# Celebrities unexpectedly still alive **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 20, 2007, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-unexpectedly-still-alive/396698 "2007-03-20T10:48:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lambo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lambo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lambo)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-unexpectedly-still-alive/396698/21 "2007-03-20T16:34:16Z")
[QUOTE=Bobotheoptimist] I wish that one guy would update the Abe Vidoda status add-on for Firefox. [/QUOTE] You can always use [this.](http://www.abevigoda.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-unexpectedly-still-alive/396698/22 "2007-03-20T16:35:43Z")
Ziegfeld Follies dancer Doris Eaton Travis (for whom a lover wrote “Singing in the Rain”) is still dancing (seriously) at 103. Here is a video of her dancing at 101 to an Irving Berlin song to which she danced in the follies in 1919: [http://www.laurenredniss.com/century\_girl/doris/](http://www.laurenredniss.com/century_girl/doris/) Here is a video of her teaching a routine to much younger fellow in a dance competition at 102: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WawuCX9IYwI](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WawuCX9IYwI) Here is a news article from earlier this month: [http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=120531&ran=46601](http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=120531&ran=46601) Here is a Wiki entry on her: [Doris Eaton Travis - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doris_Eaton_Travis) ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-unexpectedly-still-alive/396698/23 "2007-03-20T16:53:46Z")
Karl Malden, born in 1912, is still alive. He won an Oscar for “A Streetcar Named Desire”, and was nominated for an Oscar for “On the Waterfront”. Wiki: [Karl Malden - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Malden) IMDB: [Karl Malden - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001500/) ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-unexpectedly-still-alive/396698/24 "2007-03-20T17:01:03Z")
[Maureen O’Hara](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maureen_O'Hara) is 86 and going strong as far as I can tell. And [Jackie Cooper](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Cooper), one of the original Little Rascals (Our Gang) is still going at 84. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-unexpectedly-still-alive/396698/25 "2007-03-20T17:01:32Z")
Two time Oscar winning Olivia de Havilland, born 1916, is still alive. Wiki: [Olivia de Havilland - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olivia_DeHavilland) IMDB: [Olivia de Havilland - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000014/) Her sister Joan Fontaine, born 1917, also won an Oscar, and is still alive. Wiki: [Joan Fontaine - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Fontaine) IMDB: [Joan Fontaine - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000021/) The two of them have been feuding throughout their lives, and have not spoken to each other for over thrity years. One wonders if they are competing to see who will outlive the other. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-unexpectedly-still-alive/396698/26 "2007-03-20T17:08:29Z")
[QUOTE=Muffin] feuding throughout their lives, and have not spoken to each other for over thrity years. One wonders if they are competing to see who will outlive the other. [/QUOTE] See post #11. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-unexpectedly-still-alive/396698/27 "2007-03-20T17:12:29Z")
The ever gracious Kitty Carlisle, born 1910, is still alive. She was an opera singer, a screen actress, a Broadway actress, a game show celebrity, and a twenty-year chairperson of the New York State Council of the Arts. As of a few months ago, she was still touring: [http://www.kittycarlisle.com/](http://www.kittycarlisle.com/) Wiki: [Kitty Carlisle - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitty_Carlisle) IMDB: [Kitty Carlisle - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0137634/) ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-unexpectedly-still-alive/396698/28 "2007-03-20T17:13:32Z")
[QUOTE=twickster] See post #11. [/QUOTE] Whoops! Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-unexpectedly-still-alive/396698/29 "2007-03-20T17:15:44Z")
Rock ‘n’ roll, and derived musical forms, have pervaded and changed our culture so thoroughly that it’s hard to imagine a time when they didn’t exist, and it’s even more astonishing that some of the earliest groundbreaking rock stars are still alive – Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, and others, I’m sure. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-unexpectedly-still-alive/396698/30 "2007-03-20T17:28:43Z")
Hey, thanks to the IMDB, I see that both Doris Eaton Travis and Kitty Carlisle were in Marx Brothers’ films: Doris Eaton Travis in “Cocoanuts”, and Kitty Carlisle in A Night at the Opera". ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-unexpectedly-still-alive/396698/31 "2007-03-20T17:39:43Z")
B.B. King is coming to my town this May (tickets at about $100 a pop). He was born in 1925, but seems so much older. My favourite line by him: “I gave you seven children, and now you want to give 'em back – I’ve got the blues.” Judging by his tour dates, he is still working his ass off: [http://www.bbking.com/events/](http://www.bbking.com/events/) Wiki: [B. B. King - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B.B._King) ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-unexpectedly-still-alive/396698/32 "2007-03-20T17:49:43Z")
