[HWBL]

His hair doesn't look odd to me. Most of my male relatives are (or have) going
grey that way. The temples, a few hairs on top and then gradually like a veil
the grey spreads while their own (dark color) stays. My dad died shortly after
he turned 93 (he had me about the same age Warren started with kids) and
he even still had black patches of hair underneath the white!

As far as the aging went. I know he looked younger than his actual age for
the longest time and it bothered him.
Some of his best friends (including Jack Nicholson) have related how Warren
would envy their receding hairlines and bags under their eyes. They'd of
course call him crazy, but he couldn't wait to get, as he called it, "character"
in his face.
Despite the popular belief that he is "so vain", you'd be surprised how untrue
that actually is. Many of his careers choices have been (and plenty of critics
have hinted at this regularly) as if to excuse himself for the way he looked.
For instance> his debut part of Bud in "Splendor in the Grass" was taylor
made for him, written by William Inge who had a massive crush on him.
The part was too close for comfort to Warren> the handsome, football hero,
popular schoolboy.

So for his next part he wanted the complete opposite. That became the
sleazy gigolo in "Mrs. Stone", followed by another opposite to his character>
the lazy, Berry-Berry in "All Fall Down".
When the media were beginning to refer to him as a sex symbol, he had real
problems with it. He was quoted as saying
"I was in Paris and I opened the door of my hotel room one morning to see
this copy of the Herald Tribune lying on the carpet. And there was this large
picture of me. I looked down and my stomach just turned over.
I realized that things were getting out of hand, and in the future I would
have to try and insulate myself."
This all at the time of promoting "Splendor" a year after it was shot.
It got to be so bad, that right before going on stage for a press conference
about the movie with girlfriend Natalie Wood, he got physically ill and
vomited behind the curtains before facing the lineup of reporters.
So, before he got the much desired "character" in his face, he tried to avoid
being typecast as the handsome, romantic lead. Another reason for him
turning down many roles that became great hits for other actors.

Looking at photos of his parents, I definitely believe the "early aging" gene
was there, especially on Shirley and Warren's maternal side.
I think Warren aged most around the time he and Julie were hitting the first
bumps in their relationship. They were together between roughly 1966 and 1974.
He already called her his "wife" in public, and had all intentions of marrying
her. But in the end his wish to start a family became one of the major
obstacles and drove them apart. THAT's when all of a sudden the last baby
fat was gone from his face, he overall got thinner and the only place you
could still find the little boy were his eyes - which is where it still is to
this day!