I’m sure every one of us has a slightly different set of criteria for what constitutes “aging well.” For some it’s all in the face, for others it’s all in the figure or the bod in some other sense. There are even some who regard aging as mainly a mental function so that retaining sharp wit and sense of humor amount to aging well.
With whatever measure(s) you use in this regard, who are on your list for aging well? I would hope we don’t list people under 30, since I can’t think of many people that young who have begun “falling apart” and even if they have, that’s too young to be talking about aging well.
To give a hint of the sorts of people I can think of who fit my own rules, there are:
Dick Clark
Ed McMahon
Michael J. Fox
Bernie Mac
Candice Bergen
Andie MacDowell
Sean Connery
Mike Wallace
I fully expect some of my list to get an “Oh, hell no!” reaction. That’s fine. It’s not an exact science anyway.
Just think of some people, not just movie stars and TV personalities, who are doing a good job of keeping their looks as time marches on.
If you want to start another thread for the ones who are at the other extreme, please do. Folks like Eddie Van Halen, for instance.
Sigourney Weaver. As recently as Alien Resurrection and Galaxy Quest, she was still just as smokin’ as in the original Alien. In more recent movies like The Village, smokin’ isn’t exactly the right word, but she’s definitely still a good-looking woman.
Ellen DeGeneres. Still very cute, and she just gets funnier as she gets older.
Paul McCartney and the Rolling Stones. Looks aside, and some may disagree, but IMO A Bigger Bang and Chaos and Creation in the Backyard are way more vital than a lot of music made by 20-year-olds.
Denzel Washington. Hard to believe he was born in 1954. Just a strikingly good-, and young-, looking guy.
Helen Mirren, whose gotten even more attractive as she’s aged.
Belinda Carlisle has held up surprisingly well, particularly given that she was the archtype for rock-n-roll party girl in the 'Eighties. (The rest of the Go-Go’s, not so much.)
Diana Rigg has held up pretty well (she’s almost seventy); she’s not going to be fitting into any of those leather catsuits she wore on the Avengers, but on appearance I’d guess her to be 15-20 years younger than her real age.
Leeza Gibbons, formerly of Entertainment Tonight and currently on Dancing With the Stars. Had no idea she was 50.
An Arky … three years ago, I had the opportunity to regard Jane Seymour from about arm’s length (after tripping and almost bowling over her :o ). In a sense, she does look her age … the lines on her face are there (just not so deep), her hands don’t look like a 20-year-old’s. But the signs of age seem to work for her somehow. Very beautiful woman, whose looks hold up in close quarters extraordinarily well.
Is that meant to say that she’s 37 years old? Because (in that photo, at least), she looks more like 45.
Meanwhile, I always nominate Dawn Wells (Mary Ann from Gilligan’s Island) in these discussions, as well as Barbara Eden (I Dream of Jeannie) and Julie Andrews (Mary Poppins). And on the male side, the last I saw Charleton Heston, he sure didn’t look like he was in his 80s.
James Marsters, “Spike” from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. He was in his middle thirties when he started on Buffy, and he ended Angel in his forties (he’s 44 now). On Hollywood Squares Whoopi Goldberg made some comment about him being half her age, but he’s actually only 7 years younger.
A funny thing though is he had this rock band a few years ago, and the other musicians literally were half his age.
Meryl Streep and Diane Keaton. There’s no evidence of plastic surgery. They just look healthy and serene.
My husband’s aging well. I took a good look at him the other day. He’s 62, no wrinkles, no jowls, and his weight loss has been gradual enough so that there’s no floppy skin.
I have, apparently. Just this afternoon, I was talking to a construction worker, who called me “young man.” I said, “Young man? How old are you?” He replied, “27. You?” “48.” I have no lines or wrinkles, no middle-age spread, and my hair is still mostly brown. Others have expressed shock when they learn my age, too. I look thirty-something. It’s not all that great when some kid says to you, “Wow, I had no idea you were so old!” But it’s the thought that counts, right?
