Aging Actress

[Rob_Royale]

I'm very intrigued with the classic Sunset Boulevard dynamic. A famous and successful actress from the 1930s through the 1950s, sees her roles getting fewer as she ages, and when they do call, it's for the role of someone's mom rather than the female lead. This is very hard for the arrogant woman. Thrice divorced, she wants comfort and sex but is deathly afraid of being spotted and having her name dragged through the mud by the tabloids, further reducing the chances of getting good roles.

I'm trying to imagine something she might do, places she might go, to find love, companionship and naked bodies. Perhaps her young assistant/servant whom she found tedious in the past. She's discovered the young man has been desperately in love with her for years.

Any other ideas, pop to mind?

 

[Cagivagurl]

Strange that you see the woman as arrogant???

 

[Rob_Royale]

Strange that you see the woman as arrogant???

Yes. My character is an arrogant, silver spoon fed, entitled person. Why would that be strange?

 

[Yarglenurp]

Given your time period, I think private parties hosted by Hollywood financial elites would be the go-to place for such things. The kind that your character were once invited to, but are no longer. Depending on how you want to play it, she either crashes the party or is ulterior-motive-invited because they want to lease a property she owns.

 

[GlennJenko]

She's discovered the young man has been desperately in love with her for years.

Would you be thinking more of a romance angle for this, or her essentially using him to get some sex?

Any other ideas, pop to mind?

I'm trying to think of ways she could go incognito.

Maybe she's filming something in a semi-remote location with a new starlet that she's initially jealous of but comes to see as an opportunity. With the focus on this new hot thing, she can more easily blend in. Especially if she has to dye her hair or something so people can't as easily tell it's her.

Or maybe some younger actor takes a liking to her and they some romps in one of their trailers after the crew have gone or something.

 

[Kristal_1976]

I'm very intrigued with the classic Sunset Strip dynamic. A famous and successful actress from the 1930s through the 1950s, sees her roles getting fewer as she ages, and when they do call, it's for the role of someone's mom rather than the female lead. This is very hard for the arrogant woman. Thrice divorced, she wants comfort and sex but is deathly afraid of being spotted and having her name dragged through the mud by the tabloids, further reducing the chances of getting good roles.

I'm trying to imagine something she might do, places she might go, to find love, companionship and naked bodies. Perhaps her young assistant/servant whom she found tedious in the past. She's discovered the young man has been desperately in love with her for years.

Any other ideas, pop to mind?

I could definitely imagine some possibilities. I guess depends what sort of kinks or fetishes you'd want to explore?
But what you mentioned already sounds very interesting.

 

[Rob_Royale]

Would you be thinking more of a romance angle for this, or her essentially using him to get some sex?


I'm trying to think of ways she could go incognito.

Maybe she's filming something in a semi-remote location with a new starlet that she's initially jealous of but comes to see as an opportunity. With the focus on this new hot thing, she can more easily blend in. Especially if she has to dye her hair or something so people can't as easily tell it's her.

Or maybe some younger actor takes a liking to her and they some romps in one of their trailers after the crew have gone or something.

All good ideas. And yes, I'm considering a romantic angle. Perhaps she uses him at first, but over time starts seeing him differently. The incognito idea is rather promising.

 

[jaF0]

Her name is Laura. She still lives in the apartment of her days of fame with memories displayed throughout. Almost as if time had stopped.

The footsteps she heard down the hall
The laugh that floated on a summer night
She could never quite recall

And then one day on a train that was passing through
Those eyes how familiar they seemed

But was she only dreaming?


The eyes reminded her of a man named Mark that she knew long ago. He had investigated claims of her death and they became enamored with each other, but never went further. She never forgot though and was now on a quest to find the look-a-like. How does she go about it?

 

[NegateGivity]

You can go the casting couch angle. Aging actress used to being offered parts, now with hundreds of young actresses getting off the bus everyday, they are few and far between. Being a veteran of the industry, she knows how things work. Now she finds herself right back where she was at the start of her career, only this time she knows what to expect and maybe how to make things work to her advantage.
Maybe she's the one running the casting couch, al la Lucile Ball.

