Q: I would like to know actress Gloria Stuart's age when she starred in 1997's "Titanic." I saw a 1930s movie, "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm," with a very young Shirley Temple and a young actress named Gloria Stuart. I am very interested in Stuart's career and life.
A: Stuart was 87 when "Titanic" premiered; the supporting-actress Oscar nomination she received for that film made her the oldest nominee for an acting Oscar. (She has since been passed by Christopher Plummer, who was 88 when nominated for supporting actor for "All the Money in the World." Plummer also holds the title of oldest acting winner, for his role in "Beginners" when he was 82. But your question is not about Plummer, so let's move on.)
That was indeed the same Stuart in 1938's "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm," one of many movies she made from 1932 to 1946. She then left acting, later saying that she was tired of being typecast as "girl reporter, girl detective, girl overboard." She instead painted, designed and printed books and, according to the Los Angeles Times, made bonsai trees. She returned to acting in the 1970s, but it was her performance as Old Rose in "Titanic" that revived interest in her. That led to other roles, and an autobiography. She died in 2010 at the age of 100 — the same age as the character she had played in "Titanic."
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