I think Katharine was in her early 30s and Virginia Wiedler was maybe 12? At first, I wasn't sure if Tracy and Dinah were supposed to be siblings, cousins or mother and daughter - the age difference seemed really big without any siblings in between. How old is Tracy supposed to be, anyway? I assume Dinah is 12 or 13?
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Hepburn may have been in her early 30's, but how old was the character supposed to be? Besides wide age differences happen. I'm 15 years older than my youngest sibling, same parents.
shareI always thought Tracy was supposed to be about 26-28. She had an older brother, Junius,who was friends with Dexter, and Dinah, who was about 12. From the looks of the parents, Dinah may have been a surprise.
shareI have a friend who's 25 and has a 4 year old sister...same parents. Unusual but not unheard of for a couple to have another child after a 20-year "layoff".
shareIn response to the age difference, which in this case is not about the chron ages of the actors which is irrelevant since they're playing roles, just look at The Duggar family. 'Nuff said.
shareYes, it can happen . . . in one case I know the older brother was 24 years older than the youngest . . . same parents (the mother was I believe 43 when she had the youngest) . . .
shareIn the original play as written by Philip Barry, Tracy and Dinah's brother Sandy (Changed to Junius for the film) was the oldest sibling at 26. Tracy was 24 and Dinah was 15.
In the play he was an active character. In the film he was spoken of but never seen.
In 1939 when it opened, Hepburn was 32. Dan Tobin who played Sandy (Junius) was 29 and Leonore Lonergan who played Dinah was 11.
When the film was made, Hephurn was 33 and Virginia Weidler who played Dinah was 12.
On a personal note: My oldest Uncle was born in 1899. My youngest Aunt (his sister) was born in 1923.
"...always the same. People come. People go. Nothing ever happens..."
An off-color, but highly realistic answer might be that Dinah is actually Tracy's illegitimate daughter from a liaison that took place when she was very young and innocent (say 18 years old). Following her birth, Dinah was adopted by her grandparents. This was a common solution back then to an unplanned pregnancy.
Jack Nicholson's family is an example of this. He grew up thinking that his grandparents were his parents, and he had an older sister(June). But in reality, his older sister was mother.
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that's interesting, i would like to have seen the brother in the film.
sharei don't think the age gap is meant to be as large as their real life ages. i imagine tracy is meant to be a few years younger than her actual age. possibly a 13 or 14 year gap between the sisters. not unheard of, there's a 14 year gap between my first and second sons. it would also make more sense for tracy to be somewhat younger than hepburn's actual age, given the way the father goes on about her being a 'girl' etc.
share