By Michael Talibard
LET’S talk wrinkles, facelifts and toupées. There are powerful commercial interests out there trying to persuade us that we want to look as young as possible. Do we? It seems lots of us do, since every year £6.5 billion is spent on cosmetics in the UK. But listen: it is OK to look your age. Really it’s OK. Those who tell you otherwise are ageists.
The greatest actresses know this, and thus extend their careers. Meryl Streep, for example, now 75 and still winning Golden Globe and Oscar nominations, often speaks out against all varieties of cosmetic intervention. She explains how ageing in the public eye has empowered her to select roles that portray women as complex, leading figures no matter their age. For her, ageing is not a decline but a progression. Judy Dench is another great actress playing inspiring roles, who wears her wrinkles with pride, and of course is still going strong, as are the wonderful Emma Thompson and Eileen Atkins. One could go on.
In modelling, even more than in acting, looks are everything. Yet one sometimes finds a similar wisdom even there, as in women like Paulina Porizkova. She used to be as sought after as it gets, by Chanel, Versace, you name it. Not now, she tells us. “I know market-wise, I am not considered as beautiful as I once was. My sagginess and wrinkles are flaws – but I like myself better. Now, at 58, I feel like I’m becoming the woman I always wanted to be. The remarkable thing about this is realising life can get better instead of worse.” Yes, so it can.
People often tell my Helen, who wears no make-up, that she doesn’t look her age (and that’s quite true: she doesn’t). Once in a while they even include me in the same compliment, but I think that’s just so I won’t feel left out (though I wouldn’t). To be honest, we both enjoy these remarks, but that’s because it’s always nice when people are nice to you: we are not age-averse.
Still, there are fortunes to be made from age-aversion, and many so-called scientists bent on getting a slice of that. Take the Human Cell Atlas project: as reported by the Daily Mail, Professor Haniffa of the Wellcome Sanger Institute says, “If we can manipulate the skin and prevent ageing we will have fewer wrinkles.” Oh, whoopee!
If you google “facelift before and after” you will find many pairs of photos showing the effects of a facelift. Yes, the ladies do look nicer in the after pics, but that is mostly because they are then shown smiling. What if they had smiled before? And of course, this procedure, along with botox injections, can go horribly wrong. If you have the stomach for it, try googling that!
If you feel happy, you will look beautiful: so why not prioritise that? Julia Roberts (Pretty Woman, Notting Hill) is among those committed to ageing naturally and gracefully. She is often photographed without any make-up and still looks gorgeous. Her secret, she says, is happiness: happy in her marriage, happy on and off screen: what difference do a few wrinkles make?
The male equivalent of wrinkles is hair loss. Gents, however much those adverts try to frighten us, it’s OK to be your age on top. Really it is. If you resort to a wig or toupée, everyone will know it, as the Ricky Gervais stand-up routine so hilariously asserts; or try watching that scene from the film American Hustle.
When John Wayne was questioned about his hair, he said, “It’s not phony. It’s real hair. Of course, it’s not mine, but it’s real.” I’m not sure that dodge worked.
In modern times male actors, like the female stars referenced above, have longer careers if they stop trying to look like teenagers, and play parts that match their true age. Ian McKellen is 85 and still going strong as Gandalf and otherwise. Michael Caine retired last year aged 90, but still getting leading roles, and Clint Eastwood, 94, is making films to this day.
However, the availability of octogenarian and nonagenarian actors has not stopped middle-aged men from stealing their parts, and taking steps to age themselves accordingly. For example Simon Beale, playing King Lear at the National in 2014, aged only 53, had them shave his hair off so as better to look the part. I suppose his dedication is part of why he’s always so brilliant.
Why have I devoted so much of this article to film stars? Because they are a key mechanism by which the ageist advertising industry seeks to persuade us ordinary folk to be age averse. Yet if you listen carefully, the brightest of those stars are not sending that message – not at all.
Michael Talibard, who is now in his 80s, is a retired teacher and former head of English at Victoria College. He founded the Jersey branch of U3A and was its chairman for 20 years.
