# Actors/Actresses whose looks changed drastically **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 12, 2020, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-whose-looks-changed-drastically/922813 "2020-10-12T17:05:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2020, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-whose-looks-changed-drastically/922813/161 "2020-12-09T02:23:57Z")
I watched Kristen Johnston in “The Exes” in 2015 and she didn’t look different to me. I haven’t seen “Mom” but I just looked at some stills of her in the show and she still doesn’t look any different, aside from a little heavier. ---
**Author:** ![Reno\_Nevada\_Jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecc23a/32.png) [@Reno\_Nevada\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reno_Nevada_Jr)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2020, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-whose-looks-changed-drastically/922813/162 "2020-12-09T20:35:05Z")
I did not have any trouble recognizing Kristen Johnston when she appeared on _Mom_. The one that I did not recognize was French Stewart–dude looked nothing like he did on _3rd Rock_. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2020, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-whose-looks-changed-drastically/922813/164 "2020-12-09T21:48:14Z")
Did he have his eyes open? That would make him look different. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2020, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-whose-looks-changed-drastically/922813/165 "2020-12-09T21:53:31Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > I know we all get older and things get closer to the ground and spread out, but Kathleen Turner was the sexiest, most gorgeous Hollywood actress of her day – even in, **The Man With Two Brains**. Seen her lately? I suspect some chronic health problem. Kathleen Turner is 66 years old, and she was 28-29 when they filmed “The Man With Two Brains.” It would be very strange indeed if she looked the same. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2020, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-whose-looks-changed-drastically/922813/166 "2020-12-10T00:39:40Z")
The person who instantly came to mind for me is Willie Nelson. [![](https://countrymusicfamily.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/WillieBraidless2-1092x614.jpg) ](https://countrymusicfamily.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/WillieBraidless2-1092x614.jpg) [![](https://willienelsonmuseum.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/willie-signature-featured-image-e1450044174159.jpg) ](https://willienelsonmuseum.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/willie-signature-featured-image-e1450044174159.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![caligulathegod](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caligulathegod/32/9685_2.png) [@caligulathegod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caligulathegod)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2020, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-whose-looks-changed-drastically/922813/167 "2020-12-10T03:24:47Z")
I’ll see your Willie Nelson and raise you George Carlin. [![](https://static.onecms.io/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2015/05/george-carlin.jpg) ](https://static.onecms.io/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2015/05/george-carlin.jpg) [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/George_Carlin_1975_%28Little_David_Records%29_Publicity.jpg) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/George_Carlin_1975_%28Little_David_Records%29_Publicity.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![TiberiusNeroClaudius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f04885/32.png) [@TiberiusNeroClaudius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TiberiusNeroClaudius)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2020, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-whose-looks-changed-drastically/922813/168 "2020-12-23T04:17:02Z")
FWIW I remember visiting my mother around 1983. She was knitting, and we were chatting while the TV was showing “Falcon Crest”. At one point, Mom gestured toward it and said “I can not believe that is Lana Turner.”So for her, Turner’s looks had changed dramatically by 1983. ---
**Author:** ![Newtosite](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/newtosite/32/8623_2.png) [@Newtosite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Newtosite)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2020, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-whose-looks-changed-drastically/922813/169 "2020-12-23T04:24:45Z")
I think Liza Minnelli looks very different these days. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2020, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-whose-looks-changed-drastically/922813/170 "2020-12-23T21:52:18Z")
Lara Flynn Boyle looks pretty much unrecognizable nowadays. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2020, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-whose-looks-changed-drastically/922813/171 "2020-12-23T22:58:48Z")
