One of the greatest things about being a kid is that you really think you're going to do everything. Whenever you see a famous actor, writer, musician, sports star, or anyone else that has become well-known, somewhere in the back of your mind you think that you can do it too. But as you grow up, you start noticing, little by little, that you're falling behind. By the time you're 20 you may realize that Eddie Murphy was a famous comedian and Jackie Chan was a famous actor by the time they were your age. By your mid-20s the list of such people grows significantly. I remember how shocked I was to hear that The Red Baron died when he was 26. Citizen Kane, considered by many to be the best movie of all time, was written, directed, and starred in my someone in his mid 20s. And now, coming up on 30, I have to face the fact that practically everyone that has ever become famous has done it by my age.
Not that I'm really obsessed with fame. I honestly don't care. But it does give me a feeling of mortality to realize that some options really have passed me by. Now when I watch a movie, listen to an album, or read a book, I have to concede that I'm never going to be on the screen, playing the instrument, or holding the pen. Not only has everyone I can think of who is famous made it by my age, but most of them have done the best work of their lives by that time.
Am I wrong? Can anyone think of a famous person who was unknown when he or she was 30? Am I the only one who's a little bit disturbed by this?
[ May 20, 2004, 01:11 PM: Message edited by: Speed ]
Posted by UofUlawguy (Member # 5492) on :
Colonel Sanders?
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
Jesus didn't get his big break until his early 30s.
Posted by Alexa (Member # 6285) on :
Just as long as you don't get old AND fat.
*snickers*
*heads off to Burger King to get another large chocolate shake and a diet coke.*
Posted by kaioshin00 (Member # 3740) on :
From what I know Alexander Fleming didn't discover penicillin until he was around 50 years old.
Of course it was an accident.
Posted by Alexa (Member # 6285) on :
Pat Morita aka Noriyuki Morita.
According to this bio, Pat did not star in his first movie until he was 35. Before that, he had a regular job he must of quit in his mid 30s to try a stint in stand-up comedy.
Posted by ak (Member # 90) on :
Grandma Moses
Posted by Papa Moose (Member # 1992) on :
I don't plan on being famous for another 10-12 years yet.
Posted by Xaposert (Member # 1612) on :
I'd wager that the vast majority of famous people became famous after age 30. This is true for virtually all politicians, most truly famous businessmen, many great thinkers, many famous authors, most big time directors, etc.
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
Janecek. Didn't start composing until he was after 40. I want to be a famous writer some how. Just not the type that gets followed in supermarkets. Have to do something about that.
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
I wonder what age OSC was when his first full-length novel got published....
...Dog? Can you answer?
Farmgirl
Posted by Speed (Member # 5162) on :
Tres:
Good point about the businessmen and politicians. But I really think most directors and writers who are famous now had some reasonable degree of fame before they were 30. Very interesting exceptions I'm hearing, but I still think 30 is a few standard deviations right of center from the bell-shaped curve. I don't have any hard evidence, but every list I can come up with is very heavily weighted in favor of pre-30s success.
Other than that, I haven't heard much about my second question. Does anyone ever think about this? Does anyone here want to be successful in one of these media-type artistic/performance fields? Even in the back of your mind? Am I alone in being disturbed by turning 30 under these conditions?
[ May 20, 2004, 01:56 PM: Message edited by: Speed ]
Posted by Sugar+Spice (Member # 5874) on :
I've been worried about this too. I always intended to write my first book by the time I was twenty. I now have two weeks to get it done.
Where did all the time go?
Posted by Irami Osei-Frimpong (Member # 2229) on :
A swarm writers including Joseph Heller.
Posted by Mike (Member # 55) on :
This reminds me of one of my favorite Tom Lehrer quotes:
quote:It is a sobering thought ... that when Mozart was my age he had been dead for two years.
That said, I'd much rather be well known within a subculture than be truly famous. Like Victor Kee or Dennis Ritchie.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
DARN! Mike posted the Lehrer quote before I saw this thread!
quote: From what I know Alexander Fleming didn't discover penicillin until he was around 50 years old.
Of course it was an accident.
Not entirely. Most scientists would have simply scrapped the contaminated plates; he examined them AND realized their significance.
Serendipity favors the prepared mind.
Posted by pH (Member # 1350) on :
*has problems accepting anyone younger than herself as "famous." Hates on the Olsen Twins*
Posted by Damien (Member # 5611) on :
Who needs fame when you own the world?
Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
God didn't get truly famous until he was quite old, (well, famous to us Humans.) though some believe he did his best work right from the begining.
Posted by Alexa (Member # 6285) on :
What freaks me out is that at my age my mom was already married, had several kids, and divorced. I am getting ready for my first kid. Why do I seem to be so much slower on these life experiences?
I don't want fame, I want accomplishments. I just get too easily side-tracked by entertainment.
[ May 20, 2004, 03:50 PM: Message edited by: Alexa ]
Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
Any one who married at eighteen freaks me out, because I'm eighteen and I'm not planning on marriage anytime soon.
