颅颅Oscar-winning actors are expected to live five years longer than thespians who never take home an Academy Award.颅
While watching the Oscars one year, at the University of Toronto in Canada noticed the actors on stage appeared more vivacious than people of the same age who he treats.
Together with his colleague , Redelmeier looked at the 934 actors who were nominated for an Oscar, from the award鈥檚 inception in 1929 to 2020, of whom 305 have won at least one Academy Award. Among the nominees who have died, the team noted their age at passing.
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Deceased nominees were compared with actors of the same sex and a similar age at the time of their nomination. The latter actors starred in the same film as the nominees, but weren鈥檛 nominated themselves.
On average, the deceased Oscar winners died aged 77.1, compared with 73.7 for the nominees and 73.6 for the unnominated co-stars.
Hollywood aside, life expectancy has risen since the Oscars鈥� inception. Oscar winners who are alive today may therefore be expected to die at an older age than their predecessors.
The researchers鈥� statistical modelling suggests Oscar winners alive today will die aged 81.3, on average, compared with 76.4 for nominees and 76.2 for other co-stars.
An Oscar is 鈥渘ot a magical charm that directly improves a recipient鈥檚 health鈥�, says Redelmeier. Winners may instead be motivated to follow a healthy lifestyle to maintain their reputation, he says. They may also have a certain peace of mind after achieving the honour, he says.
Actors who die at an older age may be more likely to win an Oscar simply because they were alive for longer. The researchers accounted for this by only comparing winners with living co-stars.
The projected life expectancy of a living Oscar winner, 81.3 years, is similar to that of the 鈥渁verage person on the street鈥� in high-income countries, says at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. Perhaps the more important question is why actors who don鈥檛 win Oscars appear to die younger, he says.
Other studies suggest that rising to the top of a field improves a person鈥檚 health. For example, Nobel prizewinners live two years longer on average than people who were just nominated for the accolade.
This can鈥檛 be easily attributed to genetics, environmental conditions or healthcare, says Redelmeier. It instead hints at 鈥渢he importance of behavioural or psychological factors in health鈥�, he says.
PLoS One
