# Actors Who Looked "Old" for a LOOOONG Time **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 27, 2020, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-looked-old-for-a-loooong-time/847069 "2020-01-27T18:44:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-looked-old-for-a-loooong-time/847069/41 "2020-01-28T13:04:19Z")
When [Victor Buono](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Buono) started playing King Tut on the 1960s _Batman_ TV series, he hadn’t even turned 30. ---
**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:** [January 28, 2020, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-looked-old-for-a-loooong-time/847069/42 "2020-01-28T13:19:24Z")
Steve Martin had jet black hair as a featured performer on The Smothers Brothers. I’ve never seen young photos of Ed Asner, Michael Constantine. Zero Mostel or Herschel Bernardi. You have to go pretty far back to find young photos of Dale Evans. But once you find them, they are pretty memorable. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-looked-old-for-a-loooong-time/847069/43 "2020-01-28T13:28:00Z")
Jimmy Durante ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-looked-old-for-a-loooong-time/847069/44 "2020-01-28T13:28:47Z")
I don’t know of any other roles where she’s “older”, but **Jessie Royce Landis** was only seven years older than Cary Grant when she played his mother in _North by Northwest_. Similarly, Sean Connery, who played Harrison Ford’s dad in _Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade_, is only twelve years older than Ford. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-looked-old-for-a-loooong-time/847069/45 "2020-01-28T13:30:15Z")
> [@campp](#): > > Jimmy Durante I’ve seen photos and a few clips of a young Durante, but it’s really odd, because he was always old when I watched him as I was growing up. They tried to make a comedy team of him and Buster Keaton, but it never came off. ---
**Author:** ![Scougs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scougs/32/3158_2.png) [@Scougs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scougs)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-looked-old-for-a-loooong-time/847069/46 "2020-01-28T13:34:32Z")
> [@si\_blakely](#): > > English actress _Stephanie Cole_ played a cantankerous retirement home resident in **Waiting for God** at the age of 48. > > _David Jason_ had a recurring role as the elderly prisoner Blanco Webb in **Porridge** , while also playing the (somewhat) youthful Granville in **Open All Hours**. > > Clive Dunn was also only 48 when cast as the 70 year old Lance Corporal Jones in **Dad’s Army**. Clive Dunn had a hit with the novelty record “Grandad”, when he had just turned 51. [Clive Dunn on Top of the Pops in 1971](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LyS88fgX_w) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-looked-old-for-a-loooong-time/847069/47 "2020-01-28T13:48:21Z")
**Yul Brynner** was usually bald and seemed to have an indeterminate age, allowing him to play both older and young parts throughout the years. He was actually born in 1920, so when he played King Mongkut in _The King and I_ on stage the first time in 12951, he was only 31. I saw him reprise it in 1978, and he joked at the time about not needing makeup at that time to look old. Only he didn’t really look old – he looked like Yul Brynner. Being bald helped with that indeterminacy (although he wasn’t always bald – he had hair in the film _Solomon and Sheba_, and in his first go at King Mongkut he definitely had hair). And even when he played “old”, it was Tough Old Guy. > **[Yul Brynner](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yul_Brynner)** > > Yuliy Borisovich Briner (Russian: Юлий Борисович Бринер; July 11, 1920 – October 10, 1985), known professionally as Yul Brynner, was a Russian actor. He was best known for his portrayal of King Mongkut in the Rodgers and Hammerstein stage musical The King and I, for which he won two Tony Awards, and later an Academy Award for Best Actor for the film adaptation. He played the role 4,625 times on stage and became known for his shaved head, which he maintained as a personal trademark long after a... ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-looked-old-for-a-loooong-time/847069/48 "2020-01-28T15:12:45Z")
Carroll O’Connor - I was shocked when I realized that he was only 47 when he started playing Archie. I thought he was in his 60s. ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-looked-old-for-a-loooong-time/847069/49 "2020-01-28T15:40:23Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > ETA: one more: Max von Sydow has always looked old. Ooh, that’s a good one. I always thought he looked like he was past 40 in The Seventh Seal (not just in his late twenties). And I’ve also always felt like The Seventh Seal looks like it was shot in the fifties or earlier, not in the late sixties. Any time I see him my gut reaction is that he must be impossibly old. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-looked-old-for-a-loooong-time/847069/50 "2020-01-28T15:46:21Z")
