# Which actor/actresses have not aged well. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 12, 2011, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-actresses-have-not-aged-well/605894 "2011-12-12T10:19:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-actresses-have-not-aged-well/605894/101 "2011-12-14T12:44:42Z")
Another thing about celebrities is that some of them, especially those who haven’t aged well, have really abused their bodies. Drug and alcohol abuse will take its toll after a while. So will lots of time spent in the sun or tanning bed, or gaining and losing significant amounts of weight for one or two roles. To be fair, lots of them take pretty good care of themselves, but some don’t. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-actresses-have-not-aged-well/605894/102 "2011-12-14T14:15:42Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > I think the thing with Burt Reynolds is that his looks changed fairly drastically in a relatively short period of time. IMHO, the thing with Reynolds is that he was already in his forties as the roguish smirker of SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT and CANNONBALL RUN and STROKER ACE and CITY HEAT. Heck, even in his fifties he looked like [this](http://www.sitcomsonline.com/photopost/data/662/br1.JPG). And then – watch out. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-actresses-have-not-aged-well/605894/103 "2011-12-14T14:39:34Z")
It’s amazing, watching the Up documentaries which check in on a group of British people every seven years, how sudden the transformation from 41 to 49 was. They were all going on normally and then, pow! (Feel a little weird about marrying a man who will be 41 by the wedding, thinking about 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 14, 2011, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-actresses-have-not-aged-well/605894/104 "2011-12-14T14:44:59Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > I think the thing with Burt Reynolds is that his looks changed fairly drastically in a relatively short period of time. He went from [this](http://www.allposters.com/IMAGES/EVTPOD/MSDCARU-EC003.jpg) to [this](http://img2.timeinc.net/people/i/2009/news/090928/burt-reynolds.jpg) in about twenty year’s time. I think the change was due more to health trouble and at least some plastic surgery than the mere passing of time. I agree that after the transformation he has aged about like one would expect, but he really doesn’t look as if he’s aged normally from the way he looked as a young or middle-aged man. When he made **City Heat** with Clint Eastwood, he was injured in a bar fight scene in a way that wrecked his health and career. He was hit over the head with what was supposed to be a breakaway chair, and spent the next several years in the hospital enduring quacks who, for instance, removed all his teeth to see if that would dim the pain (it didn’t). That would prematurely age the best of us. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-actresses-have-not-aged-well/605894/105 "2011-12-14T15:46:48Z")
Enough from the scolds! For those of us who have always been butt-ugly there’s a wicked pleasure in seeing these ‘beautiful people’ turn into hideous gargoyles and wizened old hags. Welcome to my world, gramps! On with the show! ---
**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:** [December 14, 2011, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-actresses-have-not-aged-well/605894/106 "2011-12-14T16:10:17Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I was watching the DVD features for _The Sting_ about a year ago. They had Newman and Redford being interviewed for the twentieth anniversary of the movie. The surprising thing was that the 78-year-old Newman was looking in a lot better shape than the 67-year-old Redford. Yes, but which one looks best now? ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-actresses-have-not-aged-well/605894/107 "2011-12-14T16:13:35Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > It’s amazing, watching the Up documentaries which check in on a group of British people every seven years, how sudden the transformation from 41 to 49 was. They were all going on normally and then, pow! Yep, “41-49” sure bitch-slapped \*me \*around, too. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-actresses-have-not-aged-well/605894/108 "2011-12-14T16:13:52Z")
I think we’ve had enough back and forth on the morality of poking fun at the aging of celebrities (or scolding people who’ve done the same). Let’s stick with the original thread topic. > [@YoDoc](#): > > Way to ruin a light-hearted laugh at some celebrities. Dick. (Just joking about being a dick. Don’t mod me, man!) Next time, save it for the Pit. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-actresses-have-not-aged-well/605894/109 "2011-12-14T16:22:21Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > But Keith wasn’t in his 40s when he took that last picture. Are you sure about that? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![LaurenIpsum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@LaurenIpsum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LaurenIpsum)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-actresses-have-not-aged-well/605894/110 "2011-12-14T19:22:21Z")
