# Oldest TV show with a still living actor **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 11, 2004, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-tv-show-with-a-still-living-actor/259348 "2004-08-11T13:30:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mullinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@Mullinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mullinator)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2004, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-tv-show-with-a-still-living-actor/259348/1 "2004-08-11T13:30:55Z")
Completely random question that came to me, but I was curious what is the oldest television show that still has a currently living former castmember. For the purposes of this, I think a TV show needs to be a show that was on more than 6 times and the castmember is someone that appeared on a majority of the episodes. And by oldest show, I mean the year in which it first aired. My first assumption is that the answer might be something that had a kid on it (think Leave it to Beaver which started in 1957 but there has to be a show much older than that one. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2004, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-tv-show-with-a-still-living-actor/259348/2 "2004-08-11T13:38:17Z")
Just to get the ball rolling, Carl Reiner is still breathing, and _Your Show of Shows_ first aired in 1950. ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2004, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-tv-show-with-a-still-living-actor/259348/3 "2004-08-11T14:05:08Z")
Arlene McQuade is still alive from [The Goldbergs](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041027/) (1949-1954). Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2004, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-tv-show-with-a-still-living-actor/259348/4 "2004-08-11T14:17:31Z")
And so is the 1949 voice actor for [Crusader Rabbit](http://www.toontracker.com/crusader/crusader.htm), [Lucille Bliss](http://www.deadoraliveinfo.com/dead.nsf/bnames-nf/Bliss+Lucille). Surely 195 five minute episodes count. Her last TV gig was Miss Bitters in Invader ZIM. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2004, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-tv-show-with-a-still-living-actor/259348/5 "2004-08-11T14:30:55Z")
I’ll nominate [_Mary Kay and Johnny,_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0128883/) which aired on the Dumont network beginning in November 1947 (and later moved to NBC and CBS). IMDb does not list death dates for the actress who played Mary Kay or for her real-life son Christopher, who joined the cast at age one month. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2004, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-tv-show-with-a-still-living-actor/259348/6 "2004-08-11T14:39:19Z")
Given that the first American TV shows date from the late 1940’s and that several of them had children as regular cast members, it will probably be another thirty years till all the actors from early American TV shows have died. ---
**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:** [August 11, 2004, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-tv-show-with-a-still-living-actor/259348/7 "2004-08-11T14:50:17Z")
Eddie Albert was the first TV performer. He appeared in a promotional broadcast which RCA sent out to their radio affiliates back in 1936. And Albert is still alive at the age of 96. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2004, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-tv-show-with-a-still-living-actor/259348/8 "2004-08-11T16:26:41Z")
[Mary Kay Stearns](http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0834626/), star of the domestic comedy _Mary Kay and Johnny_, which migrated from DuMont to NBC to CBS and back to NBC in 1947-1950, is still living. [Wally Boag](http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0090139/), host of NBC’s _The Borden Show_ in 1947, is still living. [George Putnam](http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0701216/), one of the hosts of the NBC show _Television Screen Magazine_ in 1948, is still living. [Dayton Allen](http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0020436/), the voice of the title puppet on the DuMont series _The Adventures of Oky Doky_ in 1948-1949, is still living. [Ted Steele](http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0824678/), host of the music show _The Ted Steele Show_ (1948-1950), is living. [Carl Reiner](http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0005348/) was on an earlier comedy series, ABC’s _The Fashion Story_ (1948-1949) [Elaine Stritch](http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0834626/) was in the cast of the DuMont comedy _Growing Paynes_ (1948-1949). **Little Nemo** , the first regular television broadcasts in the U.S. were from New York’s [W2XB](http://www.tvhistory.tv/W2XB%20WGY%20WRGB%20TV%20Station.htm) in New York (now WRGB), when television was using a mechanical scanning system. Eddie Albert’s preformance in 1936 was part of NBC’s introduction of an all-electronic television system in New York City. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2004, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-tv-show-with-a-still-living-actor/259348/9 "2004-08-11T16:27:10Z")
It’s not quite the same question, but [Patrick’s Web ASTRO](http://www.btinternet.com/~patricks.web/astro/all_night_star_party.htm) claims that > [@](#): > > Sir Patrick Moore … is also the presenter of The Sky at Night, the oldest television programme in the world and still going on strong. The programme has been going on for more than 40 years showing every month and Sir Patrick has never missed a single episode. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2004, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-tv-show-with-a-still-living-actor/259348/10 "2004-08-11T16:36:23Z")
I should be more specific: W2XB of Schenectady, New York (home of General Electric), began regular television broadcasts in 1928. Now WRGB, it is the oldest television station in the world. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2004, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-tv-show-with-a-still-living-actor/259348/11 "2004-08-11T16:45:24Z")
Special mention to [Don Hastings](http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0368575/). He was the Video Ranger in **Captain Video** in 1949, and is currently still a regular on a TV series – **As the World Turns**. ---
**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:** [August 11, 2004, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-tv-show-with-a-still-living-actor/259348/12 "2004-08-11T18:16:35Z")
David Nelson was appearing on Ozzie and Harriet when it was still on radio back in the 1940s. Studs Terkel was hosting TV shows in Chicago before network television even started. NBC simply picked up his show and carried it. Jonathan Winters was on local TV in Columbus, Ohio. Jack Larson appeared in the Adventures of Superman. IIRC the first shows were shot in 1950, although they didn’t air until 1952. Jerry Lewis appeared on the first telecast of the Ed Sullivan Show, I think, in 1948 or 1949. Since most early network TV originated in New York, I’d wager there are a lot of surviving Broadway performers who appeared in the early days. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2004, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-tv-show-with-a-still-living-actor/259348/13 "2004-08-11T18:37:46Z")
Trivia: The above referenced comedy _Mary Kay and Johnny_ (1947-1950) was the first U.S. network television program to show a married couple sharing the same bed – years before _The Flintstones_, _The Munsters_, or _The Brady Bunch_. More from [Snopes](http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/marykay.htm). ---
**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:** [August 11, 2004, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-tv-show-with-a-still-living-actor/259348/14 "2004-08-11T18:54:52Z")
I should have known to be suspicious about any claims for priority made by RCA. But it does appear that so far, that even if he wasn’t the first, Albert’s 1936 broadcast is still the oldest one with a living performer. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2004, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-tv-show-with-a-still-living-actor/259348/15 "2004-08-11T20:05:16Z")
**Crusader Rabbit** is _still_ alive? Damn. How 'bout Rags? ---
**Author:** ![Shrinking\_Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@Shrinking\_Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shrinking_Violet)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2004, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-tv-show-with-a-still-living-actor/259348/16 "2004-08-12T00:19:46Z")
> [@](#): > > It’s not quite the same question, but Patrick’s Web ASTRO claims that > > > [@](#): > > > > Sir Patrick Moore … is also the presenter of The Sky at Night, the oldest television programme in the world and still going on strong. The programme has been going on for more than 40 years showing every month and Sir Patrick has never missed a single episode. Along the same lines … actor William Roach has been a regular cast member of UK soap \*Coronation Street \* (playing Ken Barlow) since the very first episode in December 1960.