Rock Hudson with AIDS [![](https://i0.wp.com/theboymonk.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/DorisDayRockHudson.jpg?resize=768%2C768&ssl=1) ](https://i0.wp.com/theboymonk.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/DorisDayRockHudson.jpg?resize=768%2C768&ssl=1) ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2020, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-whose-looks-changed-drastically/922813/172 "2020-12-25T14:02:46Z")
> [@Newtosite](#): > > I think Liza Minnelli looks very different these days. Just my opinion, but I think Liza Minnelli these days looks exactly like Liza Minnelli in her thirties ought to look like in her seventies. ---
**Author:** ![caligulathegod](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caligulathegod/32/9685_2.png) [@caligulathegod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caligulathegod)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2020, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-whose-looks-changed-drastically/922813/173 "2020-12-25T17:57:40Z")
Yeah, Liza Minnelli was one of those ones who seemed to never change for decades before finally succumbing to time, like Bernadette Peters or Charo (and those two, barely). ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2020, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-whose-looks-changed-drastically/922813/174 "2020-12-25T23:45:58Z")
Aids Rock looks a little like Alex Trabec. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2020, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-whose-looks-changed-drastically/922813/175 "2020-12-25T23:52:12Z")
Thread winner. [![](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/9d/4e/36/9d4e361fc6410ca68bb2e7b8d10ab511.jpg) ](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/9d/4e/36/9d4e361fc6410ca68bb2e7b8d10ab511.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2020, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-whose-looks-changed-drastically/922813/176 "2020-12-26T00:19:16Z")
For someone like me who has no idea who the photos are of, care to enlighten me? Edited to add, I see that you’re responding to a mention of Lara Flynn Boyle. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2020, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-whose-looks-changed-drastically/922813/177 "2020-12-26T02:53:31Z")
**Shelley Winters** , and not in a “she got old and fat like we all do” way. In the early days of her career, she was roomies with Marilyn Monroe and, while she was the plainer-looking of the two, it wasn’t by much (and she arguably had the better figure). She was told by her acting teacher that if she gained 10-20 pounds, she would get acting roles for the rest of her natural life. She did, and she did. An earlier post mentioned **George Carlin**. Early in his career, he was a straight-laced-looking comic in the Bob Newhart mold, making fun of hippies with his “Hippy-Dippy Weatherman” routine. As an inspired career move, he grew his hair and beard to match that persona. **Anthony Michael Hall** : Sometime between _Johnny Be Good_ and _Edward Scissorhands_, he decided to ditch the beta-male roles and hit the gym. He got his wish, to his career’s apparent detriment. **Wilmer Valderrama** decided to ditch the pansexual Fez persona from _That 70s Show_ for the action hero Nick Torres in _NCIS._ I don’t like the change much, but apparently his career is better off for it. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2020, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-whose-looks-changed-drastically/922813/178 "2020-12-26T03:14:04Z")
**Lindsey Lohan**. Sometime after she made _Herbie: Fully Loaded,_ she committed to do a film about the fashion industry and lost a lot of weight for the role (and frankly, she didn’t have that much weight to lose at the time). Her figure and face never quite recovered from it, and the movie either never happened or she got bumped from it. This began her prolonged transition from “promising young actress” to “tabloid dumpster fire.” The drinking, drugs and shoplifting apparently came later. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2020, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-whose-looks-changed-drastically/922813/179 "2020-12-26T03:20:52Z")
**Christina Hendricks** was a skinny little gal in the early part of her career, and apparently is again today. While she was making Mad Men, she was encouraged to put on some weight. Didn’t hurt her career in the slightest. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2020, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-whose-looks-changed-drastically/922813/180 "2020-12-26T03:55:32Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > **Anthony Michael Hall** : Sometime between _Johnny Be Good_ and _Edward Scissorhands_ , he decided to ditch the beta-male roles and hit the gym. He got his wish, to his career’s apparent detriment. You mean when he then starred in **The Dead Zone** for 6 seasons on TV? ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2020, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-whose-looks-changed-drastically/922813/181 "2020-12-26T04:54:12Z")
And now he looks like he’s turning into Robert Lansing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-whose-looks-changed-drastically/922813.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-actresses-whose-looks-changed-drastically/922813.md?page=10)