There always seems to be a rush to get to where you’re going in life as early as you can, but some of Hollywood’s biggest actors didn’t find stardom until late into their lives.
With Tinseltown often criticised for its obsession with youth among other physical attributes, it’s heartening that many popular performers still managed to find fame on their own timeline.
From Morgan Freeman to Betty White, it took plenty of actors more than a handful of years to reach the highest echelons of Hollywood.
June Squibb stars in her first lead role at the tender age of 94 in this summer’s poignant yet pithy action comedy movie Thelma.
As Thelma firmly puts the spotlight back on those with more life experience, including Squibb’s co-stars Malcolm McDowell and the late Richard Roundtree, people will find themselves charmed by the prolific character actress’s performance.
In honour of the occasion and her role, here’s a look at some well-known and well-regarded actors who didn’t share their talents with a wide audience until middle and older age.
June Squibb
June Squibb has worked with Martin Scorsese, Brad Pitt, Jack Nicolson and Al Pacino – but she didn’t appear in a film until 1990, aged 61.
Working in regional theatre as a singer, dancer and actress since 1951, she made her Broadway debut in the original production of Gypsy starring theatrical icon Ethel Merman.
Before claiming her Sag-Aftra card for an episode of CBS Schoolbreak Special in 1985, Squibb had worked on cruise ships, modelled for romance novel covers and worked as a helper for Santa in shopping centres.
Her first film was Woody Allen’s Alice, which she followed up with roles in Scent of a Woman, The Age of Innocence, Meet Joe Black, About Schmidt and Far from Heaven.
Alongside a plethora of TV credits, Squibb later received an Academy Award nomination for supporting actress aged 84 thanks to her role in the film Nebraska.
A decade later, she claimed her first leading role for Thelma, with another to follow soon in Scarlett Johansson’s directorial debut Eleanor the Great.
Betty White
The late Betty White enjoyed a career spanning over nearly seven decades before her death aged 99 in December 2021.
Starting out in radio in the 1940s, she was later a pioneer in TV with her own show, The Betty White Show, before she was given her own popular sitcom Life with Elizabeth when she was in the 30s.
While this was certainly success, the 1960s were a quieter time for White, who appeared mostly on late-night talk shows and daytime game shows.
However, her career received a healthy boost at the age of 50 when she began a guest role on The Mary Tyler Moore Show in 1973.
Her signature career role came in 1985 with Rose Nylund on sitcom The Golden Girls, when she was in her 60s.
Not only was it the biggest hit of her career, but she was nominated for an Emmy every season, winning on the first go.
After appearing in 2009 rom-com The Proposal with Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds, and a popular Snickers advert, her career continued to reach new heights.
She nabbed her final massive role in Hot in Cleveland, a sitcom that ran from 2010 until 2015, which netted her another of her 21 Primetime Emmy nominations, of which she won five.
Samuel L Jackson
Samuel L Jackson, 75, is one of those Hollywood stars who appears to have been famous forever – but that’s not the case.
In fact, before he starred in Pulp Fiction aged 45, he had been working away in smaller roles in TV and film – some really prestigious – for over 20 years.
Jackson is currently the highest-grossing actor of all time, with his films having grossed over $14.6 billion worldwide – largely thanks to his lucrative role as Nick Fury in the MCU.
Before he was nominated for an Oscar for his turn in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, Jackson had roles in films including Coming to America, Goodfellas, Patriot Games and Jurassic Park.
Following a little post-Pulp Fiction stutter, Jackson continued to clock up bigger roles in more major movies, including Die Hard with a Vengeance, A Time to Kill and Jackie, before he joined the Star Wars franchise as Mace Windu.
He has continued successfully collaborating with Tarantino for movies Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight and in 2022 received an honorary Academy Award.
Morgan Freeman
Owner of some of the most distinctive dulcet tones in Hollywood, Morgan Freeman did not get his big break until he was 50.
Initially serving in the United States Air Force from 1955 to 1959 before moving toLos Angeles to study acting, the now 87-year-old’s career started in theatre.
He first rose to some prominence in 1971 when he got a regular gig with The Electric Company a PBS children’s programme.
After a two-year stint on soap opera Another World and parts in movies and TV shows like Eyewitness and That Was Then… This is Now, he finally broke through with Street Smart in 1987.
His role as a violent street hustler earned him a best supporting actor nomination, with Driving Miss Daisy two years later giving him one for best actor.
Since then he has starred in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Unforgiven, The Shawshank Redemption and Sir Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Trilogy.
Alongside multiple narration jobs, Freeman has now amassed an Oscar win from five nominations for 2004’s Million Dollar Baby.
Humphrey Bogart
One of Hollywood’s greatest legends of the Golden Age, Humphrey Bogart didn’t hit the big time until he was in his forties.
Having joined the US Navy he then worked as a shipper, bond salesman and in the US Coast Guard Reserve before drifting towards the bright lights of Broadway.
The future star toiled away in minor theatrical parts between 1922 and 1935 as he tried and failed to launch a Hollywood career with early films like Up the River (1930) with Spencer Tracy and Bad Sister (1931) with Better Davis.
Come 1935 and everything changed after Bogart starred in the Broadway play The Petrified Forest, reprising his role as the villain in the film adaptation the following year when star Leslie Howard insisted.
The following few years included plenty of B movies and supporting roles before he was finally afforded a leading role in 1941’s High Sierra – at the age of 41.
Huge films followed like The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, To Have and Have Not (where he met his fourth wife, Lauren Bacall), The Caine Mutiny and The African Queen – for which he won an Oscar from his three career nominations.
He died of cancer in January 1957 after a lifetime of heavy smoking and drinking; he was 57.
Alan Rickman
The late Alan Rickman may not have got his first film role until he was in his forties, but he still packed an awful lot of hits into his career.
Initially training and working as an artist, Rickman founded a graphic design studio with friends after graduation.
Later deciding that his heart truly lay in acting, he trained at Rada before embarking on a successful stage career that included work with the prestigious Royal Shakespeare Company.
In 1988, when he was 42, his first film was released – providing him instant stardom for playing the villainous Hans Gruber in Die Hard opposite Bruce Willis.
He was later another excellent baddie in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves as the Sheriff of Nottingham before appearing in Truly, Madly, Deeply, Sense and Sensibility Galaxy Quest and Love Actually,
In 2001 he began portraying the role with which he was most associated, that of Severus Snape in the Harry Potter films.
Rickman died of pancreatic cancer aged 69 in January 2016.
Dame Judi Dench
Someone who may have seemed famous forever, Dame Judi Dench in fact didn’t get her big break in movies until she was 60.
Before this, the now 89-year-old made her professional debut onstage back in 1957 with the Old Vic Company, spending nearly 20 years establishing herself as Britain’s biggest theatrical star.
She also appeared in TV sitcoms A Fine Romance and As Time Goes By.
But it wasn’t until she was cast as M in 1995 James Bond flick GoldenEye that she became famous intertnationally.
Dame Judi went on to play the part over eight 007 films in total for the next 20 years until her cameo in 2015’s Spectre.
An eight-time Academy Award nominee, she won on her second nod, for playing Queen Elizabeth I in 1998’s Shakespeare in Love – a role that had only eight minutes of screen-time.