I saw Ben Kingsley and Penelope Cruz in Elegy the other day, and was amazed at how natural it remains for movie audiences to accept an older man as love partner for a much younger woman. In the film, it was made clear that Cruz was over 30 years younger than Kingsley, and yet, according to the script, she was madly in love with him, anyway. I mean, madly. Even those actors who traditionally project less charm than Cary Grant ever did or a lesser physical specimen than Harrison Ford still does remain fair game for these oddball matchings.

Call me fussy, but when I was Penelope Cruz’s age, it took a lot more than a moody, commitment-phobic character such as the one played by Kingsley in this film, to conjure up naughty thoughts about him inside my head, let alone any other part of my anatomy. So, what is going on here? Are we still living in a double-standard society? Or is that what the media would lead us to believe?

The truth is that most older women are just not interested in hooking up with men who are young enough to be their son. And those who are, well, they identify themselves as “cougars,” so we know from the start what they are about. If it’s true that men are born with the drive in their DNA to spread their seed till they keel over and die, I guess we have no way to blame them for their lifelong quest for women of childbearing years.

Excuse me while I go lock the door on my daughter’s room. 

Action stars are not supposed to grow old like the rest of us, and yet some aging actors like Sylvester Stallone are here to prove that’s a myth. They are also ready to demonstrate that you can be 60-something and still cut a formidable figure. Just a glance at one of their recent films tells you all that you need to know. Or haven’t you seen the latest Rambo installment, or Rocky (Balboa)? Also, keep in mind how well Harrison Ford held his own in the recently released Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull.

One of the most powerful forces in Hollywood cinema back in the 1980s, Stallone hadn’t made a Rambo film for twenty years until he wrote, directed, and starred in the latest installment.

According to a February 2008 article in TIME, Stallone tells Joel Stein that acting with only eyes and biceps is harder than playing a fast-talking boxer. It is especially hard on a 61-year old body, which is one of the primary reasons Stallone wanted to do the film—to prove he could.

Although he does not subscribe to steroids, he admits to using HGH, which he says is nothing, and that “anyone who calls it a steroid is grossly misinformed.” He believes testosterone is important for a man’s well being as he gets older, and feels anyone over 40 should be taking it to improve quality of life. He feels so strongly in fact, he predicts it will be sold over-the-counter in the next ten years.  

What does an icon do to remain ageless in the eyes of her fans? She keeps reinventing herself. In the case of 62-year old singer-actress Bette Midler, who has conquered virtually every entertainment media yet invented, she moved to Las Vegas with her husband and daughter for a 2-1/2 tear engagement at Caesar’s Palace’s enormous Colosseum, replacing singer Celine Dion.

Midler opens her $10 million extravaganza, “The Showgirl Must Go On,” by entering on a donkey and then strutting her mega-talented stuff under a 3,200-lb headdress of pink feathers. The Vegas-themed show features gorgeous showgirls, dazzling costumes, and spectacular musical numbers delivered with plenty of sass and sex to make the show worth every penny of the $95-$250 price of admission. 

Midler started her career entertaining gay men in a steam room, and went on to win four GRAMMY® awards, an Emmy and a Tony. She also starred in one of the great chick-flicks of all time, Beaches. “Thirty years ago, my audiences were on drugs,” she told Time magazine. “Now, they’re on medication.”

In an interview with Parade magazine Midler observed that at her age “Everything is a bit slower,” but that she does not want “to die in a harness.” Despite her hints that she may be retiring at the close of the show, she will be only 64 then, and, one can only hope, she will not quite be ready for her final bow.