Tracking down and snapping retired stars is a gross and uneasy trend | Stuart Heritage

Paparazzi pictures of Jack Nicholson, Gene Hackman and Bridget Fonda have circulated online, feeding into an odd desire to force reclusive actors back into the spotlight

Few headlines get people clicking like OMG, you won't BELIEVE how UNRECOGNISABLE this star looks today". People fall for it every time. They fall for it when the star has succumbed to the natural ageing process (Steve Perry from Journey, seen this week with grey hair). They fall for it when the star is wearing movie prosthetics on set (Colin Farrell filming as the Penguin, the iconic character he played in a highly successful film). They even fall for it when the star has simply chosen to accessorise (Australian actress looks unrecognisable in a pair of quirky sunglasses during a stroll through London - can you identify the star?" above some photos of Cate Blanchett looking exactly like Cate Blanchett). It's a cheap trick, basically.

But over the last few weeks, these headlines have taken on a grottier note. A month ago, photographs of Gene Hackman, a 93-year-old man who retired from acting almost two decades ago, emerged online. Shortly after that, someone snapped a picture of Jack Nicholson - an octogenarian actor who retired 12 years ago, hasn't been seen for 18 months and reportedly suffers from dementia - standing on the balcony of his home. And then, this week, the same thing happened to Bridget Fonda. She's 59, she hasn't acted in 20 years, and yet the sight of her visiting a landscaping supply store got the whole world fizzing.