When I went to see The Rolling Stones 30 years ago, I thought they must be retiring soon.
I wonder if Beatty felt any trepidation as that date edged closer, and relief when it passed without incident.
Maybe not quite as extreme of a ‘perceived vs. actual’ age example as Brimley, but Ed Asner was only 40 when The Mary Tyler Moore Show debuted, and was only 7 years older than Mary. He always seemed old enough to be her father.
I saw the Stones in '81, when I was 17. Even then we were making jokes about what old men they were.
Jagger was 38 at the time. Still a frickin’ baby as far as I’m now concerned.
ETA: Hadn’t seen @JKellyMap’s post until @Odesio pointed it out in the following post…
Way
I remember hearing a lot of old people jokes about the Stones in the 90s. I think they’ve outlasted those jokes.
Just a different sort of arrogance/“tribal” affiliation.
There was an episode in the first season called “The Forty-Five Year Old Man.” It’s about Lou Grant starting to realize that he’s getting older, and his best years may be behind him.
I remember, when I saw it on Nick-at-Nite, thinking “Come on! They expect us to believe that Lou is only 45? He’s gotta be at least 10 years older than that!” Imagine my shock to learn that Asner was actually 41 when that episode was made!
I’m going to guess that neither of you saw it in the orignal run? Because I did - and that’s what plenty of 40 year olds looked like then. My grandmother was 62 in 1972 - and she looked older than my 85 year old mother looks now. Forget how much older she looked than 62 year old me.
Anybody remember the movie Americathon from 1979? It has a DJ referencing the song in the titles; “Here they are, still going strong after 40 years, the Beach Boys!". We thought that was hilarious. The Beach Boys had already been around for the ridiculously long time (17 years!) 40 years was preposterous! I have to remind myself that it 13 years ago I saw them during their 50th Anniversary tour. Even with the last Wilson brother finally paddling into the sunset, there is still a Beach Boys (Mike Love is too mean to die).
I actually did see it in its original run, but I was very young at the time, without much idea of how various ranges of “old people” were supposed to look.
I am, these days, more aware of the fact that people tended to look “old” at a younger age in the 1970s and earlier.
Sure, my parents watched MTM when I was a kid, so I watched it too. But the thing is, when you’re a kid, all adults look ‘old’ to you. As an old now, I usually look back on people I used to think were old at the time and think ‘wow, they were really just in the prime of their lives’. But not Asner-- in old pics or reruns he still looks older than his years to me, to this day. You think he looks like a 40 year old here?
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I remember some special from 1974, and one of the guests was Fabian (seems like Dick Clark hosted it). One of the things Fabian was asked was something to the effect of how have things changed since his big hits in the early 1960s. One thing he said was something like, “Well, I was 16 when I started, and I’m 31 now.” That seemed incredible old to me at the time.
And, submitted for your perusal, one of my uncles from 1967.. Probably not quite so old as you might think.49
In the 1995 Simpsons episode “Lisa’s Wedding” (set in the far-off year of 2010), future Lisa has a poster from the Stones’ “Steel Wheelchair Tour.”
A forty year old now or a forty year old then? Actually, I’ve known plenty of people around 40 who would look much like Asner in that photo - except that men who lose their hair early nowadays tend to shave their heads. That pattern of baldness makes people appear older.
I’m not sure which season that photo is from, but Asner was born in 1929 and Gavin McLeod was born in 1931 which makes them 40 ish in 1970. Knight is older than both of them (born in 1923) and he looks younger to me. Almost certainly because he has hair.
Hair and clothing styles have a lot to do with how old a person looks (and so does smoking and not using sunscreen) - if I wore my grandmother’s clothes and had her hairstyle, I would look older than I do now. But I am (almost) certain my grandchildren will look at photos in 50 years and be amazed at my age.
It looks like a cast photo. Since Georgia Engel and Betty White are there, but Valerie Harper and Cloris Leachman are not, it’s probably from season 5 or later, so post-1974. They would be a little older. Ed Asner might actually be a forty-five year old man by that time. 
I agree, people did tend to look older back then, for all the reasons you mention. And yeah, Gavin MacLeod was the baby of the males there, at only around 38 (assuming a 1970ish pic) and he looks much older too, with the ‘laurel wreath’ of white hair. Shaving one’s head is definitely the way to go these days if one has male pattern baldness.
And jeez Louise, @Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker’s uncle in the above post-- after seeing the pic, but before clicking the spoiler, I guessed 59, and that was only because I knew he was supposed to be much younger than he looked, so I subtracted 10 years from what I might have otherwise guessed. That must have been some hard living.
I’d say he looks at least ten years older than I do now. I’m 71.
Might be of interest whilst we are on the subject…
Really interesting - thanks.
I remember back in the early '80s when The Police were popular, and finding out that Andy Summers was in his early 40s! What’s this old geezer doing in a rock band? These days I go see rock bands where they are easily in their 50s or 60s.
In high school (1980), I was shocked to learn that my celebrity crush, Debbie Harry was a hag of 35.
Hehehe, I found out similar information about Kim Gordon when I was a teenager. Also, she’s my dad’s cousin. 