Happy 99th birthday to Gloria Stuart! Next year she’ll be the same age as the elderly character Rose, who she played in “Titanic”. James Cameron wanted Gloria to have the role after hearing her audio commentary for the LaserDisc edition of the 1932 film, “The Old Dark House”. Watch the video (taken from LD) to see a little of what inspired Cameron.
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Gloria’s story about having to change clothes is funny. One obvious reason for doing that was James Whale, who was gay, simply thought it was a good idea to show her off for sex appeal. Being the age that she is, Gloria isn’t shy about speaking freely, as you can see at this link . You can hear Gloria’s commentary for “The Old Dark House” in the DVD edition of movie. Note: The last real-life survivor of the Titanic disaster, Millvina Dean, died about a month ago.