Some big actor-to-character age differences on TV
Actress: Gabrielle Carteris
Character: Andrea Zuckerman (Beverly Hills, 90210)
29 years old, playing 15 years old
14 year difference
When coming up with this list, Carteris was the first to come to mind. When 90210 premiered in the fall of 1990, the actress was 29 playing a high school student. But hell, she pulled it off.
Actor: Henry Winkler
Character: Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli (Happy Days)
29 years old, playing 17 years old
12 year difference
Looking back to Happy Days now, it did seem like The Fonz was a little too comfortable with the Cunningham adults, didn’t he? Maybe he lied about his age to his friends and he was actually held back 12 years in high school, just so he could look much cooler than anyone else. Heck, maybe he didn’t even go to high school at all. I can think of a couple of guys who, when at 29, would have thought this was a plan of genius.
Actress: Keiko Agena
Character: Lane Kim (Gilmore Girls)
33 years old, playing 22 years old
11 year difference
This one’s purely from research, as this was one show I never made time for. In looking at pictures of her against the other characters of the show, she certainly doesn’t stick out as being older. Good for her.
Actor: Gary Burghoff
Character: Radar O’Reilly (M*A*S*H)
32 years old, playing 18 years old
11 year difference (14 years by IMDb)
If you go by IMDb, Gary Burghoff was born in 1940. Wikipedia lists his birthdate as 1943. Which is it? I don’t know. It doesn’t really matter, because his actor/character age ratio rates up there in the top few of this list.
Actor: Tony O’Dell
Character: Alan Pinkard (Head of the Class)
26 years old, playing about 16 years old
About a 10 year difference
This one I had to estimate, since O’Dell was supposed to be, I believe, a sophomore in high school. I gotta say, he looks an awful lot like someone I once knew in high school, so it works. He played the overly-yuppie honors student to perfection; so much so that I wanted to reach through the TV and punch him in the nose. Maybe others agree, since the poor guy’s only got 57 MySpace friends.
Actor: David Boreanaz
Character: Angel/Angelus (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel)
35 years old, playing 26 years old
9 year difference
I’m not very good at suspending disbelief sometimes, and here’s one example that was such a thorn in my side for years while watching two of my favorite shows. When Angel went off the air in 2004, David Boreanaz was 35 and still trying to pull off his eternally-young 26 year-old character. This was one reason I was so glad the series ended; if they explained to us why the character didn’t look the same as in season one, I’d be happy.
Others with a 9 year difference:
Actor: Tom Welling
Character: Clark Kent (Smallville)
24 years old, playing 15 years old
Actor: Dan Frischman
Character: Arvid Engen (Head of the Class)
25 years old, playing about 16
Those with an 8 year difference:
Actor: Luke Perry
Character: Dylan McKay (Beverly Hills, 90210)
24 years old, playing 16 years old
Actor: Michael Rosenbaum
Character: Lex Luthor (Smallville)
29 years old, playing 21 years old
Actor: Benjamin McKenzie
Character: Ryan Atwood (The O.C.)
25 years old, playing 17 years old
Actor: Max Casella
Character: Vinnie Delpino (Doogie Howser, M.D.)
22 years old, playing 14 years old
Actress: Betty White
Character: Rose Nylund (The Golden Girls)
70 years old, playing 62
You could almost put this list together in order of how extreme the age difference seems, once you see the actual and virtual ages side-by-side. Luke Perry playing a 16 year-old at 24 seems minor to Max Casella playing a 14 year-old at 22, yet there’s still an eight year difference there.
So, did I leave out any big ones? Let me know in the comments.
Milwaukee wants to bronze the Fonz
In a move that promises to bring in at least a dozen tourists each year, the group that promotes tourism in Milwaukee, Wisconsin is raising funds to build a bronze statue of The Fonz. Apparently Happy Days was set in Milwaukee and that continues to be important to the fine citizens of that city.
The tourism group, called Visit Milwaukee, has already raised $45,000 of the $85,000 needed to commission the statue. The head of the group said a dedication ceremony and the statue would be sure to draw visitors to Milwaukee. Why? “This is a statue of a TV icon who is the epitome of cool,” said Dave Fantle, VP of Visit Milwaukee. Baby boomers, book your tickets now!
Henry Winkler, who played The Fonz on Happy Days, has promised to appear at the dedication ceremony. He’s a good sport.
The Fonz to get statue in Milwaukee
It looks like the “Bronze the Fonz” campaign worked. The archetypical Happy Days character will be getting his own bronze statue in the city where the T.V. show was set.
This isn’t the first time a television character has gotten a statue. I live near New York City and I walk past the Ralph Kramden statue every time I take the bus. The cable channel TV Land has arranged for a half-dozen statues to be placed across America. TV Land is co-sponsoring the Fonzie statue as well.Henry Winkler is quoted as saying the project was “a phenomenal compliment”. Granted, the man’s career nosedived after this role, but very few of us get to be part of Americana like this. I do admit that if I ever visit Milwaukee after this is built, I will likely get a photo of myself next to the statue giving the double-thumbs-up and saying “Ayyyyyyy”.
Of course, the U.S. isn’t the only country that builds statues to fictional characters. In London’s Hyde Park, there is a statue of Peter Pan. What other American television characters should be getting a statue? Mork? Urkel? Lucy Ricardo? Captain Kirk?