 

[Rob_Royale]

Maybe she's the one running the casting couch, al la Lucile Ball.

Would you please expound on this comment regarding Lucy?

 

[ElectricBlue]

Here's my take on the "aging actress" idea - although in this case, it's a reclusive fashion model:

Songs of Seduction - Silk and Skin

 

[NegateGivity]

Would you please expound on this comment regarding Lucy?

Well I've read that Lucy got her start in show business by way of the casting couch in the 30's. After she got a break and also hooked up with Desi she had a better standing in Hollywood. Though when they divorced she lost that clout and had to start over again. Luckily she had good will she established when she was at the top.

I wasn't insinuating that Lucy was on the other side of the casting couch. I was just making a suggestion for your story idea. I.e. a powerful woman who's name was on the studio.

 

[ChuckWolf]

I'm very intrigued with the classic Sunset Boulevard dynamic. A famous and successful actress from the 1930s through the 1950s, sees her roles getting fewer as she ages, and when they do call, it's for the role of someone's mom rather than the female lead.

I'm assuming this story takes place around the 60's to early 80's?

 

[Rob_Royale]

I'm assuming this story takes place around the 60's to early 80's?

I was thinking early 60s, yes.

 

[Cagivagurl]

Yes. My character is an arrogant, silver spoon fed, entitled person. Why would that be strange?

Why does she have to be arrogant?
Because she is beautiful... Talented.... Respected... Revered....

Just because a woman is all of the above. That does not make her arrogant...
Most people regardless of gender, who are attractive, know it. That doesn't automatically make them arrogant....
Just saying...
Sports stars who age and stop being first choice and slowly drop down the grades. Go through the same thing.
Just saying

Cagivagurl

 

[ChuckWolf]

https://www.ranker.com/list/old-hollywood-dgaf-cheating-alpha-females/lisa-a-flowers

Some inspiration.

 

[ChuckWolf]

I was thinking early 60s, yes.

The early 60's was an interesting time for this kind of story, as Hollywood stars were beginning to get separated from the studios that controlled and protected them from scandal.

I vaguely recall stories about secret Hollywood parties where stars would engage in premarital/interracial/gay sex, smoke weed and engage in other stuff that was considered illegal and/or scandalous for that time.

 

[ChuckWolf]

Being thrice-divorced, it's not inconceivable that the actress might've had access to a private investigator/Hollywood fixer who could arrange for her sexual meet ups.

 

[NegateGivity]

Why does she have to be arrogant?
Because she is beautiful... Talented.... Respected... Revered....

Just because a woman is all of the above. That does not make her arrogant...
Most people regardless of gender, who are attractive, know it. That doesn't automatically make them arrogant....
Just saying...
Sports stars who age and stop being first choice and slowly drop down the grades. Go through the same thing.
Just saying

Cagivagurl

Probably because they want to write this fictional character that way. But that's just a guess.

 

[ChuckWolf]

Just because I found this in that article I posted earlier

With her ostentatious mansion, kitschy decadence, and debauched parties, British cult actress Diana Dors was the definition of notorious. Dors was married three times, had numerous lovers, and was rather quaintly called "a wayward hussy" by the Archbishop of Canterbury. She was famous not just for starring in low-budget films, but for filming people having sex in her house. According to sources:

"to whoops and laughter, [Dors's guests] watched grainy footage, transmitted via video-link, of an unsuspecting couple who had chosen to cavort in one of the dimly-lit upstairs bedrooms... it’s fair to say that pretty much anything was acceptable during the infamous sex parties staged at Orchard Manor in Sunningdale, Berkshire."

• Age: Dec. at 52 (1931-1984)
• Credits: Blonde Sinner, Queenie's Castle, A Kid for Two Farthings, Tread Softly Stranger

 

[Rob_Royale]

Why does she have to be arrogant?
Because she is beautiful... Talented.... Respected... Revered....