Mine may be a weird example, but this has always made me wonder. Mary Tyler Moore - I’m not referring to how she looks today, but rather in the 1970s. I used to watch Nick at Nite as a kid and enjoyed the Dick Van Dyke show in the early 90s. I thought Mary Tyler Moore was incredibly cute in that show (and I’m a hetero woman), so I was shocked to come across a photo of her, taken around the end of the Mary Tyler Moore (1977). She appeared to have aged a lot during that time. (I had not yet seen the show.) [Photo from the Dick Van Dyke Show](http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&biw=1280&bih=850&tbm=isch&tbnid=9Ib2T2dNqyTPoM:&imgrefurl=http://classicforever.blogspot.com/2009/07/lovely-lady-of-week-mary-tyler-moore.html&docid=UW657GOz7B9mLM&imgurl=http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_RnlFOOpc8ls/SmVJqDRVDFI/AAAAAAAABeQ/JH2YWyBeUog/s400/Mary%252BTyler%252BMoore5.jpg&w=400&h=399&ei=7fXoTubYCYjW0QGnzd2ICg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=937&vpy=175&dur=2787&hovh=224&hovw=225&tx=92&ty=152&sig=101482930989625243662&page=1&tbnh=143&tbnw=147&start=0&ndsp=29&ved=1t:429,r:5,s:0) [Photo from the first season of the Mary Tyler Moore Show.](http://www.google.com/imgres?num=10&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&biw=1280&bih=850&tbm=isch&tbnid=yeTJYiIrRitlhM:&imgrefurl=http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/deep-dish/television/&docid=2LkegLuSXGggwM&imgurl=http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/deep-dish/television/Mary-Tyler-Moore-Show--C10039379.jpeg&w=385&h=477&ei=QvboTpqOCsjX0QHa7ND7CQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=746&vpy=164&dur=808&hovh=250&hovw=202&tx=108&ty=148&sig=101482930989625243662&sqi=2&page=1&tbnh=148&tbnw=114&start=0&ndsp=27&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:0) I still think she looks good here - just Laura Petrie with longer hair. But after the second season, something changed. I know her hair was different, but her face seemed to look really different too. In fact, [here is that exact photo that surprised me so much](http://thestarryeye.typepad.com/history/2011/03/final-episode-of-mary-tyler-moore-show-airs-march-19-1977.html), taken from a TV Guide story on her last episode. I almost didn’t recognize her when I saw it. She was only about 40 there, but to me she looks older. I dunno, maybe it’s just normal aging, and it just looks worse for her because she was so cute when she was younger. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-actresses-have-not-aged-well/605894/111 "2011-12-14T19:42:45Z")
To LaurenIpsum: Mary Tyler Moore is an insulin-dependent Diabetic, and has has many issues with Diabetes over the years. It’s my understanding she is almost blind now, due to Diabetic complications. She also had one child, a son, who took his own life in 1980. She is a recovering alcoholic. Those factors could have made a huge contribution in her looks. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-actresses-have-not-aged-well/605894/112 "2011-12-14T19:52:03Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > When he made **City Heat** with Clint Eastwood, he was injured in a bar fight scene in a way that wrecked his health and career. He was hit over the head with what was supposed to be a breakaway chair, and spent the next several years in the hospital enduring quacks who, for instance, removed all his teeth to see if that would dim the pain (it didn’t). That would prematurely age the best of us. Reynolds went through a considerable period of time where mysterious stuff was going on with his health. First, IIRC, he blamed a mandible problem, then hypoglycymia, then breakaway chairs and stunt work. Things got so bad that for a while it rumored that he had contracted AIDS. And then mixed in with that was the obvious work he had done to tighten up his face. It was at the end of all that when he changed from the masculine hunk he was before to the relatively frail-looking guy he’s been since. (I’m sure he could still kick most of our butts, but you know what I mean…:p) ---
**Author:** ![phreesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@phreesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phreesh)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-actresses-have-not-aged-well/605894/113 "2011-12-14T20:22:09Z")
Picking my jaw up from the floor from the Elizabeth Hurley photos. She was very average looking into her late 20s and then, BAM - hubba hubba. Yeah. I can see the surgery, but it’s GREAT surgery. She jumped from a 7 to a 10 as she got older. Who does that (especially women)? I find Keanu Reeves and Tom Cruise to be the opposites of this thread. They’ve hardly aged at all over 20 years. Just incredible. A photo of [Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis](http://www.abc27.com/story/16315840/texas-adopts-rules-on-fracking-chemical-disclosure) shows how well-preserved he is. Another Top Gun alum has put on the pounds [Val Kilmer then](http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=val+kilmer+pictures&view=detail&id=A638A10CEC6E038FE2DF2EDE16D9F3908934B549&first=0&FORM=IDFRIR) and [Now](http://www.listal.com/viewimage/1618836) Sinead O’Connor has gone from [This](http://www.irishemigrant.com/ie/img.asp?path=/ie/images/ArticleImg_5673_12341.jpg&width=250) to [This](http://images.sodahead.com/slideshows/000011963/4555395405_sinead_oconnor_52987552904-52987640317_xlarge.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-actresses-have-not-aged-well/605894/114 "2011-12-14T20:30:26Z")
