Subject: RE: A Most Heartwarming Performance-Susan Boyle
From: Genie - PM
Date: 18 Apr 09 - 03:02 PM

'But Piers Plowman's reply to my example -- "Walter Mathau can be paired with Sophia Loren as a romantic couple, for instance, but not Bea Arthur with Paul Newman." -- makes my point. Piers said "Oh, I thought Bea Arthur was a very attractive and impressive-looking woman. "
She was (maybe still is), but Bea in her 40s or 50s would not have been cast as a romantic lead opposite a man of the same age who was considered a sex symbol comparable to Sophia Loren, while the movie industry thinks nothing of pairing Jack Nicholson with beautiful 30-something women.    That double standard is alive and well.'

Just for the record, I wasn't arguing with the point you were making, which I think is manifestly true. I've just always liked Bea Arthur's appearance (it occurred to me later that "striking" would have been a better description) and I think she was a fine actress whose TV vehicles didn't do justice to her.