People used to look so OLD

life was hard

You expect the principal of a ghetto high school to look like a male model, OP?

Oh shit, he was only FIFTY EIGHT?? I cannot believe it!

I know, R3. I thought he was only 57.

Carroll O'Connor and Jean Stapleton were 47 and 48 when All in the Family premiered.

What all that beer and all those cling peaches in heavy syrup will do.

Back then old age was something you aspired to and then clung to, cultivating it. It's like they fled from the appearance of youth as soon as weight gain, hair loss, and the odd wrinkle made that possible.

The Skipper was 43 when Gilligan’s Island premiered, he always seemed so old.

Hold me David!

Charles Lane on Dennis the Menace and Petticoat Junction looked like he was in his 80's, and lived decades longer and died at 101.

Stating the obvious, but it's easier to be made to look older for an acting role than the other way around.

Moisturize, moisturize, moisturize, Mr. Woodman!

So he's the same age as J Lo?

We’re now conditioned to find natural aging unnatural or repellent.

Look at the thread on The Conners. They’ve stayed the course from the original series with working class characters who look like working class human beings.

And much of DL is confused and horrified by people in their 40s, 50s, and 60s who look like they’re in their 40s, 50s, and 60s.

Estelle Parsons, 92, could pass for 62, however. She’s the anti-Principal Woodman.

There are a few recent examples of people who have aged the old-fashioned way. Denise Nickerson when she was only 60. By comparison, I’m 57 and have no facial wrinkles. Huge difference.

[quote]Hold me David! —A. Romano

The unflattering lighting, limited number of camera angles, and low resolution of videotape is why they could get away with casting her in that role when she was only old enough to be those girls' mother if she had gotten knocked up in high school.

Some people still do age badly. Kellyanne Conway turns 53 next month. At the other extreme, Don Lemon is 53 right now.

r17: And I'm pretty sure Conway had a facelift in 2017 or 2018. Or else tons of facial fillers done--probably both a lower facelift/necklift and fillers, cause she suddenly looked a lot better.

I think a lot of the early aging of people in the pre-boomer gen was from smoking. People didn't find out smoking was bad for you until about '63 or '64 and by then most of those people were middle aged and hooked for life.

Ann Romano did get knocked up in high school. Wasn't it her 35th birthday that triggered Ann's meltdown?

Having two kids right out of high school will do that to you.

Mr. Woodman in the reboot.

On the Doris Day Show, Denver Pyle played Doris's father, but was only two years older than she was. And he looked old enough to be her grandfather.

How I long for the day when I can break out of these ingenue roles and play the middle aged lady.

Better to look old then like a lab created jellyfish face.

We had access to Botox, glycolic acid, better diets and exercise, et.al.

Look at the Golden Girls's cast vs the cast of Hot in Cleveland

60+ years old in the 1980s: Dolph Sweet

60+ years old in the 2010s: Dolph Lundgren

Need I say more?

All in the Family is shocking - 47 and 48!! I would have assumed late 50s.

I’ve never had a problem looking my age. At 41-42, I embraced it and stopped trying to look young. Keep in shape and maintained but only for health and to feel good. The obsession with looking young is bizarre to me. I think it’s an American thing - exacerbated by Hollywood images.

R28: The show itself is now as old as they were then.

People who bitch and complain about aging gracefully, whatever the fuck that means, is outing themselves as a fat, ugly ass bridge troll.

People in their 30's and above, even sometimes in their 20's, started dressing and looking old asf as late as the 70's. It wasn't until after that those who were 22 and up didn't think they had to crawl away and die, dress old and knit all day. You could ,gasp, stay young looking by doing simple things and go out and do fun things!!!!! You could actually have a life.

Only the fucking ugly bitch about the J-Lo's staying so young. DAMN THEM! WHY IS EVERYONE AGING SO WELL WHEN I LOOKED LIKE TROG AT 15!!!!!!!!!!!

How old was Bea Arthur when she did Maude? She looked like she was in her late sixties.

I think she had already turned 50 by the time it began.

R31 Probably 21

Look home amazing Cheryl Ladd and Jaclyn Smith look at close to 70 - This is what people SHOULD look like. No reason to look so old and weathered

Who the fuck wants to look old in your 40's or 50's if you can help it? Way too young to look old. Unless you're already ugly then I can see why old age levels the playing field.

Someone born in 1919 lived through global depression and WW2 with few of the safety nets that snowflakes and their therapy bunnies enjoy today.

Jean Stapleton looked old in 1960.

Bea Arthur was 50 when Maude started. She was a heavy drinker and smoker, so of course that had a lot to do with why she looked so much older. And the gray hair didn't help.

Rue McClanahan was only 38 when Maude started and she looked significantly older too.

Looking at the pic at R5 it's easy to see how some good hairpieces and moisturizer would have made a world of difference. O'Connor's skin isn't bad at all, and Jean looked really nice at awards shows EXCEPT for the hair.

I imagine in 40 years people will look at photos of us in our 40s and 50s and wonder why we looked so old.

R14, the show uglies people up, don't pretend like it doesn't. They pull Jackie's receding hairline back to emphasize it, dyed Darlene's hair from a box, didn't hide or sometimes even increased everyone's bags under their eyes, etc.

r37 She looks like Lens Dunham there.

Yep, Rue McClanahan was only 38 when she started Maude.

And they had her in a gray wig for the first season (or two)!

At 38!

They made Rue look older because Maude and Vivien were college roommates.

Bea Arthur and Betty White were 63 when The Golden Girls started. Kim Cattrall and Michelle Pfeiffer are around that age now. Rue McClanahan was 51. Jennifer Aniston is about 51 now. It's amazing how far cosmetic surgery and dermatology have come. Everybody in Hollywood looks so much younger than earlier generations, at the same age.

I love her, but Jamie Lee Curtis looked positively middle aged for a 20-year-old (still so young) playing a 17/18-year-old in Halloween. Her frumpy style didn't really help though.

You're 100% right R44.

I could never believe she was a high school student as she looked in her 40s when I saw the film in the early 80s on tv.

"Back then" bullshit like Botox, fillers, follicle transplants, silicone breast implants and all other silliness that shallow, superficial people waste money doing today did not exist. People are not supposed to look like burn victims and cemetery dwellers when they are middle age and older. Either a person has good genes, lives a clean life and stays out of the sun or he/she does not. Muscles and "hitting the gym" do not make one look more attractive and/or younger. Simple as that.

r26

Or look at Jack Klugman and Tony Randall compared to Charlie Sheen and Jon Cryer.

[quote]They made Rue look older because Maude and Vivien were college roommates.

So? Lots of different ages of people went to college together, even back then.

It’s one thing to be healthy and fit and look good for your age naturally but I can’t help wonder if the current obsession will lead to a whole load of 50 somethings in a few years who have that creepy mannequin face ( Bryan Singer is a good example ).

Yes, they did look much older in their 30s and 40s.

However, I think the weird look people have in their 50s and up these days more than makes up for looking better when younger. Botox, plastic surgery, Restylane, Juvederm, peels, etc. fill out or sand down or pull back wrinkles, but they don't make you look younger, just...odd.