News about the death of the one time “oldest mother” at age 69, leaving behind her 31-month old twin boys, added sparks to the ongoing debate about age and parenthood. The question is basically “How old is too old to have a baby?” The answer has always been left for the biological clock to decide, a clock which seems to tick faster for women than for men. The latest developments in assisted reproduction and in vitro fertilization, however, enabled women to slow down their clock and put off childbearing as late as possible.

One major objection to advanced maternal age is the risk of leaving children motherless at a very young age, as now confirmed by the 69-year old mom’s death.

However, many people think it’s unfair that the age-parenthood question is always argued against women but seldom in men. What about the risk of leaving children fatherless and unprovided for? There are quite a number of men of “advanced paternal age” out there.

Take for instance Momlogic’s list of old celebrity daddies with little kiddies:

• Woody Allen, 73
  Manzie Tio Allen, 8

• David Letterman, 61
  Harry Joseph Letterman, 5

• Donald Trump, 62
  Barron William Trump, 2

• Larry King, 75
  Cannon Edward King, 8

• Mick Jagger, 65
  Lucas Jagger, 9

• Paul McCartney, 66
  Beatrice Milly McCartney, 5

• Rod Stewart, 63
  Alastair Wallace, 3

• Sylvester Stallone, 62
  Scarlet Rose Stallone, 6

I add here my own list of older fathers from Hollywood.

• Michael Douglas, 64, has 3 kids, the two youngest with wife Catherine Zeta Jones. Their youngest is a girl Carys Zeta, age 6.

• Mel Gibson, 53, is not really the oldest but he is one of the most prolific. He has 7 children with ex-wife Robyn and his current girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva is expecting his 8^th child in the fall.

• Clint Eastwood supposedly fathered at least 7 children. The youngest is Morgan Eastwood, born in 1996 when her dad was 66. Her mom is Dina Ruiz, 35 years younger than Eastwood.

• Sir Michael John Gambon or rather, Professor Dumbledore. The stage and film Irish actor playing the part in the Harry Potter films. The 68-year old has three boys ranging from 44 to 2 weeks old.

• Hugh Hefner was 65 when his now 18-year old son Cooper was born in 1991. The 83-year old Playboy publisher has 4 children.

• Anthony Quinn. The oldest (if you exclude J. Howard Marshall) and the most prolific who supposedly fathered 10 children with 4 women. He was 81 years old when his youngest was born in 1996.

Although these old men are less likely to leave their little kids unprovided for, kids, too, need their dads in the early years of their life.

Can you add somebody to the list? Do you think it’s fair that there’s no age limit to fatherhood?

There are many older celebrity dads out there. Anthony Quinn, Chuck Norris, and Luciano Pavarotti are a few names that come quickly to mind. It’s not just women who are having children later in life, many men are also opting to do this, some for the first time.

Former Monthy Python star Terry Jones will soon be adding his name to that list. Jones is a popular figure in Britain. He was one of the founding members of the Monty Python comedy troupe. John Cleese, Eric Idle and Michael are some of the other well known names of the group.

According to reports, the comedian is set to become a father again with his girlfriend Anna Soderstrom. Jones and his ex-wife Alison Telfer already have two adult children Sally and Bill. They were married in 1970. Soderstrom at 26, is 41 years younger than Jones. The baby will be Soderstrom’s first.

The couple met at a book signing at Oxford University where Soderstrom was an undergraduate. Some time after that, Jones and his wife got divorced. Not surprisingly, the children and ex-wife of Jones are not too pleased at the news of his pending fatherhood. A source was quoted in Britain’s Daily Telegraph as saying, “Alison and the kids are a different proposition. For them it’s devastating and humiliating. They’ll never speak about it because they’ve got far too much dignity for that.”

The same source offered the view that this might be partially a question of manhood for Jones. According to the source, “He doesn’t seem fazed by it, but everyone else is. If anything it’s a classic case of male pride taking over. Getting a young filly pregnant shows there’s life in the old dog yet.” I am sure that there are many who would agree with this assessment.

The new arrival is expected in autumn 2009. Hopefully all parties will be able to put any negative feelings aside after the baby is born as so often happens. Whatever happens, I hope that for the sake of the baby everyone will be able to move on although I know it will be difficult.

According to recent reports online, Hugh Hefner?s relationship with Holly Madison came to an end partly because they were unable to become parents. At 82, Hefner felt it just wasn?t in the cards for him. The media has been buzzing over the last year or two that Holly wanted to marry Hugh and have children.

This got me thinking about older dads, a few notable examples being Anthony Quinn who fathered a child at 81, Luciano Pavarotti at 67, and Julio Iglesias who became a dad again at 89. Now the first reaction of some people may be to shout ?what on earth are these guys thinking?? This is an issue that is hard to discuss with any degree of objectivity.

On the one hand you could rightfully ask, are these men being fair to the child? Does becoming a father at 80 or older practically guarantee that a man won?t be around for his child before that child hits puberty? What about things like playing with the child, or any other type of physical activity? Would that child be cheated out of the normal things every child should be able to expect from a parent?

It could also be asked whether the right to become a parent should really be limited to men in a certain age group. Is that really where we want to go? There are pros and cons, supported by research in favor of and against older men becoming fathers. Some studies have shown that babies born to older fathers are more prone to autism and birth defects.

On the other hand, many persons will argue that older fathers, regardless of age, are more likely to be responsible. Also, their child or children usually tend to be the result of planned pregnancies. These older fathers usually take a more active role in the day to day tasks of caring for the child.

Whether or not you agree with any of these studies, it is clear that the issue will continue to stir debate. As parents, we can certainly empathize with Mr. Hefner, in spite of his age. Maybe the most important thing for fathers who are over 60, is a good support structure for the child. That includes older children, the father?s younger siblings, if he has any, and of course the mother and her family.