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Actors that have never looked young, even when young

40 replies

likelysuspect · 07/09/2026 10:53

A surprising number of male actors in old films Im watching lately look as if they're middle aged even though they're obviously young

Gene Hackman is one of them
And George Clooney has always looked like an old grandad to me
Sean Connery

OP posts:
MyballsareSandy2015 · 07/09/2026 10:54

Sid James 🤣

likelysuspect · 07/09/2026 10:54

MyballsareSandy2015 · 07/09/2026 10:54

Sid James 🤣

Oh good shout yes.

OP posts:
AbsintheMakesTheHeartGrowFonder · 07/09/2026 11:02

John Thaw

MorrisZapp · 07/09/2026 11:04

Literally all of them up til about the 90s.

pinkdelight · 07/09/2026 11:05

Thora Hird.

ProfessorRedshoeblueshoe · 07/09/2026 11:07

Bernard Lee.

purser25 · 07/09/2026 11:09

cant remember his name possibly Clive Dunn he played Jones the Butcher in Dads Army

likelysuspect · 07/09/2026 11:10

pinkdelight · 07/09/2026 11:05

Thora Hird.

Oh and Margaret Rutherford

And the woman that used to play Ms Marple, Joan someone. I saw a really really old film where she was young but she didnt look young!!

OP posts:
Housewife2010 · 07/09/2026 11:17

purser25 · 07/09/2026 11:09

cant remember his name possibly Clive Dunn he played Jones the Butcher in Dads Army

He was aged up for the role. He was only 48 when the series began.

MorrisZapp · 07/09/2026 11:17

Even famous screen sirens such as Lauren Bacall look weirdly old to me.

OP posts:
anonMH · 07/09/2026 11:20

Bernard cribbins
David Suchet
Peter Bowles
Bernard Bresslaw
Hattie Jaques

in fact, most of the Carry On actors bar Babs.

MrsMoastyToasty · 07/09/2026 11:22

Sean Connery was only 32 when he filmed Dr No.
I think that it's partly down to the men's fashion on the role.

OP posts:
DearlyDiego · 07/09/2026 11:28

I think it was just the style back then. I was watching "Tea with Judi" at the weekend; the one with Ian McKellan. It was brilliant.

It showed lots of old clips from him in the 50s and 60s. He could only have been in his late 20s but looked much older. I think it was all the brown clothing and poor lighting.

Matildatoldsuchdreadfullies · 07/09/2026 11:32

On a different post I described Simon Russell Beale as a portly middle-aged man, and the most inappropriate choice for Ariel (for the record, I then went on to say that he was absolutely brilliant - you couldn’t take your eyes off him).

Thing was, he was 32 at the time. So in no way middle aged. Still brilliant, though. But not young looking.

Thebinisrightthere · 07/09/2026 11:33

Patricia Routledge? She reminds me of my old English teacher who always looked ancient but was probably only about 40 maximum

UnpopularOpinionsIWouldUsuallyKeepToMyself · 07/09/2026 11:35

Fred Astaire

DeftGoldHedgehog · 07/09/2026 11:35

And George Clooney has always looked like an old grandad to me

If that's a typical grandad, hello grandads everywhere! 😆I fancy him even though he's 14 years older than me.

I think he looks 55 and he's actually 65, whereas when he was younger in ER say or Ocean's 11, he looked more his actual age.

UnpopularOpinionsIWouldUsuallyKeepToMyself · 07/09/2026 11:37

Matildatoldsuchdreadfullies · 07/09/2026 11:32

On a different post I described Simon Russell Beale as a portly middle-aged man, and the most inappropriate choice for Ariel (for the record, I then went on to say that he was absolutely brilliant - you couldn’t take your eyes off him).

Thing was, he was 32 at the time. So in no way middle aged. Still brilliant, though. But not young looking.

He looked like a more portly Julian Clary in that. Absolutely love him though, I was sad they changed the scheduling and so I missed him in Jesus Christ Superstar - I was really looking forward to that!

SwankyPants · 07/09/2026 11:38

Dont know how accurate this is....

Actors that have never looked young, even when young
UnpopularOpinionsIWouldUsuallyKeepToMyself · 07/09/2026 11:39

Leonard Rossiter. Another brilliant actor. Maybe that’s the secret - the more ‘character’ you’ve got, the better you are at acting the parts.
(and I don’t agree with George Clooney on either count btw 🤣)

GaaNeen · 07/09/2026 11:41

Martin Freeman
always has appeared to be a wrinkly old bulldog type of mush

FilmsandBooks · 07/09/2026 11:41

Stephanie Cole. She was always playing much older ladies even when she was pretty young and doing so convincingly.

likelysuspect · 07/09/2026 11:58

DeftGoldHedgehog · 07/09/2026 11:35

And George Clooney has always looked like an old grandad to me

If that's a typical grandad, hello grandads everywhere! 😆I fancy him even though he's 14 years older than me.

I think he looks 55 and he's actually 65, whereas when he was younger in ER say or Ocean's 11, he looked more his actual age.

I thought he looked qutie old in ER

OP posts:
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