Just because a woman is all of the above. That does not make her arrogant...
Most people regardless of gender, who are attractive, know it. That doesn't automatically make them arrogant....
Just saying...
Sports stars who age and stop being first choice and slowly drop down the grades. Go through the same thing.
Just saying

Cagivagurl

I don't disagree with anything you've posted. If you check out my stories they are full of terrifically well put together ladies. Beautiful, smart, capable, and kind.

But this character isn't capable or kind. She's too used to having things done for her. She's been told how great she is for so long , she believes it. And it's made her arrogant.

I want her this way because I want her go through a journey of self awareness. I want her to become aware of her character flaws and change.

Her previous marriages were to actors/producers/directors etc. But she realizes, that none of it was real. There was no bond between them. Attaraction, lust, yes. But has she ever actually been in love?

I don't have the partiulars fleshed out yet, that's why I posted this, but I promise you a happy ending.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I don't disagree with anything you've posted. If you check out my stories they are full of terrifically well put together ladies. Beautiful, smart, capable, and kind.

But this character isn't capable or kind. She's too used to having things done for her. She's been told how great she is for so long , she believes it. And it's made her arrogant.

I want her this way because I want her go through a journey of self awareness. I want her to become aware of her character flaws and change.

Her previous marriages were to actors/producers/directors etc. But she realizes, that none of it was real. There was no bond between them. Attaraction, lust, yes. But has she ever actually been in love?

I don't have the partiulars fleshed out yet, that's why I posted this, but I promise you a happy ending.

I'd like to know exactly what time period would be best for this. If it's the present (2024), the actress could have peaked sometime in the1960's through the 1990's, or even a bit later. Show business is not kind to anybody over a certain age, but surely it's worse for women.

Sunset Boulevard is both empathetic and yet clear-eyed about Norma's situation. And it's very hard to imagine a happy-ending for her relationship to Joe Gillis, and instead it's tragic. Some people avoid the Hollywood trap by going into another field, or just not taking it too seriously. There have been some, like Joanne Woodward and Anne Bancroft, who had happy marriages even if their husbands were in the business too. (In the photos of Bancroft with Mel Brooks, she's always laughing - not surprisingly!)

Sunset Boulevard did have some great scenes.

 

[jaF0]

I'd like to know exactly what time period would be best for this. If it's the present (2024), the actress could have peaked sometime in the1960's through the 1990's, or even a bit later. Show business is not kind to anybody over a certain age, but surely it's worse for women.

I keep thinking of the likes of Victoria Principal and Linda Evans. Top names of their era, then basically nothing as far as roles.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I keep thinking of the likes of Victoria Principal and Linda Evans. Top names of their era, then basically nothing as far as roles.

The roles for men fall off too, but not at the same rate as it does for women. I could speculate that their was a time when movies, at least, had a mass audience, but along the way, it became more of a young person's medium. TV shows, maybe, had a wider variety of characters. Still, people often wind up in the granny and grandpa roles. Some, like Warren Beatty, are mostly not interested in that transition, and he has mostly stuck to producing and writing in recent years.

 

[Yarglenurp]

The roles for men fall off too, but not at the same rate as it does for women. I could speculate that their was a time when movies, at least, had a mass audience, but along the way, it became more of a young person's medium. TV shows, maybe, had a wider variety of characters. Still, people often wind up in the granny and grandpa roles. Some, like Warren Beatty, are mostly not interested in that transition, and he has mostly stuck to producing and writing in recent years.

Going from actor to a behind-the-scenes industry guy is probably the smart move, no matter what. Guys who try to hang on to roles they're not physically suited for is just plain sad. For example, Robert DeNiro is a fine actor, but he was absolutely miscast in the Irishman... Digitally making him younger doesn't change the fact that he moves like a 70+ year old man. watching a 70-year old DeNiro attack the shopkeeper was like watching the worst WWE stage match of all time.