I've always found it odd that the relationship between Geraldine Page and Paul Newman is described as and "Older woman/younger man" romance when they're only THREE MONTHS APART in age. I guess that tells you something about how Hollywood viewed a woman over 30 back then.
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I agrree. What is important is that they do appear to be different in age.
The same could be said for Anne Bancroft and Dustin Hoffman in the Graduate and Angela Lansbury playing Laurence Harvey's mother in The Manchurian Candidate:both women were close in age to the actor they were playing opposite.
Like Cary Grant's "mother" in North By Northwest. Grant and the actress who played his mother were the same age
shareI agree with the person who questioned the credibility of the supposed May/December romance. Regardless of their actual ages, Page and Newman simply didn't look far enough apart in years for that to be an issue. And despite Page's acting, it was impossible to believe that she'd been around long enough to be an aged has-been; when did her character supposedly become a screen sex symbol--at age 15?
shareYou are quite correct that Geraldine Page (born November 1924) was only a few weeks older than Paul Newman (born January 1925). I don't think there was supposed to be a huge difference between the ages of the characters; I always think of Chance as being around 30 and Alexandra del Lago as being around 40, perhaps a bit younger. Alexandra's problem is not that she is a washed-up has-been. Her problem is that she sees herself as a washed-up has-been, and there is a danger of this becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. Her drug and alcohol problems- as well as her destructive relationship with a selfish younger gigolo-stem from her feelings of low self-esteem. When her latest film proves a success, she recovers her self-confidence and finds the strength to be rid of Chance.
shareApparently, Williams' idea of Alexandra Del Lago was that of a painted, sixty-something harridan i.e. someone born in the late 19th-century who'd been a silent movie star and was now (the late 1950s, as per the original production) washed up. Likewise, Chance was supposedly a loser in his early forties, his looks long since gone. With a Hollywood makeover, the two became Page and Newman, two great actors both in their physical prime! Still, they were no less convincing as two lost souls because of it.
shareBoth Chance and Alexandra are on their last legs; him as a stud, her as a movie star. This would be (for circa 1962) early to mid thirties for Chance, late thirties to early forties for Alexandra.
Geraldine Page is somewhat young for the part but Alexandra certainly was never intended to be in her sixties or a silent movie star with a dramatically younger lover, that would have been way too SUNSET BLVDish. Fortyish is way too old for Chance given he is selling his goods to fairly attractive women who would be wanting someone thirty-something at the most. And remember Heavenly is his longtime girlfriend so she can't be more than a few years younger than him and it's unlikely the character is meant to be more than mid to late twenties.
Newman is 37 but could pass for early 30's; Page at 37 and looking around that age which isn't too bad a choice for an actress in the part, she has to be old enough to worry about the end of her film career but young enough to still be working in films in leading parts. I think the problem is that Newman could play his part and Page could play her part but it would have worked better if someone different had been cast opposite one of them to make a bigger gap between them but it's not a (to use a word from the film) "monstrous" gap.
In the play, Chance is described as being in his late twenties and he tells the Princess that he is 29. While the Princess' age isn't stated, she does remind Chance at one point that she was a star before big taxes. I have heard many times that silent era stars paid little or no income tax and I think that's a common perception, so I always thought she came from the silent era, which would have put her in her fifties at least.
I do think TW was influenced by Sunset Blvd. in writing this, both by the film and the parallels to Gloria Swansen that Sunset Blvd. drew. Gloria Swanson's third husband was French royalty: Henri, Marquis de la Falaise de la Coudraye, although he worked, as had Prince Kosmonopilis in Sweet Bird. In Sunset, Norma is a good business woman, as is the Princess, whose merchant prince husband taught her business.
Sweet Bird uproots much much more of the ugly underbelly of being a Hollywood star back then and they are very different but wonderful and compelling stories.
---Page certainly looks the best she would EVER look on film. In the test done with her future husband Rip Torn she was a bit heavier and her hair was a curly unflattering birds nest. Still, she had the acting down as she had been doing the Broadway play for awhile. Page was no beauty, but there is a similarity to this role filmed in 1961, though it says 1962, and the 1962 Marilyn Monroe film Something's Got To Give. Especially her film within the film were she is shown on the set of her comeback role. Even the upswept hairdo is reminiscent of MM's last do's, added to the fact that MM was only 2 years younger than Page who was considered over the hill. Today that just isn't as relevant for female stars, and a great star like Monroe would no longer be considered 'middle aged' at 35, or making a comeback - which is a ridiculous idea some people like to float around. 35 may seem to some middle aged, but trust me it is still very young, closer to the teen years and young adulthood than old age for sure. Another interesting fact is that most of the stars of this film were Actors Studio alumni along with MM.
"When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."