This is an ongoing series about lovely women over 43, which reaches its climax in Friday afternoon's Sexiest Woman over 43 Poll."Four Weddings and a Funeral" star Andie MacDowell says her 40s were an awkward time partly because Hollywood filmmakers didn't know how to cast the veteran American actress.The 51-year-old actress hasn't had a big hit since a string of commercial successes in the early and mid-1990s, including "Groundhog Day," "Michael," and "Four Weddings and a Funeral."
She said Thursday that while she didn't have trouble finding work in her 40s, American filmmakers may have had trouble finding good roles for her."In America, there's such a hunger for young people, so you get the young up-and-coming star.
And then it becomes a time when they really don't know what to do with you ... and then it changes, I think, after 50. I think you have to stay open and flexible and look for opportunities and not be arrogant," she said.
"You're so used to being the lead or the hot thing. I think a lot of people get stuck in that moment. And I'm not really stuck in that moment. I just want to participate."
She looks great at 51 but that still isn't enough, it seems. It's the tragedy of people who perhaps have pretty features but something in them, some vibe they project, puts people off. Looking at her, I could be completely wrong but she comes across as a bit pushy, a bit terse maybe, which men don't like in a woman, of course. I think most men would not even notice the physical ravages of time if she was a lovely personality. Perhaps she is lovely in real life.
This article says of her:
That's true.
This is part of the problem with actresses - often you're only as good as your material and how you are typecast. She was most likeable in Groundhog Day but if she had a poor part, she might come across entirely differently.
The bottom line though is that she looks like that at 51. Wow.
This article says of her:
[S]he appeals to women as much, if not more than, men, who don't always find her sexy.
That's true.
'Anjelica Huston, Jessica Lange, Geena Davis - what's the girl from Basic Instinct? Sharon Stone - Sean Young, all modelled. The big difference is that I was extremely successful.'
The tartness of the riposte is rather at odds with her likeable screen image.
This is part of the problem with actresses - often you're only as good as your material and how you are typecast. She was most likeable in Groundhog Day but if she had a poor part, she might come across entirely differently.
The bottom line though is that she looks like that at 51. Wow.
I have always like Andie. An attractive and intelligent woman in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteAnd she has the spark; the 'it' that spark (or fire) that sets the genuinely attractive apart from the merely regular-featured.
ReplyDeleteActually Angelica Houston, Uma Thurman, and Cher have 'it.' And classical beauties, they are not.
Many people say it's her 'naturalness', both in features and in nature, which is key characteristic.
ReplyDeleteYes, how often do we see, in men and women, the not-so-physically-beautiful beautiful for other reasons?
Thanks, Will and NNWer.
I'm looking forward to the series on sexy men over 43 - it is on its way isn't it???
ReplyDeleteShe was the weak point in 4 Fs and a W.
ReplyDeleteIt is, Rachel. I have many of the photos sitting in the folder already.
ReplyDeleteDearieme - ssssh! I'm trying to give some sort of tribute here.
Or 4 Ws and an F, I suppose.
ReplyDeleteShe never did it for me.....
ReplyDeleteI've always liked her.
ReplyDeleteThis is what we mean, Uber. The men, generally, not all of course, don't much like her. They don't dislike her but they don't take to her. Maybe it's her stridency, the unsmiling 'demandingness' she projects.
ReplyDeleteThe women, on the other hand, supposedly like her feistiness. she doesn't seem a rabid feminist and yet she has the appearance of one which goes down well with strong women.
It's a puzzle why she's seen along gender lines this way.