> [@phreesh](#): > > Sinead O’Connor has gone from [This](http://www.irishemigrant.com/ie/img.asp?path=/ie/images/ArticleImg_5673_12341.jpg&width=250) to [This](http://images.sodahead.com/slideshows/000011963/4555395405_sinead_oconnor_52987552904-52987640317_xlarge.jpeg) Eh, comparing a professional headshot to a live picture where she’s obviously straining to belt something out is kind of unfair. [She’s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sin%C3%A9ad_O%E2%80%99Connor.jpg) aged, but not as badly as that last photo makes it appear. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-actresses-have-not-aged-well/605894/115 "2011-12-14T20:42:13Z")
She really had let herself go pretty badly ([cite](http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01937/sineadoconnor2_1937042b.jpg)), but she seems to be trying to get back into some kind of shape as she’s been coming back into the public eye more recently. ---
**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 14, 2011, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-actresses-have-not-aged-well/605894/116 "2011-12-14T20:56:37Z")
> [@VOW](#): > > To LaurenIpsum: > > Mary Tyler Moore is an insulin-dependent Diabetic, and has has many issues with Diabetes over the years. It’s my understanding she is almost blind now, due to Diabetic complications. > > She also had one child, a son, who took his own life in 1980. > > She is a recovering alcoholic. > > Those factors could have made a huge contribution in her looks. > ~VOW In addition, she has acknowledged that she had a long-ago face lift which drastically changed her appearance. Not necessarily for the worse, just different. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-actresses-have-not-aged-well/605894/117 "2011-12-14T21:39:01Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > Enough from the scolds! For those of us who have always been butt-ugly there’s a wicked pleasure in seeing these ‘beautiful people’ turn into hideous gargoyles and wizened old hags. Welcome to my world, gramps! > > On with the show! Sounds similar to the wicked pleasure for those of us who have always been fat seeing acquaintances from High School who made weight jokes then now wearing the same size as you, but unlike you there’s no way in hell they could wear the same size they wore then.😉 ---
**Author:** ![LionelHutz405](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lionelhutz405/32/536_2.png) [@LionelHutz405](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LionelHutz405)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-actresses-have-not-aged-well/605894/118 "2011-12-14T21:42:27Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > She really had let herself go pretty badly ([cite](http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01937/sineadoconnor2_1937042b.jpg)), but she seems to be trying to get back into some kind of shape as she’s been coming back into the public eye more recently. Man, those tats don’t help. [http://www.mydochub.com/blog/index.php/2011/12/09/sinead-o-connor-wedding-dress-marries-in-pink-cadillac-in-las-vegas/](http://www.mydochub.com/blog/index.php/2011/12/09/sinead-o-connor-wedding-dress-marries-in-pink-cadillac-in-las-vegas/) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-actresses-have-not-aged-well/605894/119 "2011-12-14T21:48:10Z")
> [@phreesh](#): > > [Val Kilmer then](http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=val+kilmer+pictures&view=detail&id=A638A10CEC6E038FE2DF2EDE16D9F3908934B549&first=0&FORM=IDFRIR) and [Now[/URL [URL=“[http://www.aaanything.net/wp-content/gallery/celebrities-looking-fine/val\_kilmer\_remember\_when\_i\_was\_batman.jpg](http://www.aaanything.net/wp-content/gallery/celebrities-looking-fine/val_kilmer_remember_when_i_was_batman.jpg)”]Hey, guys…]([Picture of Val Kilmer](http://www.listal.com/viewimage/1618836)) ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-actresses-have-not-aged-well/605894/120 "2011-12-15T01:14:34Z")
> [@LaurenIpsum](#): > > Mary Tyler Moore - I’m not referring to how she looks today, but rather in the 1970s. I used to watch Nick at Nite as a kid and enjoyed the Dick Van Dyke show in the early 90s. I thought Mary Tyler Moore was incredibly cute in that show (and I’m a hetero woman), so I was shocked to come across a photo of her, taken around the end of the Mary Tyler Moore (1977). She appeared to have aged a lot during that time. (I had not yet seen the show.) > > But after the second season, something changed. I know her hair was different, but her face seemed to look really different too. In fact, [here is that exact photo that surprised me so much](http://thestarryeye.typepad.com/history/2011/03/final-episode-of-mary-tyler-moore-show-airs-march-19-1977.html), taken from a TV Guide story on her last episode. I almost didn’t recognize her when I saw it. She was only about 40 there, but to me she looks older. She was 25 to 30 filming Dick Van Dyke. She was 40 when that TVGuide picture was taken. She looks about 40 to me. > [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Yeah, it isn’t so much that she looks [bad](http://www.iceposter.com/thumbs/G155472_b.jpg), which she doesn’t, it’s that she just looks like a [different person](http://www.probertencyclopaedia.com/j/Olivia%20Newton-John.jpg). Not seeing it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-actresses-have-not-aged-well/605894.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-actor-actresses-have-not-aged-well/605894.md?page=7)