I think it had to do people smoking and drinking far more than today. Especially the smoking part. Also, sun exposure was greater before and sun screen use wasn't really widespread.
It wasn't only fashion or attitudes that made them look older, we are talking eyebags, wrinkles, spare tires, a missing tooth or two, etc. Meaning, they really aged faster! Look at the leads in TV shows like Maude: the men were at most 50 but to us they look like sixty somethings.

Even more interesting, he hardly aged from the time All in the Family began until he passed away! Still looked 60-something! Same with Jean Stapleton; she didn't look close to 90 in her final days!
Somehow, the 1970's and 1980's themselves slowed the aging process from then on, at least in America. But in Afghanistan where I was years ago, 40-something men looked like old geezers!

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It's also his heritage. People who have Northern European ancestry (Celtic, Germanic, etc ) tend to age faster
Slavery sir, it's done.

How true wanderingjew19! A lot of celebrities nowadays will do almost anything to look young. I think they associate looking young with success at the box-office.
Cheers!

It was also a time when there wasn't so much pressure to be youthful. It was OK and acceptable to "look your age" nowadays celebrities and regular folks (both male and female) whether they admit it or not are so into facelifts, body lifts, bo-tox, hair dye, hair plugs/extentions that no one looks their age anymore.

I agree with you one hundred percent "Pasadena Rules!" I think a lot of actors "back in the day" looked older than their real ages. I watch old black and white movies (from the '30,'40's, and '50's) starring various old time actors such as Clark Gable, James Cagney, Robert Mitchum, etc., and I am amazed at how young they were in "real life" when they starred in those particular films. Their "real life" age is usually much lower than the age of the character they played in the film. Could it be that the texture of the black and white film makes the actors look older? Perhaps the old fashioned clothing creates the illusion of them looking older? Who knows. But I must admit that I have noticed this phenomena in both older films (and T.V. shows) made in color, as well.
Cheers!
Sincerely, Steve B.
P.S. You could say the same thing about Redd Foxx and Whitman Mayo of "Sanford and Son" fame. They both played men in their sixties on the show, but were much younger in real life. Whitman was in his forties when he played Grady Wilson, by the way. I find that amazing!

Actually, O'Connor was roughly the same age as Archie Bunker. I don't rememember the exact season, but I recall an episode dealing with Archie's 50th birthday. In that era, people in general (and certainly working class people like Archie) aged earlier, in that they did not hold on to more youthful fashion and comport.

Yeah, it still suprises me that he was still in his early 50's when "All in the Family" ended, and in his mid-late 40's when it began. He definitely appeared about 60-65 around.
"It was definitly some puerto rican guy alright".-OJ Simpson, South Park

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