I am watching the film right now for the first time and I find it unbelievable he could have only been 36! When he walked out of the bathroom in his first scene I found myself thinking that he looks like I remember my grandfather at 56. Was he a heavy smoker? Drinker? Bad genes? Just a different time? Sellers was 38-39 and looked much younger.
shareScott may of only have been 36, but the character of Buck Turgidson is undoubtedly supposed to be older, so my guess is the makeup department, and Scott's masterful performance, aged him a bit.
Turgidson is supposed to be a 4-Star Air Force General and Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and he was reportedly modeled after General Curtis LeMay who held the same position (and Right-wing political philosophy) from '61 to '65.
In '64 when Strangelove was made, LeMay was 58 years-old.
Historically, men in their 30s don't attain the rank of 4-star general. They're always significantly older than that.
And just three years larer, in 1967, he played the lead in The Flim-Flam Man, a character who apparently was intended to be 55-60 years old.
I guess George just got old before his time.