29 when she did Carrie!?!

I was going to post the same thing. I thought she was about 40 when that was made. She aged terribly. My Mom was born in 47, and she looks like she's only about 45 years old. I'm so lucky being blessed with good genes. Do you think that her birthdate is a misprint?

She's always been a smoker and is the type not to opt for cosmetic surgery. She actually looks her age not the plastic 60 somethings like Faye Dunaway and Loretta Swit who both look like rubber faced freaks. She just looks like a normal 62 year old. But the smoking didn't help I'm sure.

very true. Her voice has remained intact, however.

It was so funny to see this thread. All I gotta say is that Sally Field replaced her in the "Nora Walker" role on ABC's "Brothers & Sisters." I'm pretty sure that Sally is actually older than Betty and looks way better...

The really funny thing is that when I first pulled up this IMDB page for her, I thought she looked pretty good for her age...until I found out that apparently, she was born in 1947. Seriously? I would say that she looks good for 70, but if she's really only 62, she hasn't aged that well after all. What the heck happened? If that really was from smoking, I'd say that it's proof positive that we should all stay far, far away from tobacco. Scary. 1947. Never would have imagined...I really did think she was way older. I understood that she was supposed to be Dick Van Patten's young wife on "Eight is Enough," I just had no idea she was that young...Yikes.

Faye Dunaway and Loretta Swit are both a good decade older than Betty...but yeah, I agree with the rubber-faced freak comment. They should have known better, and we can only hope that future, (and present), stars, will have the smarts to make every effort to simply age gracefully and not go under the knife. Whether you like Diane Keaton or not, at least she still has her original face...and she's still being offered parts in films. There's a lot to be said for still being able to move your face...since you are an actor, and emoting kind of goes with the territory.

Besides...how many people in middle-America can honestly relate to all these Hollywood mummies? If you look like a mummy, unless the film is a comedy and you are supposed to look that way, nobody is really going to want to hire you...I don't know. Perhaps working isn't important to them anymore.

I have lived in L.A. all my life and even women who AREN'T actresses here look like freaks, at least in Beverly Hills and the Westside of town. Loretta Swit looks unrecognizable, her face looks like a kiwi...Faye Dunaway looks like a Drag Queen. Those huge chiclet teeth with that face that is overstretched are just too much to get past when she is acting now. The trick is to just have a little nip and tuck here and THEN STOP! Most overdo it. Sally Field looks great, Barbara Feldon at 77 looks 57 and still has her original face. So there are some good examples. Betty seems like a natural type who wouldn't go for all that face pullig. Her smoking though I'm afraid has aged her a bit more than if she hadn't done that. Smoking slowly destroys your body from the inside out. Patrick Swayze was a 3 pack a day smoker and we all know how sad that turned out. He also I thought even 10 years ago looked older than his age for such a fit guy.

Really crazy when you remember that she is only 2 years older than Sissy Spacek, who was 27 and played a 17 year old.


Life is tough. Its tougher if you're stupid

and I believe that some of the actors who played her step children in Eight is Enough were actually older than her!