How old was Palpatine?

Through the series, one may assume that at episode 1, he was a 50-something year old man and over time he grew to about his 80's by return of the Jedi.

However I always assumed Palpatine was possibly OLDER than this appearance.

I believe the theory that Palpatine used a darkside power to cover his true identity to which he was revealed after his fight with Mace Windu after losing a significant amount of power, and to appear to Anakin as if his lightning hurt him (and as he later tells the senate, his battle with the jedi left him 'scarred and deformed')

Thus if that old wrinkly self was Palpatine's true form, I'd say he was MUCH older than one would believe, possibly making him in his 100's. Plus, isn't the force known for keeping one alive longer?

 

According to Wookieepedia, he was born in 82 BBY and died in 4 ABY.....this isn't including the whole mind transfer into empty clone bodies.

 

I see... Thank you!

 

No problem.

 

Going by the movies alone, this is a very possible theory.

So,what kind of answer do you want? The "official" answer (according to which, and for now at least, palpatine was in his fifties in TPM) or different possible answers from fans?