#5 How Actors Are Affected by Ageism (Article)

    Beautiful Actresses are Greatly Affected by Ageism

Actor Angela Lansbury from Murder She Wrote talks about the difficulty it is finding a work as you get older. She says that this greatly effects the actresses that were considered beautiful in their youth. She says that as you grow older there are less and less acting parts because more of the gigs are given to younger women. Lansbury even says that "Shakespeare stopped writing about women while his men aged. The young look nicer". She says that she hasn't really suffered from ageism because she was a character actress and was never considered a beauty. But she does see more and more women her age not being able to find jobs and being forced to retire. 

Its sad to think that there are women who want to work but can't because they are considered too old and not pretty anymore. There is too much focus today on being young and pretty. I think that it's horrible that this only effects women. This doesn't really effect men as they age. There are a bunch of male actors that are considered better looking because they are older. It must be hard for these women because they spent their career being praised for their work and good looks and now people are closing doors for them because they are no longer what the media wants. Although this is directed toward actresses, lack of jobs for older people in any profession is very common today.

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