Remember, Actors Change Appearance for Roles

Dear Dr.Rassman,

I did read your Mel-Gibson story. Please remember that especially actors does a lot of changes in their appearance.

Take Al Pacino. His hair was thinned out for his role in Godfather due to his characters age.

Here’s a snippet from the DVD cover of the Godfather Part III, showing Al Pacino’s aged look that you mentioned.

When a role requires an actor to look older in the theater or on film, stylists (or the actors themselves, perhaps) tend to gray the hair and might even put some balding or thinning appearance to the hair. When the role seeks a younger look, they add more hair and reverse the balding. That is the natural course for the aging man, because half of the male population will have some degree of balding by the time they reach their mid-40s.