“All communities and ages benefit from the wisdom of older persons,” said UN Secretary-General, . “They have much to teach about navigating uncertainty, resolving conflict and building solidarity across generations.”
Commenting on the United Nations International Day of Older Persons on October 1, a day that promotes a society for all ages, Guterres added that ” are powerful agents of change.”
A look at some of the top-rating films and series of recent and past history demonstrate how older actors can have enduring appeal.
Hit Netflix film set in a retirement village
Based on the best-selling novel by Richard Osman, “The Thursday Murder Club” (2025) brings together four retirees who enjoy solving old cold cases; they set upon investigating the murder of one of the owners of their retirement village.
While some critics claimed that the film offers a fairly standard whodunit-mystery plot, praise was reserved for the veteran cast, and especially -winner Dame Helen Mirren — who recently turned 80, and is a year younger than co-star Ben Kinsgley. Pierce Brosnan and Celia Imrie, both still only in their 70s, were also applauded.
” owns the screen with cunning confidence, and Pierce Brosnan carries the charismatic swagger he once brought to James Bond (and that’s to say nothing of his incredible hair). Celia Imrie lands a couple of the best laughs with her senior spin on the ‘new kid in school’ trope,” wrote one film reviewer in online entertainment magazine Exclaim.
Of working with the seasoned cast, Ben Kingsley, who won the Oscar for “Ghandi” (1982), talked of an ongoing “love of our craft that is shared.”
Comic legends lead the streaming charts
The US mystery comedy-drama television series “Only Murders in the Building” has been running since 2021, but this month, veteran comedians Steve Martin and Martin Short are back at the helm for a fifth season. A sprightly Martin, now 80, and his diminutive neighbor keep the laughs coming alongside a much younger Selena Gomez as they concoct a true-crime podcast based on a gruesome death inside their exclusive New York apartment building.
Streamer Hulu announced in 2021 that “Only Murders in the Building” was the most-watched comedy ever on the platform, and has remained among its most popular shows as it has racked up scores of awards, including multiple Emmys.
Martin, who also co-created the series — and who also still plays banjo in a band — drives the action with his usual comedic verve. Rolling Stone magazine called the first series “a hilarious true-crime parody and a genuinely exciting play-along mystery, all the way through a wonderful finale.”
Interviewed by in July as he was turning 80, Martin, who also published a book of his writing this year, was asked about becoming an octogenarian.
“I feel very comfortable,” he said. “Be honest with yourself … I’ve decided to embrace it.”
“I have a a mantra,” he added with his usual deadpan wit, “find a mirror you trust” — a quote from the British writer Martin Amis.
Meryl Streep, now 76, also has a supporting role in “Only Murders in the Building,” and has also spoken out about aging. “One day you wake up and realize that your youth is gone, but along with it, so go insecurity, haste and the need to please,” she once said.
Older people on the big screen
Back in 1993, two 70ish Hollywood legends, Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, starred in a surprise summer holiday hit, “Grumpy Old Men,” reviving the rare art of slapstick comedic timing with great box office success.
Meanwhile, Clint Eastwood was able to continue his career long behind his “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” (1966) and “Dirty Harry” (1971) height with like “Gran Torino” (2008), which he also directed and was released when he was 78. Eastwood plays a curmudgeonly retired auto worker and Korean War veteran who begins an unlikely friendship with a harassed Hmong teen and his immigrant family.
In the late-career film, Eastwood was able to combine the key themes of his long filmography, such as “family, war, loss, faith and unexpected human connection,” noted USA Today.
More recently, Hollywood A-Listers like George Clooney, the 64-year-old star of “Jay Kelly” (2025), have begun to face their mortality.
“If you can’t make peace with aging, then you’ve got to get out of the business and just disappear,” Clooney recently told Vanity Fair.
And as Helen Mirren and Steve Martin illustrate, the show can go on for many .
“My spirit is the age that I am,” Mirren said in a recent interview. “When you say ‘youthful,’ I’m not full of youth. I’m full of the life that I’ve lived up to this point. I much prefer that phrase. You’re so life full.”
Edited by: Sarah Hucal
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