Charade,” Cary Grant was 25 years older than Audrey Hepburn, and in “Rio Bravo,” John Wayne was 24 years older than Angie Dickenson. … Isn’t it strange: A male can be many, many years older than a female in a relationship and nothing is made of it, BUT let the femme be a lot older, and the tongues do wag.
LOVE AFFAIRS THAT STARTED ON FILM SETS: Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall in “It Happened One Night.” … Ryan O’Neal and Ali MacGraw in “Love Story” … Burt Reynolds and Sally Field in “Smokey and The Bandit.” … Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman in “Far and Away.” … Warren Beatty and Annette Bening in “Bugsy.” … Clark Gable and Loretta Young in “The Call of the Wild” (they supposedly had a child together). … Bette Davis and Gary Merrill in “All About Eve.” … Mary Steenburgen and Malcolm MacDowell in “Time After Time.” … Yves Montand and Marilyn Monroe in “Let’s Make Love.”
STARS ON THEIR LOOKS: Marlon Brando: “I have eyes like a dead pig.” … Charles Laughton: “I have a face like the behind of an elephant.” … Charles Bronson: “I look like a quarry someone has dynamited.” … Sylvester Stallone: “I built my body to carry my brain around in.” … Gwyneth Paltrow: “Beauty to me is like being comfortable in your skin, either that or a kick-ass red lipstick.” … David Niven: “I look like a cross between 2 pounds of halibut and an explosion in an old clothes closet”
***
BITS ‘N’ PIECES: With all her successes, Judy Garland once flunked an audition for a role in “Our Gang” (also known as “The Little Rascals”). … AND I still think Garbo’s is the most gorgeous female face to ever hit the screen!
© 2010 King Features Synd., Inc.