Bea Arthur
Carroll O’Connor
Richard Deacon. He often told the story of being a young man and asking an established actor how to break into the business. The person said, “Aren’t you a little old to be starting out?” They guessed mid-forties; he was twenty-five. The person said. “You’ll never be out of work.”
Mr. Drummond on Diff’rent Strokes! (Conrad Baines?)
Ms. Hathaway on Beverly Hill Billies
Someone who looked ancient for most of his career rather than middle-aged and well-known to anyone who watched any TV prior to the 80s…Burt Mustin.
Harry Morgan.
Ronald Reagan, but that is more old age than middle age. Reagan had the same hairstyle from his 20’s till his death.
John Larroquette
Just watched Bernadette Peters jn “Mozart in the Jungle” either good makeup or good skin she looks great and not a bit like a middle aged man.
Perhaps you should start a thread about actors who don’t look like middle aged men.
Thelma Ritter has always looked like a middle aged guy. With boobs.
Harry Dean Stanton. I think he was born looking middle-aged and went downhill from there.
Since we’re listing athletes, I’ll mention a nutrition celebrity, Dr. Andrew Weil. His hair retained most of its pigmentation back in the 60’s/70’s, but he did have the middle-age look with some gray in the beard and bald on top. He actually hasn’t aged a bit appearance-wise over the last 30 years or so.
Thanks for this, I was trying to remember the other MAS*H guy! McLean Stevenson
Margaret Hamilton was only 37 when she played the Wicked Witch of the West, making her younger than everyone else in the cast except Judy Garland (17) and Ray Bolger (35), who played the Scarecrow. But the makeup and the character made her seem much older. She lived to age 82, outliving everyone except Bolger.
William Devane. I first became aware of him when he played JFK in “Missiles of October” in 1974, which was released shortly after Devane’s 39th birthday. He always struck me as looking a lot older than he was.
William Hickey always looked ancient.
Tommy Lee Jones is far younger than Clint Eastwood and Donald Sutherland, but played their contemporary in “Space Cowboys.”