In this thread about Hume Cronyn, I mentioned in passing that I had thought he was already dead, the same way I thought about “Jack Palance’s death.” Of course, now I learn that Jack Palance is still very much alive. AGAIN! Yup, that’s the second time I’d assumed he was dead already. (The first time kinda freaked me out, because he appeared live on Jay Leno the very next day after a friend & I had bemoaned the fact that he was dead.)
Ok, so now it’s time for a poll: What celebrities have you ever thought were dead, only to learn that they were either still alive, or had only just died?
I though he was dead for years, then he showed-up on that NBC sitcom “The Single Guy”. I looked over at my room mate and he said “I thought he was dead”? I said “so did I”!
A few weeks ago, I was flipping channels and saw the Bob Hope retrospective. I thought that this was an obituary show that had been in the can for a few years, waiting for the right time.
Art Linkletter is often listed as “people we thought were dead”.
He’s nearly 91 and travels 100,000 miles a year speaking to the public.
The Queen Mother was another. Then again, most people I talked to had no idea who she was. When she died, I had many people ask me if Charles was King now. In fact there was a thread in GQ asking if Charles became King the moment she died.
This site includes a list of notable people over 85. Some that surprise me…
Soong Mei Ling the widow of Chinese nationalist leader and Taiwanese president Chiang Kai Shek is 106
Is she really still alive, or have we just lost track?
George Kennan - a primary advocate of Cold War 'containment is 99 - I was sure he wa long dead.
Max Schmeling. He was the German boxer that lost the heavyweight championship to Joe Lewis. He’s 97.
Oscar Niemeyer. Brazilian architect, who pretty much designed Brasilia. 95
Edward Teller, nuclear physicist who helped design the first hydrogen weapons 95.
Eddie Albert of ‘Green Acres’. Now these other people, I assumed to be dead. I was SURE he was dead. Imdb.com also has him as alive.
Others…(all over 85)
Claude Levi-Strauss.
Henri Cartier-Bresson
Estée Lauder
Alfredo Stroessner (wasn’t he assassinated?)
Frankie Laine
Herman Wouk
Saul Bellow
Lester Maddox (Georgia’s baseball bat swinging anti-segregationalist)
P.W. Botha
Also I had no idea some of the other people on this list were so damn old. (Weezie Jefferson is 85??). http://www.deadoraliveinfo.com/dead.nsf/pages/main
Go to “people alive over 85” along the side menu…
This list seems to be updated (Gregory Peck and Hume Cronyn were recently moved).