Dutch actor/singer [Johannes Heesters](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Heesters) still works from time to time, at age 103. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-unexpectedly-still-alive/396698/33 "2007-03-20T17:55:46Z")
Maybe only a celebrity to us Monster Kids but every few months, I check on the continued survival of Forrest J Ackerman, now 90. > **[Forrest J Ackerman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forrest_J_Ackerman)** > > Forrest James Ackerman (November 24, 1916 – December 4, 2008) was an American magazine editor; science fiction writer and literary agent; a founder of science fiction fandom; a leading expert on science fiction, horror, and fantasy films; a prominent advocate of the Esperanto language; and one of the world's most avid collectors of genre books and film memorabilia. He was based in Los Angeles, California. > As a literary agent, he represented such science fiction authors as Ray Bradbury, Isaac ... ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-unexpectedly-still-alive/396698/34 "2007-03-20T17:56:03Z")
I guess it isn’t “unexpected” but Jack LaLanne is still going strong and he had his 90th birthday last year. He was going to celebrate by swimming underwater from his home to the Farallon Islands but his wife Elaine said she’d leave him if he tried it 🙂 Read an interview with him a few months ago, the reporter said he was doing handstands on the kitchen chairs. Starts his day with 90 minutes of swimming followed by 90 minutes of lifting weights. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-unexpectedly-still-alive/396698/35 "2007-03-20T17:57:21Z")
[QUOTE=pool] And after my thread about The Seventh Seal Ingmar Bergman [/QUOTE] Don’t feel bad about forgetting that Bergman’s still alive. A short time ago I read an article in either Time or Newsweek that referred to him as “the late Ingmar Bergman.” Anyway, I don’t know if he counts as a celebrity but when former MLB Commissioner Bowie Kuhn died last week, I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who had thought he’d already passed. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-unexpectedly-still-alive/396698/36 "2007-03-20T18:03:59Z")
In last months Playboy there’s an interview with Bettie Page…I was amazed she was still alive. Not that she’s staggeringly old or anything, but she’s so off the radar and iconic it just seems she ought to be dead. ---
**Author:** ![2pelo\_honey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/ecb155/32.png) [@2pelo\_honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2pelo_honey)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-unexpectedly-still-alive/396698/37 "2007-03-20T18:21:46Z")
[QUOTE=Muffin] B.B. King is coming to my town this May (tickets at about $100 a pop). He was born in 1925, but seems so much older. My favourite line by him: “I gave you seven children, and now you want to give 'em back – I’ve got the blues.” Judging by his tour dates, he is still working his ass off: [B.B. King- 100 Years of The King of the Blues!](http://www.bbking.com/events/) Wiki: [B. B. King - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B.B._King) [/QUOTE] I saw him in '98…the minute we could get tickets, we did - no hesitation whatsoever…the general consensus was “hey, see him when ya can, who knows?” I may have thought a bit more about if our tickets were $100, though…ours here were only $30, in a small Arena. Oh, and he did sing the above song, by the way. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-unexpectedly-still-alive/396698/38 "2007-03-20T18:31:47Z")
[QUOTE=twickster] You should have called this “The Abe Vigoda Memorial Thread.” [/QUOTE] Wikipedia has an article on [premature celebrity obits](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_premature_obituaries). Ironically, Kurt Cobain was listed as dying about a month before his actual death. And Pope John Paul II was listed as dead a record three times before he passed on. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-unexpectedly-still-alive/396698/39 "2007-03-20T18:33:30Z")
[QUOTE=tschild] Dutch actor/singer [Johannes Heesters](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Heesters) still works from time to time, at age 103. [/QUOTE] That’s amazing! No, I take that back. What is really amazing is that when he was 88 or 89 he married a hottie: [GALERIE](http://www.simone-rethel.de/galleri2.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2007, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-unexpectedly-still-alive/396698/40 "2007-03-20T18:43:36Z")
[QUOTE=cochrane] Wikipedia has an article on [premature celebrity obits](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_premature_obituaries). Ironically, Kurt Cobain was listed as dying about a month before his actual death. And Pope John Paul II was listed as dead a record three times before he passed on. [/QUOTE] The list doesn’t include [GOD](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_is_dead) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-unexpectedly-still-alive/396698.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-unexpectedly-still-alive/396698.md?page=3)