Myrna Loy was 42 years old when this was filmed and Shirley Temple was 18. It would have made much more sense for her to be her mother! I imagine Ms. Loy balked at playing the mother of a teenager so they made her an older sister instead. The two of them playing sisters looks pretty ridiculous. Ms. Loy must have been trying to hold onto her youth but instead she just looks a little desperate & silly.
shareCary Grant; did he do them both?
share[deleted]
It's only 22 years difference. There is 19 years difference between my oldest sister and the youngest sister in my family. There is 25 years difference in my cousins family. Where have you been living? :)
shareIn "The Quiet Man", Victor McLaglen plays Maureen O'Hara's brother - a 34 year age difference. But I agree, Loy should have been the mother.
shareThis is the kind of thing posters on IMDb from time to time get hung up on. Is it possible that sisters could be the literal age difference apart that Ms. Temple and Ms. Loy were? Yes.
In fact is it reasonable to view Ms. Loy as looking somewhat younger here than her actual age? I think so, that was my view of how she looked. More like mid-thirties than 42, I would say.
So what's the problem?
In fact there isn't any.
alliekat9090 says > Myrna Loy was 42 years old when this was filmed and Shirley Temple was 18. It would have made much more sense for her to be her mother!No, it would not have made more sense. The story requires that Myrna play Shirley's sister, not her mother. I think everyone who keeps saying she should have been her mother is overlooking the obvious. Margaret is supposed to be, oh, uh, hmm, okay I'll say it, kind of a prudish old maid.
I imagine Ms. Loy balked at playing the mother of a teenager so they made her an older sister instead.Unbelievable! Just prior to making this movie, Myrna played Teresa Wrights' mother in The best years of our lives. Teresa is a good ten years older than Shirley. If Myrna was going to have a problem playing someone's mother it would not be Shirley. Most people still thought of her as the cute little kid they remembered from years ago and still playing young girls. Teresa had already been playing adult women like in Mrs. Miniver; she got married in that one, if I recall. Your theory doesn't hold water.
Ms. Loy must have been trying to hold onto her youth but instead she just looks a little desperate & silly.Seriously?! In the movie Myrna plays Shirley's romantic rival and she's the one who gets the guy. That means she's still got it. 'Dicky' had the pick of the litter when it comes to women; they're all throwing themselves at him yet he wants her. Desperate and silly; are you kidding me? I think the ones who think she had a problem with this role are the ones who look silly. She's forty-something, gets to glam it up; she's not playing frumpy, and she gets the guy over all the other young chickies in the movie (even Agnes who asks if Susan is her daughter then, upon hearing she's her sister, says she hates her sister). If Myrna didn’t want the role any actress would have killed to play that kind of 'older woman' role.
alliekat9090 - are you even remotely familiar with Myrna Loy's career ?
A year before this film she played a mother of Teresa Wright, who was 10 years older than Shirley Temple ! No, she wasn't trying to 'hold on to her youth'
Simply a silly thing to get hung up on. It never expressly states Margaret's age. Just because someone is playing a role does not mean they are playing their own age.
If this is something you are really hung up on, check out how old the actors were in Grease (1978). Only one of the actors playing high schoolers was actually under 19.
My memory foam pillow says it can't remember my face. I can tell its lying.