MovieChat Forums > The Catered Affair (1956) Discussion > Borgnine and Davis an unusual couple....

Borgnine and Davis an unusual couple....

posted 12 years ago by sockscats
9 replies | jump to latest

Davis was 9 years older than Borgnine when this was filmed. She was 48 and he 39. Nothing outrageous about that but Davis had been a star in film a whole generation earlier than he was. She was a huge star in the 1930s and he was in his first film in 1951.

Seemed unusual to me that's all. They both play a mid 40s couple with an early 20s daughter. Neither is made up to look attractive at all in this film. Davis must have gained 20 pounds and there is little passion left also.

It's just the contrast of age in a decade known for many may-september romances on film and off film.

Consider this; Debbie Reynolds was about the same age here as Grace Kelly was in High noon filmed 4 years earlier. But Kelly's husband in the film Gary cooper was 51 then. 12 years older than Borgnine in this role!

[–] mlone 12 years ago

In the first scene of the movie, before I know they were a married couple, I thought Davis was playing Borgnine's mother. Yes, an unusual age difference for the time.

[–] ginbelt 11 years ago

Just finished watching it on TCM; I thought the same thing too -- that it was an unusual pairing, due to the age difference and a number of other factors. I didn't actually know Davis' age yet, either, til just now looking it up, and assumed the age difference was even wider than the nine years it was. For one, rather than being made to look more youthful and glamorous, as would probably be the custom for a female movie star in her late 40's back then, Davis was clearly made to look less youthful and glamorous...frumpy, in fact. Meanwhile, Borgnine looked essentially like he did in Marty, a year or two earlier, a film in which he was paired with Betsy Blair, six years younger than him, which just felt more real to me, more believable. And that's another factor, the fact that nine years difference isn't out of the ordinary when it's the man who is older. This may be less true today, but it surely was back in the mid-1950s. Bottom line, as you stated, Bette Davis seemed like she almost could have been Borgnine's mother, as it seems like it's more than just nine years that separates them.

[–] gbennett5 7 years ago

Uh, HELL-LO...Borgnine LOOKED mid-40s, what with the touch of gray and and a big
fat belly, and that face! They looked roughly the same age.

[–] jreedha 11 years ago

Funny you should think that - I have seen this several times, it's one of my favorites, and I never noticed an age difference. They seemed well-matched to me - both tired and careworn.

They must have liked each other personally because they made another movie together a decade or so later - a Dreadful movie, but they were cute together.

[–] Helpfan65 9 years ago

I think they are well matched and EB had nothing but good things to say about Bette during the filming of this movie.
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[–] deforest-1 10 years ago

Yes, very unusual in those times for the female star being sigificantly older than the male. As you hint at, the "norm" on screen was to see fading male stars coupled with a leading lady a whole generation younger. In particular, Audrey Hepburn/Grace Kelly were "preyed on" -- sometimes in more than one film -- by Gary Cooper (High Noon, Love in the Afternoon), Humphrey Bogart (Sabrina), Clark Gable (Mogambo), Fred Astaire (Funny Face), Bing Crosby (The Country Girl, High Society).

[–] generalusgrant 10 years ago

I think they were fine together. I actually think Borgnine gives the far better performance than Bette, though I adore Bette Davis. Bette was an icon, but Borgnine was a great actor and he truly shows it in his movie and in this particular role.

[–] Astrid2266 10 years ago

Borgnine was a character actor. He was able to play a wider range of ages. I didn't even notice the age difference until I read this thread.

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[–] rudeboymurray (3241) 4 years ago

If I had been casting a Bronx cabbie's wife, Bette Davis would not have been my first thought, but - while her accent was distracting at first - her performance grew on me as the film progressed. The age difference didn't really bother me - Borgnine was one of those actors whom I think was born middle-aged, so he doesn't really seem younger than his onscreen wife.

Barry Fitzgerald as Bette's brother, on the other hand... he seemed more like her grandfather.