My maternal grandparents ate something fried every day of their life, whether it be fried eggs and bacon or fried chicken or country fried steak or fried fish, sometimes for all 3 meals of the day plus quick snacks, along with biscuits, mashed potatoes, etc, though there were always veges at lunch and dinner. My grandfather stayed rail thin his entire life, had few health problems and lived until his early 90s. My grandmother got round, developed diabetes fairly early, but did live into her late 70s. Here's the but, they were farmers. My grandfather worked hard every day of his life, rarely taking a day off, until he was in his early 70s. He then opened a general store, family pool hall type place. My grandmother worked hard too, maybe not quite as physically hard as him, but she was mostly in charge of the family garden (they grew a cash crop), she took care of the chickens, milked the cows, and slopped the pigs, besides cooking 3 meals a day, cleaning house, laundry, etc, until she just couldn't anymore. I don't think I ever saw her just sit down and not do anything, she was always mending clothes, snapping beans, shelling peas or nuts, just something.
So, yes, we all know fried food can be bad for you, but obviously hard physical activity mitigates the effects to various extents.