According to the novel the aunt is elderly. Maggie Smith was 37 at the time--nearly a decade younger than her "nephew" Alec McCowen. Was she made up to look older, or was it a Angela Lansbury-Lawrence Harvey thing that you just have to go with.
I haven't seen it yet, and I'm curious.
Well sir, i shall take it you have yet to see this movie and reply, Maggie Smith is made up to look older, the beauty of the casting, aside from her fine performance as the elderly aunt, is the fact that she also plays the aunt as a young lady in the flashback scenes.
sharedont get hung up on the real ages. remember there are flash backs where maggie smith is seen as a 'school girl.' so her real age is beside the point. she got an oscar nom for this one.
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"A little older" is kind. That's the only moment I was jarred out of the charm of this marvelous film: seeing the nearly-40-year-old Maggie Smith presented as a teenager in schoolgirl garb. The fact that she was introduced as a naive schoolgirl while standing in the midst of obviously much younger, real teenagers made her that much more unbelievable. It yanks you right out of the magic of the movie.
shareI assume you finally got to see it in the 4+ years (!!!) since this thread began but when I saw "ages of actors", I thought the topic was going to be the vast age difference between Alec McCowen and Cindy Williams, who could easily be his daughter--although nothing really happened beyond a kiss between them, and his character did display a bit of paternal concern for hers as well.
The flashback scenes, had Katharine Hepburn played the part as originally cast, would have to have been played by another person, or else I shudder to think what that nude portrait would have looked!
"Well, for once the rich white man is in control!" C. M. Burns