There's nothing wrong with that...I'm just in a completely different mind set to those people! I simply cannot imagine it!
Posted by Dante (Member # 1106) on :
Famous by 30? Crap. I have three weeks.
On the plus side, at least I'm already infamous by 30.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
I believe OSC was in college when his first novel was published.
How old was Einstein when he first became famous?
Posted by Strider (Member # 1807) on :
like 23-25 or so.
Posted by Zalmoxis (Member # 2327) on :
Too many authors -- even published authors -- start in with writing novels too soon.
Here's what *real* writers do:
Write bad poetry in their teens and early twenties.
Write bad short stories in their mid-20s.
Write decent short stories, a few good pieces of criticsm, and a novella or two in their late 20s and the decade of the 30s.
Start their first novel at age 40.
Hit full stride as a novelist at age 50.
I did the bad poetry thing okay, but I'm behind schedule with the bad short stories.
Posted by Dante (Member # 1106) on :
Zal--
I like your schedule! I did the bad poetry and short stories. I have two more chapters until I finish my first novel, though; that's ten years ahead of schedule!
I've also written some good short stories and good poetry, though I still think I have about ten years before I really hit full stride with those.
Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
The funny thing, Dante didn't write his famed Comedy until he was in his 40's or so.
Posted by aspectre (Member # 2222) on :
HarrisonFord was pretty much unknown (and a has-been making his living as a carpenter to the extent that he was known) until he did StarWars at the age of 35.
While SharonStone worked in the business, it wasn't until she was 32 that the public found her particularly memorable: mostly as "that chick who tried to kill Schwartzenagger in TotalRecall". She was 34 before BasicInstinct made her famous as SharonStone.
RayKroc was an unknown who had run a few of his businesses into the ground before he purchased a small hamburger business when he was 52, and turned it into McDonalds.
KaryMullis was known mostly to acquaintances as a surfer who spent a lot of time hanging around coffee bars. Until at age 38or39, when he discovered the PolymeraseChainReaction making genetic engineering practical; which was so groundbreakingly important that he received the NobelPrize.
RobertPirsig had an errrmmm...interestinglife but was pretty anonymous until his Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance rocketed him to fame at the age of 45.
It would be easy to go on and on and on and ...
[ May 20, 2004, 06:44 PM: Message edited by: aspectre ]
Posted by fallow (Member # 6268) on :
I thought American lives have no second acts?
now, where did that come from?
Posted by imogen (Member # 5485) on :
Lucky for me, judges of the Australian High Court and the International Court of Justice (why not aim high?) aren't known for their youth.
So I figure I've got another 30 or so years before I start getting worried. Posted by imogen (Member # 5485) on :
For some others.. Hugh Jackman didn't really become famous famous until X-Men in 2000, when he was 32.
Similarly, Naomi Watts only become well-known after Mulholland Drive in 2001, when she was 33.
So there's hope yet... Posted by WheatPuppet (Member # 5142) on :
Bill Gates became famous when he was reasonably young. Do you want to end up like him? He's a total creep who has bassackward ideas about software.
I guess, on the same note, Linus Torvalds was only about 25 when he became famous for writing the Linux kernel. He's one of the subversive heroes of the Open Source community. Apparently a thinktank funded by Microsoft is claiming that he didn't actually write it, bu apparently they just made up a lot of the research. Linus had a great reply to their slanderous claims, though.
Um...
[/geek]
Posted by Speed (Member # 5162) on :
Imogen:
It's a good point. But Hugh starred in an Australian TV series when he was 27. Naomi Watts had been in a pile of movies before she was 30. Certainly more than anyone else on this board has been in.
And just for the record, as I said in my first post, I have no desire to be famous. I really think I'd hate to do the things these people do. The only thing that disturbs me is that certain paths of my life are inexorably closed. Whenever I saw someone famous, I've spent all of my life thinking, somewhere in the back of my mind, "I'm sure I could do that if I wanted to." Now I'm at the age where I have to concede that no matter how much I want to, or even how much natural talent I may or may not have, I can't do that. I'm happy with the choices I've made in my life, but those choices have closed doors for me that I'll never be able to open. It's a new feeling that's strange and, although I can't explain why, a little disturbing.
That is all.
Posted by fallow (Member # 6268) on :
*massages speed's scalp*
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
If you really think that, then you'll probably prove yourself right....
Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
I want to be famous for being really, really old. The worlds longest recorded marriage was 84 years. I that would take me living to 104, but I want to shoot for 120. I have the genes, but I don't know if my husband does. Three of my grandparents lived past 90 and one is still going. He only had one that made it into her 80's.
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
Most of my relatives have lived to be over 100 (my aunt calls it the longevity curse). So I figure at age 43 here, I'm not even halfway through my life yet (barring accident). So I still have time to become rich (or famous)
Farmgirl
Posted by Jim-Me (Member # 6426) on :
No, Kwea, there really *are* things that close off to you as you age. Service Academies close their doors on you at 22. Record companies will be very hard pressed to consider a pop star over 28. Professional sports, too, is unlikely to give you a shot too far out of college. Military Service requires a waiver past age 35, as does starting a career as a commerical pilot. The FBI won't accept anyone after their 37th birthday.
