"Worship at the Altar of the Young Male and his Penis"

[fountainhall]

The movie industry has a goodly share of older actresses who get plum parts - Dame Judi Dench (M in the Bond movies, Shakespeare in Love, etc.), Susan Sarandon (Dead Man Walking, Thelma and Louise, etc.), Imelda Staunton (Vera Drake nomination and the Harry Potter movies), Shirley Maclaine (Irma La Douce, Terms of Endearment, etc.), Dame Maggie Smith (Prime of MIss Jean Brodie, Harry Potter etc.) and so on. Many of the English acting aristocracy started out in their 20s as members of the two great British theatre companies - the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre.

One of my favourites, Oscar winner Dame Helen Mirren (Queen, Roman Spring of Mrs Stone, etc.) is also a 'graduate'. I recall as a teenager seeing her back in the mid-1960s in a stunning Royal Shakespeare production of the chilling early 17th century drama The Revenger's Tragedy. Never one to steer clear of controversy, she recently condemned movie-makers for choosing projects aimed at the male youth market. At a ceremony to honour Hollywood Reporter's publication of its list of the 100 most powerful women in entertainment, she said the industry -

"continues to worship at the altar of the 18- to 25-year-old male and his penis . . . I've seen too many of my brilliant colleagues who worked non-stop through their 20s, their 30s and their 40s, only to find a complete desert in their 50s

At the same time, she resented -

the survival of some very mediocre male actors and the professional demise of some very brilliant female ones.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-11957493

Good on you, girl! Is George Hamilton lurking somewhere?