If you need a clear sign of both ageism and sexism in Hollywood, consider some of the industry’s finest female actors over the age of 60. Then try to figure out why the hell they’re not getting more work.
Susan Sarandon will turn 70 in October, and despite a fine career in both comedy and drama, she’s still sorely, embarrassingly under-cast. (Although an impending move to the small screen to play Bette Davis in Ryan Murphy’s TV show Feud promises her more deserved screen time.) This week, she shifts into rare leading actor mode in the acutely observed comedy The Meddler, where she’s on top form as the overbearing mother of Rose Byrne’s beleaguered screenwriter.
The film is a necessary reminder of Sarandon’s considerable talents. What have been some other of the Oscar winner’s greatest roles?
Atlantic City
A role in cult favourite The Rocky Horror Picture Show brought her acclaim in 1975, but it was this drama by Louis Malle five years later that truly announced her arrival. She picked up an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of a waitress trying to make it as a blackjack dealer while shaking off her drug dealer ex-husband. Sarandon’s force and confidence are undeniable, and she easily holds her own against Burt Lancaster.
The Hunger
Sarandon has never been afraid to take chances. Rather than fall into an Oscar-bait spiral after Atlantic City, she took a role in Tony Scott’s odd, erotic horror film. She is a doctor who becomes involved in a perverse love triangle with a vampire couple, played by David Bowie and Catherine Deneuve. The Hunger was met with confusion when it was released, but became a cult hit.
Bull Durham
Sarandon used sex appeal in an entirely different manner in Ron Shelton’s engaging 1988 romantic comedy as a groupie who seduces minor league baseball players. Her off-screen chemistry with Tim Robbins led to their marriage, but her on-screen chemistry with Kevin Costner made the film – and revealed early signs of her comic talents.
Thelma & Louise
This is probably her most iconic role. Sarandon starred with Geena Davis as friends who take a mini-break that turns into something rather unexpected. Thelma & Louise is still considered groundbreaking for its portrayal of women who refuse to conform or to allow men to mistreat them. Sarandon picked up another Oscar nod.
Dead Man Walking
In 1995, a few years after her Thelma & Louise Oscar nomination, Sarandon won an Academy Award for her turn as Sister Helen Prejean in this fact-based drama about a man on death row. It’s a deeply felt performance, and far from the wisecracking roles she had been known for. With her co-star Sean Penn, she brings the film to a heartbreaking finale.