There are many things that, if you aren't going down the path by a certain age, you aren't going to get there.
Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
This week a milestone was reached in Professional Baseball. There have been only slightly more than a dozen perfect games pitched. This week one was pitched by a forty year old.
Please, feel free to correct the details on the numbers in this post, cause I ain't no baseball fan.
Posted by sarahdipity (Member # 3254) on :
*favors the prepared mind*
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
quote: Bill Gates became famous when he was reasonably young. Do you want to end up like him? He's a total creep who has bassackward ideas about software.
Yes I do. But then, after I'm fabulously wealthy, I'll see the light, become a happy person, and live the rest of my life happy *and* wealthy. Posted by Jim-Me (Member # 6426) on :
Dan, you are correct... However, Mr. Big Unit has been pitching for a LONG time. He didn't start as a forty year old.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
In the end, we are all forgotten. Worldly recognition is vanity. Fame is a cold and addictive drug that leaves you empty and wanting more.
There are better battles. Posted by Bob the Lawyer (Member # 3278) on :
Hey, Stargate, whatever you have to tell yourself so being unknown and poor doesn't seem so bad, eh? Posted by Alexa (Member # 6285) on :
Facing the reality of aging can be disconcerting. I am at the middle school I attended, and as students are asking me to sign their yearbooks, I keep thinking...where did the time go? I don't feel particularly smarter, wiser, or older. I just feel like I have a slower metabolism and won’t accomplish some of the things I wanted to accomplish. Many people die before they are 29; if I had died two or three years ago, I wonder what my point would have been. I do appreciate the general happiness surrounding me—but still...
My whole life is a collection of memories and “now-sensations” which become memories as soon as they is identified. I don’t FEEL older, and since I am not consciously thinking about and reviewing all my memories, I seldom feel the age of experience. As I look around and see the expectations these students have for life, and I realize they have more opportunities then me (mostly because I have already made my choices at their age), I too also feel unsettled. I realize my mortality.
Posted by Xaposert (Member # 1612) on :
What are these things that you can no longer accomplish?
Posted by Bob the Lawyer (Member # 3278) on :
I agree with you Sgate, but being rich and famous != unhappy, alone, broken, and living a lie. You made being famous sound so bleak you were begging for someone to take a jab at you. Begging.
Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
I don't see this thread as being about rich and famous.
I see it as being about productive.
We all set goals in our lives. These goals could lead to fame and fortune, or they could lead to family and friends, to helping many people in some signifigant way, to leaving ones mark on the world, even if we know that mark will fade, for the echoes of that mark will live on. Yet life passes on and our goals remain unfulfilled.
Do not despair.
Even if you never wrote that poem that could bring the world to tears, or told that joke that brought laughter to millions, the little things you do affect others, and your existance ripples out on the river of humanity in ways you will never know.
You were here.
You did matter.
Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
Hey aspectre - I thought I'd take the opportunity to brag. I daily associate with people who used to have Pirsig over for dinner parties. They're my professors, of course, but I still like being so close to fame.
I also grew up next door to Robert Zubrin (the Mars guy).
See, my plan is to gain purpose in life by being as closely associated with famous people as possible, hoping the star dust rubs off.
Of course, if you think you need the real stuff, perhaps you'll find it consoling to know that Billy Ray Cyrus never picked up a guitar until he was 25. Posted by Ela (Member # 1365) on :
Dan, what you wrote is so true.
Posted by Space Opera (Member # 6504) on :
Dan's post reminded me of that movie "Pay it Forward." Such a great film with such a positive message...even though it's a tear-jerker.
space opera
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
I am a big believer that the best way I can make a difference in the world is through my family and children. I don't have to be rich nor famous for that.
Posted by Alexa (Member # 6285) on :
quote: What are these things that you can no longer accomplish?
Be famous by the time you are 30. Seriously tho, the "things" I am talking about are stuff like what am I going to do by a certain age. Before I am married I would like to go sky-diving. I never did it. Sure, I can do it now, but it is not worth the risk. I would love to travel the world by myself. I did that to a small degree, but now I choose to think about family first. Every choice you make, no matter how good, closes as many doors as it opens.
Posted by beverly (Member # 6246) on :
I have never wanted to be famous. But with all my heart, I yearn to make a difference for the better.
Posted by Jim-Me (Member # 6426) on :
Alexa, much worse than that, actually. to choose one thing is to reject almost everything else.
Posted by Alexa (Member # 6285) on :
Exactly. As you get older, you have made more choices, so you have excluded more opportunities. You start to see people more young then you who have been very succesful--growls at Frankie Munez.
Posted by aspectre (Member # 2222) on :
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DARN! Mike posted the Lehrer quote before I saw this thread!![[Evil Laugh]](graemlins/evillaugh.gif)
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