Even when younger than 50, Leslie Nielsen has always looked older than 50. Color film seems to have instantly flipped him from “always 55” to “always 70” years old. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-looked-old-for-a-loooong-time/847069/51 "2020-01-28T16:11:23Z")
> [@GargoyleWB](#): > > Even when younger than 50, Leslie Nielsen has always looked older than 50. Color film seems to have instantly flipped him from “always 55” to “always 70” years old. I don’t agree. Leslie Nielsen is one actor who I’ve seen a lot in his younger days, because he played the lead in _Forbidden Planet_, where his Commander J.J. Adams is basically James T. Kirk. I’ve seen him in a few other 1950s films, and he comes off the same way. Once his hair turned white, though, he did seem a lot older. Even before he started doing comedy with the Zucker-Zucker-Abrams bunch, as (for instance) in **Creepshow** , he looked a lot older. ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-looked-old-for-a-loooong-time/847069/52 "2020-01-28T16:12:42Z")
> [@TRC4941](#): > > Carroll O’Connor - I was shocked when I realized that he was only 47 when he started playing Archie. I thought he was in his 60s. Similarly Redd Foxx was only 49 when _Sanford and Son_ debuted. And Whitman Mayo, who played Grady, was only 42. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-looked-old-for-a-loooong-time/847069/53 "2020-01-28T16:14:44Z")
Peter Boyle. The hair loss always made him look older. He was 41 in \* Taxi Driver\* ---
**Author:** ![jerez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c68b51/32.png) [@jerez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jerez)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-looked-old-for-a-loooong-time/847069/54 "2020-01-28T17:14:31Z")
Anne Ramsey, the woman who played the mother in Throw Momma from the Train. I thought she only did that one film, but she appeared in others as well. Died at 59 years of age, which means she was around _ **52** _ when she made that film! ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-looked-old-for-a-loooong-time/847069/55 "2020-01-28T17:29:21Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Ian Wolfe looked old in 1930s… Yeah, this guy. I turned on an old movie from the 40’s on TCM, and there he was, looking just as old as he did on _Star Trek_ and _WKRP_. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-looked-old-for-a-loooong-time/847069/56 "2020-01-28T17:30:40Z")
[Marjorie Main](https://www.google.com/search?q=marjorie+main&sxsrf=ACYBGNTkqQ-4-oQurwp9gwZFBWOI0ENLSw:1580232443375&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjKrMzL6KbnAhWChJ4KHW2wAaUQ_AUoAXoECBQQAw&biw=1760&bih=882), probably best known as “Ma Kettle” in the Ma and Pa Kettle films of the fifties. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-looked-old-for-a-loooong-time/847069/57 "2020-01-28T17:53:05Z")
[Peter Cushing](https://66.media.tumblr.com/7261b9510247a43349070ac69460d08f/tumblr_inline_op7x7gsGrF1qaa67q_400.jpg) always seemed to look older to me, probably because of his very thin face. I always found him kind of attractive in a spooky way. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-looked-old-for-a-loooong-time/847069/58 "2020-01-28T18:03:46Z")
Forgive me for being a little off topic but I remember that one of the reasons I went to a Willie Nelson concert in 1978 was that I believed that soon after he might be too old to tour. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-looked-old-for-a-loooong-time/847069/59 "2020-01-28T18:09:29Z")
Buddy Ebsen looked old as Jed Clampett, yet lived for 40 more years. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-looked-old-for-a-loooong-time/847069/60 "2020-01-28T18:31:26Z")
**Torin Thatcher** , who played Sokurah the magician in _Seventh Voyage of Sinbad_, Pendragon in _Jack the Giant Killer_, Reverend Thorne in _Hawaii_, the prosecuting attorney in _Witness for the Prosecution_, and a host of TV appearances (including one in the Star Trek episode “Return of the Archons”) looked pretty old. I think it’s because he was bald in most of those. I was shocked when I realized that it was him in the British fantasy film _The Man Who Could Work Miracles_ (1936), based on the H.G. Wells story. He had hair! He looked – young! He was born in 1905, and died at 76 in 1981. > **[Torin Thatcher](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torin_Thatcher)** > > Torin Herbert Erskine Thatcher (15 January 1905 – 4 March 1981) was a British actor who was noted for his flashy portrayals of screen villains. > Thatcher was born in Bombay, British India, to British parents, Torin James Blair Thatcher, a police officer, and his wife Edith Rachel, a voice and piano teacher, younger daughter of the Hon. Justice Sir Herbert Batty, a puisne judge of the High Court of Bombay. He was educated in England at Bedford School and at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He... [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-looked-old-for-a-loooong-time/847069.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-looked-old-for-a-loooong-time/847069.md?page=4)