My goodness, she looked almost 80. Maybe it's just that 50 today is a whole lot different looking.
shareYou think she looked *80*? Really? What nursing home do you work at? Shangri-La?
I thought Swanson looked great for her age, especially since the character was supposed to be half-mad and a bit pathetic.
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It's weird how these things change. 50 back then was old. Now 50 is the new 40. With 40 being the new 30.
It's funny. Sean Connery was only early 30's when he did Dr. No and when I was a kid I thought Sean Connery was an old man. I'm early 30's and I play video games and watch cartoons :) The old men at my work all think I should grow up, but everyone here my age plays videogames. The few people at work that are my age, but look old, are the ones with kids :)
Look at te Big Bang Theory actors. They are all in their 30's and Sheldon Cooper is in his 40's. Roger Moore was early 40's when he took over from Connery.
People were a lot more mature back then.
English isn't my 1st language. I'm sorry for any mistakes in grammar, spelling...
Looks 80??? Wow, you must know some people with the Captain America serum for an 80 year old woman to look like that!
Hell, after watching the movie over this past weekend, I have a retro-crush on Gloria Swanson!
btw, here's how she looked in 1972, at age 71.
http://static1.squarespace.com/static/506910b184ae5a723be4b21f/t/567ff3d705f8e2f75c76bef9/1451226071943/?format=1000w
And here she is in 1978, at age 77
http://thefincherfiles.photoshelter.com/image/I0000lEipGYfgTs0
And you think she looked older than this in the movie?
While it is true that the rather matronly fashions and hairstyles of the 1950s made everybody look older, Swanson, who was a little bit over 50, looks great--very energetic, a smart figure, no sags or bags. Joe could have done a lot worse.
shareWhen I first saw this movie, I looked up Swanson's birthday and I misread it as being 1889, so I thought she was 60. And I thought damn, she looks pretty good for her age. But she was really 50, and she looks about right for 50. IMO.
shareMy goodness, she looked almost 80. Maybe it's just that 50 today is a whole lot different looking.
"During filming, considerable publicity was given to health-conscious Gloria Swanson's youthful appearance, which made her look the same age as Holden. Wilder insisted that the age difference between the characters be delineated, and instructed makeup supervisor Wally Westmore to make Swanson look older. Swanson argued that a woman of Norma Desmond's age, with her considerable wealth and devotion to self, would not necessarily look old, and suggested Holden be made up to appear younger. Wilder agreed, and Westmore was assigned this task, which allowed Swanson to portray Norma Desmond as more glamorous a figure than Wilder had originally imagined."
Swanson was correct, a woman with Norma's resources and vanity would spend a hell of a lot of money on keeping her looks! I'm also told that Swanson fought with the costume designers, they wanted Norma to dress in the styles of the 1920s, but Swanson insisted that a woman like Norma would keep up with the current fashions and dress very well.
Her wardrobe was 1950 chic, her face and body looked great for her age... it was her mind that was fixed in 1925. All her cultural references were from 25 years earlier, she tried to amuse her boyfriend by doing a Chaplain impression for God's sake. It'd be like a mature person today trying to entertain a young lover with an 80s karaoke night.
no, she didn't. she looked great.
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