In the script, Frances “Baby” Houseman is 17 years old. Specifically, she’s spending the summer of 1963 at Kellerman’s resort before heading off to Mount Holyoke College. That seems straightforward, right? Wrong.
The movie itself is wonderfully inconsistent. Baby’s dad, Dr. Houseman, says she’s “seventeen” when he grills Johnny about her honor. But then Baby tells Johnny she’s “waiting for the right guy” – a line that feels like something a sheltered 16-year-old would say, not a worldly 17-year-old. It’s almost like the writers forgot their own math.
Jennifer Grey Was Not 17 (And That’s the Point)
Here’s the juicy part: Jennifer Grey was 27 years old when she played Baby in 1987. Yep, a nearly thirty-year-old woman played a teenager, which in Hollywood is as common as a bad wig. Patrick Swayze was 35 playing Johnny, making their on-screen romance a ten-year age gap – but in real life, it was eight years.
Imagine a 27-year-old actress doing the lift scene with a 35-year-old man. It’s like a high school play where the principal plays the cheerleader. And yet, we all believed it. That’s the magic of terrible wigs, soft lighting, and a soundtrack that makes you forget logic.
