he seems almost chameleon-like to me. there are some wartime photos of him where he does look rather older than his years, but there are others where, to me at least, he looks very youthful. i've also seen a photo of him taken some years after the war where he looks very well preserved, graying at the temples but looking quite vigorous and not too weathered, in spite of making a life at sea. then there's the well known photo of him on the set of "das boot" with jp and hg, when he was in his late 60's or early 70's. he was completely gray but still had a full head of hair-no donald trump comb-overs for him! and he seemed fit and well for his age. it's a shock to me that he died so relatively young, at 74...does anyone know the cause?