On Getting Older But (Maybe) Looking Younger

Birthday boy.

Today is my birthday, and as I get older there are more people whom I've outlived. By "outlive" I mean "lived to a greater age," not "lived to a more recent year." Going by the latter, I've outlived everyone in human existence who died today or earlier.

As a Wikipedia junkie, I can quickly research the lives of famous people to see (that is, be depressed by by own lack of accomplishments while considering) how much many of these folks have accomplished during their shorter-than-my lifetime.

For instance, consider who died at age 27:

• Jimi Hendrix
• Janis Joplin
• Jim Morrison
• Kurt Cobain
• Amy Winehouse

Sure, I've listed a quintet of live-fast/die-young recording artists who all died from drug overdoses — if you discount the conspiracy theories — but when you realize that you've reached the age that John Lennon never will, well, you start to feel old.


The related game I play while researching these celebs, or People Worthy of Wikipedia Pages, is determining whether I look older or younger than these people. For example, Humphrey Bogart (who lived to be 58, so I haven't caught up yet) was around my current age when he appeared in The Maltese Falcon. This is a promotional still for the movie:

Perhaps it's the suit, or the forehead wrinkles, or the cigarette smoking (which likely contributed to the esophageal cancer that killed him), but Bogie looks old enough to be my father.

While we're on the subject of younger-looking-than-I famous leading men, here's a picture of Marlon Brando — I found a photo where he's "himself," not in character — at the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, when he's not yet 40:

Here he's pictured with the writer James Baldwin, who's a few months younger than Brando. Neither looks younger than I do now.

MAYBE I NEED A BETTER MIRROR
I don't think I'm good looking, per se, but I do feel I still look good for my age. I might be delusional about how young I look, but as I settle into my early 40s I still have all of my hair (and very few of those are gray), I have a face that isn't lined with many wrinkles (I moisturize daily), and I haven't put on so much weight that it's drastically affected the shape of that not-very-wrinkled face.

As I contemplate my few accomplishments and many wasted opportunities of my life until now, here are the faces of some other people at around the age I am today:

Phil Niekro's (1939– )1979 baseball card.
Actual age when in this photo: Around 40
Appears to be: A school janitor approaching retirement.

Richard Nixon (1913–1994 [and died on my birthday]), circa 1953
Actual age in this photo: 40 or so
Appears to be: A weary 55-year-old inner-city school principal

John Hamm (who is a month older than I) in 2008
Actual age in this photo: 37
Appears to be: Much better looking than I am — BUT I STILL LOOK YOUNGER!