It's fortunate that Hollywood now treats its senior actresses with a bit more dignity, style and appreciation. They aren't "cast" off when they hit 50 (for the most part). That had been an issue in Glitter City, even back in the early 1950's among writers, producers, etc., with industry self-critical anti-ageist, anti-sexist classics like Sunset Boulevard and All About Eve. Unfortunately, Hollywood while criticizing itself did not do anything about it. By the '60's, grande dames like Crawford and Davis had to resort to being "hatchet hags" (I love that term!) to keep their careers alive and pay the bills. Even though most of their horror-schlock films were less than B-grade level, they took their roles seriously showing their professionalism. Davis seemed to do better with higher-quality (if, in some cases, only slightly) films such as WHTBJ, Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (with another "grande dame" Olivia de Havilland taking over for Crawford's part after Crawford was fired) and the Hammer classic The Nanny. And there was also Dead Ringer. She also, ironically, was directed by Dan Curtis in Burnt Offerings. While taking roles in horror-schlock, she still managed to remain in mainstream movies (and TV mini-series productions) that were straight-forward drama, including The Whales of August.
Poor Crawford never was able to achieve the same. Virtually everything she made, whether on film or on TV, was horror-schlock until the day she died. Not to say some weren't good - her work in Eyes in the pilot of Rod Serling's Night Gallery directed by a young, unknown guy named Steven Spielberg was truly brilliant and critically acclaimed. But even in the worst-of-worst, she always did her best and rose above the schlocky material. In her last film, the simply awful Trog, her performance stood out. While the critics justifiably pounded the movie, they were kind to Crawford's performance, saying it was the only good thing about it.
By the '70's, using the "senior" actresses in roles switched from horror to disaster. Shelly Winters received an Oscar nomination for The Poseidon Adventure. De Havilland appeared in Airport 77 and the really dreadful The Swarm. Gloria Swanson played herself in Airport 75. And Jennifer Jones returned to the screen after many years of absence and was praised for her part in the uber-classic The Towering Inferno where she was teamed up the equal Hollywood legend Fred Astaire. She's the only great classical actress, an Oscar winner, who fell to her death 1,000 feet from a glass elevator.
Today, many senior actresses, in their 60's on up, can still find dignified work, from Faye Dunaway to Helen Mirren. They can be in films, portraying women their age, that are huge commercial and critical successes. People flock to theaters and Oscars are handed out. They no longer have to play psycho-biddies running around with axes or sweet, old ladies being crushed and drowned under tsunamis. Hollywood has come a long way from learning its lesson that it treats older women like garbage as portrayed in Sunset Boulevard.
Joe: "Norma, there's nothing wrong with a woman who's 50." Sunset Boulevard
Gerard
