Woman of fifty with distinctive character (5)
I believe the answer is:
laura
'woman' is the definition.
'fifty with distinctive character' is the wordplay.
'fifty' becomes 'l' (roman numeral).
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'distinctive character' becomes 'aura' (I've seen this before).
'l'+'aura'='LAURA'
'of' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for laura that I've seen before include "1944 American film noir directed by Otto Preminger" , "US First Lady" , "Cells of a group of recluses" , "girl" , "__ Ashley, Welsh fashion and textile designer, d. 1985" .)