HELP MY THEORY. I am probably wrong, so help me out before I make a big fool of myself. Has Clint Eastwood ever died in a film? Watching Million Dollar Baby yesterday it struck me that old actors are a wee bit wary of actually dying in films (unlike gung-ho youngsters who love the moment in the sun). Considering the number of Westerns he was in, you’d think Clint would have been blown away a few times. But I don’t remember a death scene for him. Is this the secret to his spriteliness?

In other actor news, there does seem to be a slight trend all of a sudden for actors to play characters older than themselves. It can be forgiven perhaps in The Aviator where Leonardo Di Caprio has to span from 22 to 40 (relatively unconvincingly it has to be said, last gasp moustache acting notwithstanding). Hilary Swank in MDB ranges from one to four years her senior, whilst Scarlett Johansson acted up five years. Usually it is the other way round of course, teen movies being stuffed to the gills with thirty year old. Why is no-one acting their age?