A couple of years ago The New Yorker wrote a piece asking why genius is so inextricably tied up with precocity, citing many examples, among them Mozart, T.S. Elliot and Orson Welles. There are many more, and we know most of them, especially actors, poets, musicians. Prodigies like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg come to mind quickly. But is it true? It is in a popular culture obsessed with youth, which is what Baby Boomers have been since they first boomed. The famous 1960’s mantra, “Don’t trust anyone over thirty” has grown a bit sour in the mouth of the very people espousing it now that they are in their sixties instead of the 1960’s.
What got me to thinking about this was an interview with 70-year-old Robert Duvall for his new movie, Get Low, a true story about a hermit in 1930’s Tennessee who throws his own funeral party while he’s still alive. The funeral party story did not grab me like something else Duvall said: “I did The Godfather at 40.”
I’ve seen The Godfather more times than I want to admit and it never really struck me that Duvall was that old considering The Godfather was the movie most people remember first seeing him (more so than his Boo Radley in To Kill A Mockingbird). So I did a bit of Googling. The list of late bloomers is endless.
Raymond Chandler wrote his first story when he was 45. Stan Lee created Spiderman in his early 40’s. Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin at 47 and did not get the Nobel prize until 64. Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House in the Big Woods debuted when she was 65. Einstein was a middle-aged man before anyone listened to his genius. Julia Child was not famous until she turned 49. Danny Aiello did not act until he was 40. Rodney Dangerfield hit it big at 42. Charles Bukowski worked at the post office until his first book was published at 49. No one had ever really heard of Colonel Sanders until he started franchising his famous fried chicken. He was 65. Kurt Warner did not enter the NFL until 28 (ancient for that sport). Henry Miller published his first novel Tropic of Cancer at 44. While a famous actor, to be sure, Clint Eastwood, however, did not direct his first film until he was 41. It goes on and on, so much so that it is difficult to defend the genius of youth syndrome unless you are young. And when youth is gone, Robert Duvall is good fodder for a blog post about the genius of older people.
Then you have Abraham and Sarah of Biblical fame. They were over 75 years old when God spoke to them about having a baby. Considering that Jesus did not really get started until he was over 30 puts things into further perspective as well.
It goes to show there are few rules in life except exceptions. We only notice the famous ones. But as you look around, you’ll see exceptions every day. And many of them are old enough to be your parents.
