MovieChat Forums > The Magic Box (1952) Discussion > Age

Age

posted 10 years ago by backofthevan
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According to his biographies, Friese-Green was 19 when he got married. Robert Donat is incredibly jarring, at 46, with wrinkles and dyed hair, in the role. No matter how much make-up they spackled on him, he is jowly and far too old to be playing a teenager in love!

Nothing against Donat; he was a lovely actor and lovely in the way he played the part, but it was very foolish to cast him in this part and expect him to be acceptable as a teenager!

I was just watching the film now and, in the scene in the photo studio where Guttenberg is telling off his "young assistant" for having the audacity to take portraits, I just gaped at the surreal incongruity of the actual age of the actor compared with the age of the character he is playing. It took me right out of the story and brought me to IMDb to answer the question: "How the heck old WAS Donat when he appeared in this film?"

[–] Bogong 9 years ago

Friese-Greene married twice.

His first wife was Victoria Mariana Helena Friese, who died in 1895. They had one child.

From the web (http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/508948/index.html)
"He added to his surname when he married Helena Friese in 1874."

The film shows his second marriage, to Edith, whom he married on 1897 at the age of 42. This marriage produced 6 children.

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