# Oldest Actor/Actress in Hollywood? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 17, 2003, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-actor-actress-in-hollywood/162080 "2003-03-17T20:05:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2003, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-actor-actress-in-hollywood/162080/1 "2003-03-17T20:05:06Z")
At present, who is the oldest (retired, or not) actor and actress in Hollywood? After the lost of George Burns, this question popped into my head, but I kept forgetting to ask. For the actors, where would Ronald Reagan rank? What about Bob Hope? - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2003, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-actor-actress-in-hollywood/162080/2 "2003-03-17T20:36:03Z")
Bob Hope (b. 1903), Doris Eaton (b. 1904), Charles Lane (b. 1905), Karen Morley (b. 1905), Barbara Kent (b. 1906), Fay Wray (b. 1907), Katharine Hepburn (b. 1907), Buddy Ebsen (b. 1908), Eddie Albert (b. 1908), Penny Singleton (b. 1908), Luise Rainer (b. 1910), Anita Page (b. 1910), Gloria Stuart (b. 1910), Kitty Carlisle Hart (b. 1910) . . . ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2003, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-actor-actress-in-hollywood/162080/3 "2003-03-17T20:58:49Z")
And to answer the OP, Ronald Reagan was born in 1911, making him the baby of the group. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2003, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-actor-actress-in-hollywood/162080/4 "2003-03-17T21:09:19Z")
I am appearing at a seminar with [Doris Eaton](http://ibs.theatermania.com/news/feature/index.cfm?story=2098&cid=1) later this month (she’s one of the last surviving Ziegfeld Follies girls, and can still dance up a storm!), and [Anita Page](http://www.anitapage.com/) is a friend of mine—she’s very frail, but chipper. And [Charles Lane](http://us.imdb.com/Name?Lane,+Charles+(I)) has been in EVERYTHING. ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2003, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-actor-actress-in-hollywood/162080/5 "2003-03-17T21:46:59Z")
Eve’s list hits the big ones. Bob Hope immediately popped into my head. But I think the question is more interesting if you qualify it by saying “working”. Off the top of my head, I thought of Kirk Douglas. I have no idea if that’s correct. ---
**Author:** ![Santos\_L\_Halper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/santos_l_halper/32/1_2.png) [@Santos\_L\_Halper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santos_L_Halper)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-actor-actress-in-hollywood/162080/6 "2003-03-18T06:55:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eve \* > \*\*And [Charles Lane](http://us.imdb.com/Name?Lane,+Charles+(I)) has been in EVERYTHING. \*\* No kidding! Look at that list of credits! I had to google up a [photo](http://www.harpiesbizarre.com/charleslane.JPG) of him. As soon as I saw it I said “Oh yeah, that guy!” I guarantee everyone else will respond the same way. 🙂 Eric ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-actor-actress-in-hollywood/162080/7 "2003-03-18T22:12:11Z")
Is Hume Cronin dead? And Bob Hope, sadly, isn’t even a shadow of his former self. Still a lovely man, but his mind has been slipping for years. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-actor-actress-in-hollywood/162080/8 "2003-03-18T22:26:24Z")
Gregory Peck-1916. He’s still around. ---
**Author:** ![peepthis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@peepthis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peepthis)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-actor-actress-in-hollywood/162080/9 "2003-03-18T23:17:06Z")
Who is the oldest actor/actress who is still performing? To put a limit on it, let’s take that to mean appeared in something (stage, screen, tv) in the past 18 months. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-actor-actress-in-hollywood/162080/10 "2003-03-18T23:27:48Z")
Doris Eaton. Still performing onstage and screen, at the age of 99. ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2003, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-actor-actress-in-hollywood/162080/11 "2003-03-19T02:57:38Z")
Hey, who was the guy who played “Gus”, the fireman on Leave It To Beaver? He’s had a small role in just about of every sit-com. For example, in All in the Family, he meets Archie in Kelsie’s Bar…as Archie is bummed out over his 60th birthday, IIRC. He convinces Archie how you’re only as old as you feel. And, he should diet, exercise, and recognize he’s never too old to try new things. Anyone know who this actor is? - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2003, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-actor-actress-in-hollywood/162080/12 "2003-03-19T03:08:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jinx \* > \*\*Hey, who was the guy who played “Gus”, the fireman on Leave It To Beaver? He’s had a small role in just about of every sit-com. For example, in All in the Family, he meets Archie in Kelsie’s Bar…as Archie is bummed out over his 60th birthday, IIRC. He convinces Archie how you’re only as old as you feel. And, he should diet, exercise, and recognize he’s never too old to try new things. Anyone know who this actor is? - Jinx \*\* [Burt Mustin](http://us.imdb.com/Name?Mustin,%20Burt). Died in 1977 of natural causes. ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2003, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-actor-actress-in-hollywood/162080/13 "2003-03-19T03:30:26Z")
I’m surprised that Bob Hope is the only centenarian on **Eve** ’s list above. Are there really no others? Have we lost everyone born before 1900? ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2003, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-actor-actress-in-hollywood/162080/14 "2003-03-19T03:52:19Z")
**Eve** , the Anita Page who performed in **Hollywood Revue of 1929** (Saw it on TCM the other day. . .I didn’t know who half the people in it were) is still breathing? Wow! ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2003, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-actor-actress-in-hollywood/162080/15 "2003-03-19T14:03:30Z")
She’s not only still breathing, she’s a sweetheart. 92 years old, lives in L.A., and is well looked-after by her “Max.” She and I keep in touch from time to time—her short-term memory is shot, but she can chat endlessly about costarring with Lon Chaney, John Gilbert, Clark Gable, Ramon Novarro, Billy Haines . . . ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2003, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-actor-actress-in-hollywood/162080/16 "2003-03-19T14:56:05Z")
_Kliiinnnnk! Vot it da meanink of dis!?_ Leon “General Burkhalter” is was born in 1906. He has a very interesting life story. I wonder about Charles Lane, though. Is there any chance he might have kicked off, and his death just didn’t make the wires? He was on David Letterman’s program back in the mid 80s. When Letterman was going down the list of guests, he said something like, “We will have Charles Lane tonight. Now I didn’t recognize the name when I was told he would be here, but when I met him, I immediately recognized him–and you will, too.” Sure enough. I wasn’t familiar with the name, and I immediately recognized him.