# If they were alive today... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 23, 2008, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-they-were-alive-today/446608 "2008-04-23T22:25:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-they-were-alive-today/446608/21 "2008-04-24T19:40:45Z")
Why didn’t Natalie Wood take a shower on the boat? She wanted to wash up on shore. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-they-were-alive-today/446608/22 "2008-04-24T19:58:26Z")
[QUOTE=The New and Improved Superman] Um…I dunno. What? [/QUOTE] A stroke. ---
**Author:** ![bafaa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e480ec/32.png) [@bafaa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bafaa)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-they-were-alive-today/446608/23 "2008-04-24T20:51:36Z")
Jon-Erik Hexum would be 51 in Nov. Jim Henson would be 72 in May. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2008, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-they-were-alive-today/446608/24 "2008-04-24T21:00:32Z")
[QUOTE=Little Nemo] Elvis Presley 78 [/QUOTE] What do you mean _if_ they were alive? ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2008, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-they-were-alive-today/446608/25 "2008-04-27T01:46:49Z")
And in the same vein… Dylan Thomas 94 Billie Holiday 93 Anwar Sadat 90 Judy Garland 86 Jack Kerouac 86 Charlie Parker 86 Hank Williams, Sr. 85 Rocky Marciano 85 Audie Murphy 84 Lenny Bruce 83 Rock Hudson 83 Robert F Kennedy 83 Malcolm X 83 Sam Cooke 77 Sylvia Plath 76 Robert Reed (Mr. Brady) 76 Patsy Cline 76 Dian Fossey 76 Roberto Clemente 74 Yuri Gagarin 74 Eddie Cochran 70 Marvin Gaye 69 Sal Mineo 69 Rick Nelson 68 Mama Cass Elliot 67 Otis Redding 67 Ritchie Valens 67 Jim Croce 65 Sharon Tate 65 John Holmes 64 Bob Marley 63 Gilda Radner 62 Stephen Biko 62 Gianni Versace 62 Robert Mapplethorpe 62 Duane Allman 62 Keith Moon 62 Bon Scott (AC/DC) 62 Thurman Munson 61 John Bonham 60 Phil Hartman 60 Ronnie Van Zandt (Lynyrd Skynyrd) 60 Christa McAuliffe 60 Andy Kaufman 59 John Belushi 59 Karen Carpenter 58 Sam Kinison 55 Stevie Ray Vaughan 54 Keith Haring 50 Andy Gibb 50 Terry Fox 50 Florence Griffith-Joyner 49 Nicole Brown Simpson 49 Dominique Dunne 49 Michael Hutchence (INXS) 48 Davey Allison 47 Len Bias 45 Dana Plato 44 Chris Farley 44 Brandon Lee 43 Ronald Goldman 40 Tupac Shakur 37 Selena 37 Ryan White 37 The Notorious B.I.G. 36 JonBenet Ramsey 18 ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2008, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-they-were-alive-today/446608/26 "2008-04-27T23:04:33Z")
Since the oldest verified age to which a human has survived is [122,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_Calment) these people could theoretically have made it to the present day: Chico Marx – 121 Harpo Marx – 119 Jim Thorpe – 119 Adolf Hitler – 119 Groucho Marx – 117 Dwight D. Eisenhower – 117 Sergei Prokofiev – 117 (Happy Birthday!) Francisco Franco --115 Haile Selassie – 115 Mae West – 114 Babe Ruth – 113 Amelia Earhart – 110 George Gershwin – 109 Zeppo Marx – 107 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2008, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-they-were-alive-today/446608/27 "2008-04-28T01:33:51Z")
> [@](#): > > Francisco Franco --115 In actual fact, still dead after all these years. ---
**Author:** ![ErinPuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dbc845/32.png) [@ErinPuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ErinPuff)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2008, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-they-were-alive-today/446608/28 "2008-04-28T17:07:14Z")
The composer Elliott Carter will turn 100 this December if he doesn’t die first. He was born before these composers, who have been dead for at least ten years and would be this old if they were alive today: Samuel Barber (98) John Cage (95) Jean Françaix (95) Benjamin Britten (94) Alberto Ginastera (92) Leonard Bernstein (89) Astor Piazzolla (87) Luigi Nono (84) Morton Feldman (82) And Olivier Messiaen was born the day before Carter. (Looking at that list, the thing that bothers me most is that Cage was born before Britten.) ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2008, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-they-were-alive-today/446608/29 "2008-04-28T19:35:46Z")
[QUOTE=ErinPuff] The composer Elliott Carter will turn 100 this December if he doesn’t die first. He was born before these composers, who have been dead for at least ten years and would be this old if they were alive today: Samuel Barber (98) John Cage (95) Jean Françaix (95) Benjamin Britten (94) Alberto Ginastera (92) Leonard Bernstein (89) Astor Piazzolla (87) Luigi Nono (84) Morton Feldman (82) And Olivier Messiaen was born the day before Carter. (Looking at that list, the thing that bothers me most is that Cage was born before Britten.) [/QUOTE] Oh dear. There is a “decomposing” joke inside me, struggling to get out. Help! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-they-were-alive-today/446608.md?page=1)