Maybe he looked old but Charles Bronson was a real badass. Unlike John Wayne who never served a day in the military, Charles Bronson was a World War II aerial gunner on a B-29 superfortress and received a purple heart. (Before joining the service he worked in a coal mine, earning a whopping one dollar for every TON of coal he mined). According to Wikipedia, "His family was so poor that at one time, he said, he had to wear his sister's dress to school because of his lack of clothing." Gee, you think living a life like that turned him into a serious badass? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Bronson
He's merely pointing out that Charles Bronson was a legit badass and John Wayne only played one in movies. Bronson was truly one of a kind and was in better shape at 60 than most guys in their 20s and 30s. In his early 70s he was said to drop and do 50 push-ups in between takes.