# Oldest surviving Best Actor Oscar winner **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [December 22, 2023, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-surviving-best-actor-oscar-winner/994995 "2023-12-22T16:51:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bryanmaguire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d07c76/32.png) [@bryanmaguire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bryanmaguire)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2023, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-surviving-best-actor-oscar-winner/994995/1 "2023-12-22T16:51:33Z")
Watching West Side Story. George Chakiris is still live at the age of 91. He won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for the role of Bernardi. Is he the oldest surviving best actor oscar winner. Male/ female lead/supporting all included. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2023, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-surviving-best-actor-oscar-winner/994995/2 "2023-12-22T17:21:11Z")
So who’s the oldest Best Actor winner? ---
**Author:** ![SwissMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e79b87/32.png) [@SwissMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SwissMan)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2023, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-surviving-best-actor-oscar-winner/994995/3 "2023-12-22T17:23:40Z")
He is not. That honor goes to Eva Marie Saint, Oscar winner for Best Supporting Actress for On the Waterfront. Ms. Saint is 99; she was born on July 4th and will obviously turn 100 if she makes it to next July 4th. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2023, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-surviving-best-actor-oscar-winner/994995/4 "2023-12-22T17:30:57Z")
Gene Hackman is 93 and Robert Duvall is 92. Both won Best Actor. ---
**Author:** ![SwissMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e79b87/32.png) [@SwissMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SwissMan)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2023, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-surviving-best-actor-oscar-winner/994995/5 "2023-12-22T17:35:49Z")
For the record: Oldest Best Actress winner: Joanne Woodward (93; turns 94 on February 27th) Oldest Best Actor winner: Gene Hackman (93; turns 94 on January 30th) Oldest Best Supporting Actor: Also Gene Hackman! He won both male acting awards during his career; Best Actor for The French Connection, Best Supporting Actor for Unforgiven. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2023, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-surviving-best-actor-oscar-winner/994995/6 "2023-12-22T17:36:13Z")
The oldest one I’ve found so far is Eva Marie Saint, who will be 100 on 4 July 2024. She won the BSA award tor _ **On the Waterfront** _ (1954). (Ninja’d! ☹ ) ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2023, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-surviving-best-actor-oscar-winner/994995/7 "2023-12-22T18:06:46Z")
If Ms Saint lives four months past her birthday, she’ll take the longevity record from Walter Mirisch (Producer, _In the Heat of the Night,_ 1967) Coincidentally, _In the Heat of the Night_ and _North by Northwest_ end with long shots of trains.