To understand the victory, one must first acknowledge the battle. In the Golden Age of Hollywood, stars like Mae West and Bette Davis fought tooth and nail for agency. Davis, after turning 40, famously struggled to find substantial roles, eventually taking on campy horror films to stay afloat. In the 1990s and early 2000s, the narrative was summarized brutally by the 2015 Forbes study that revealed while male actors’ peak earning years were between 51 and 55, female actors peaked between 26 and 30.