Mad MenLists that celebrate and rank AMC's hit series (2007-2015) that follows Don Draper through the high-stakes world of 1960s advertising on New York's Madison Avenue.
Updated September 24, 2021 2.9K votes 501 voters 33.4K views
Voting Rules
Vote up the cast members whose looks changed the most between the first and last seasons.
Mad Men premiered on AMC on July 19, 2007. By the time the series finale aired on May 17, 2015, viewers had watched the staff of Sterling Cooper grapple with the entire decade of the '60s and the changes it brought. From fashion to relationships to the Hare Krishna movement, the characters of Mad Men went through some serious transformations.
Just like their characters, the cast of Mad Men aged and changed throughout the series as well. Even the great Jon Hamm couldn't escape the effects - although he does a pretty good job of retaining that swoon-worthy debonair air right until the end of the series. So how did the cast of Mad Men age over the course of the series? These then-and-now photos show it all. Once you've taken a walk down Memory Lane, make sure to check out these other shows like Mad Men.
Photo: AMC
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Marten Holden Weiner (Glen Bishop)
Photo: AMC / AMC
From the first season to the very end, Glen Bishop goes from a creepy neighborhood kid to a creepy 18 year old going to war, asking for beers, and trying to hit on Betty. As show creator Matt Weiner (and Marten's father) said of Glen's sideburns, "he didn't grow them for the show. That look has come around. We were, like, 'Hey, Wolverine!' We had to trim them, actually."
As the seasons go on we watch as Campbell goes from a young, ambitious (and backstabbing) account executive to a tired, manipulative ad-man. That transformation is one that plays out visually too - in fact, Vincent Kartheiser, the actor that plays Pete Campbell shaved his hairline and gained 25 pounds for the role.
Kiernan Shipka was six when she landed the role of Sally Draper. Sally navigated her parents' divorce, the death of her grandfather, her father's alcoholism, and his wandering eyes with a maturity well beyond her years. As Sally grew up, she grew into a sophisticated young woman with her father's skills and her mother's sharp tongue.
Paul Kinsey is the pipe-smoking, beatnik copywriter of the office who doesn't quite get included when the company transitions to the new-model Sterling Cooper. When Kinsey re-emerges in the series, he has taken up a new role is the Hare Krishna movement, complete with a shaved head and robe.
As Michael Gladis said of his character being written out of the show, "I didn’t have any inkling that I was going to be off the show until I read the last script for season three, and even then it was sort of ambiguous." He also wasn't really informed about how his character would be returning. "Well, I knew a little bit because I’d had conversations with the producers about shaving my head," Gladis explained. "But even then, they were being really swirly about why. I was like, “Did he go to Vietnam? Does he have cancer?”
As Elisabeth Moss explained to TV Guide, Peggy, "becomes harder in a lot of ways. She gets her heart broken; she has bitter moments. . . But I hope that she still retains that sense of honesty and positivity and truth. She's earnest. She very much believes in whatever she's saying. I think she still has that despite the fact that she's had some hard knocks."
This change is reflected in Peggy's overall style. Her bangs are replaced by a sophisticated sweep and her checkered dresses are replaced by fashion-forward separates and a bad-ass sense of self.
According to Rich Sommer, people debate whether Harry becomes a jerk, or if he was always one, just in hiding. As Sommer concludes, "I think he was always a bit of a jerk." What's undebatable is how much Harry Crane's wardrobe changes throughout the years from "total nerdy character with short sleeves and bowties" to Mr. Hollywood "cool."
