# People you were surprised to find out are alive **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 16, 2012, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-alive/625316 "2012-06-16T04:16:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-alive/625316/61 "2012-06-25T01:27:56Z")
George McGovern, considering that a lot of politicians from his era: Nixon, Humphrey, Agnew, Muskie, etc are dead. 1950s Brooklyn Dodger pitcher Don Newcombe had alcohol problems in his career but sobered up and has outlived most of his “Boys of Summer” teammates. Just turned 86 ---
**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:** [June 25, 2012, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-alive/625316/62 "2012-06-25T05:14:22Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > George McGovern, considering that a lot of politicians from his era: Nixon, Humphrey, Agnew, Muskie, etc are dead. Henry Kissinger is also still around. Another surprising survivor from that era is Vo Nguyen Giap, the Vietnamese general who won the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in _1954_. ---
**Author:** ![Toucanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Toucanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toucanna)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-alive/625316/63 "2012-06-25T05:43:46Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > George McGovern, considering that a lot of politicians from his era: Nixon, Humphrey, Agnew, Muskie, etc are dead. {snip} This made me wonder about those involved in the Watergate scandal. These participants are still alive: Howard Baker, 87 James R Schlesinger, 83 Gordon Strachan, 68 Alexander Butterfield, 86 G. Gordon Liddy, 81 Egil Krogh, 72 John W. Dean, III, 73 Jeb Magruder, 77 Eugenio Martínez (age unknown) James W. McCord, Jr., 87 FWIW, I got this list of names from: [Watergate scandal - Wikipedia](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watergate_scandal) ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-alive/625316/64 "2012-06-25T08:13:37Z")
Tupac ---
**Author:** ![D-bear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@D-bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D-bear)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-alive/625316/65 "2012-06-25T11:13:16Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > Tupac I’ll see your Tupac and raise you an Elvis! ---
**Author:** ![denquixote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9bd4f/32.png) [@denquixote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/denquixote)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2012, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-alive/625316/66 "2012-06-26T07:58:52Z")
Steve Winwood ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2012, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-alive/625316/67 "2012-06-26T10:29:37Z")
After going through an “Untouchables” watching spree, I was pleasantly surprised that Nicholas Georgiade (Enrico Rossi), Steve London (Jack Rossman) and Abel Fernandez (William Youngfellow) are still alive. London, espeically, since his prematurely gray hair made him look older. Marginally tied into that, so is Deanna Durbin who 60 years ago was getting a “what ever became of” mention by Tom Lehrer. Her first on screen kiss was with Robert Stack. 30 years ago you would not have bet much on David Crosby this long. ---
**Author:** ![Evin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/59ef9b/32.png) [@Evin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evin)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2012, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-alive/625316/68 "2012-06-26T13:57:13Z")
> [@LaurenIpsum](#): > > When the actor playing Goober Pyle died, I was surprised to hear that Jim Nabors (Gomer Pyle) was still alive. I could have sworn he died years ago. “Surprise, suprise.” Nabors was also the person I first thought of. ---
**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:** [June 27, 2012, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-alive/625316/69 "2012-06-27T06:12:53Z")
We were discussing Reagan’s AIDS policy in another thread and this caused me to look up his Surgeon General, C. Everett Koop - who I see is still alive at 95. ---
**Author:** ![Toucanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Toucanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toucanna)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-alive/625316/70 "2012-06-28T02:18:01Z")
Canadian author [Farley Mowat](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farley_Mowat). ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-alive/625316/71 "2012-06-28T03:01:20Z")
I find myself surprised a lot, when a celebrity dies, that they hadn’t died yet. For example, a few months ago when Cheetah from the Tarzan movies died, I was, like, _Cheetah JUST died???_ ---
**Author:** ![Toucanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Toucanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toucanna)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-alive/625316/72 "2012-06-28T07:51:42Z")
[Don Pardo](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Pardo), 94 and still working (if only to do the opening announcement for SNL). ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-alive/625316/73 "2012-06-28T20:11:09Z")
Harper Lee. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2012, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-alive/625316/74 "2012-07-01T18:54:52Z")
> [@Fiddle\_Peghead](#): > > His last acting credit at [imdb.com](http://imdb.com) is for _The Unknown Trilogy_, from 2008. As any follower of Late Night with Conan O’brien knows, Conan released the Vigoda back into the wild in 2009. I don’t know of any sightings since, so the Vigoda could very well be dead. Sorry to be the bearer of this upsetting news. ☹ He was in the Super Bowl commercial with Betty White in 2010. ---
**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:** [July 1, 2012, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-alive/625316/75 "2012-07-01T19:58:10Z")
The news stories about Cheetah dying were incorrect. The animal who played Cheetah probably died long ago. The place where this supposed Cheetah was living apparently didn’t care enough to accurately identify their animals. ---
**Author:** ![Arabella\_Flynn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8491ac/32.png) [@Arabella\_Flynn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arabella_Flynn)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-alive/625316/76 "2012-07-02T02:56:57Z")
Someone already got C Everett Koop and Henry Kissinger. Three or four years ago, a friend and I were watching a documentary about the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan, and something about the way everyone they interviewed was talking about Alexander Haig just made us turn to each other and say, “He must be dead, they’d never be that blunt otherwise.” Nope! I think he’s gone now (Wikipedia says 2010), but at the time he was still alive and kicking – apparently either he was a really good sport about criticism or he really pissed people off or both. Kind of surprised that Dick Van Dyke is still around, and Andy Griffith. My brain makes the assumption that anyone I remember from black-and-white summer reruns is probably dead now, and keeps defaulting to that even though I’m well aware that people like Robert Vaughn and David McCallum are not just still around, but still on TV. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2012, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-alive/625316/77 "2012-07-03T13:27:30Z")
Wait – George Kennedy is still alive? Why didn’t anyone tell me? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2012, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-alive/625316/78 "2012-07-03T23:24:55Z")
> [@Agent\_Foxtrot](#): > > Andy Griffith (had to check Wikipedia just to make sure). By the skin of your teeth. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2012, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-alive/625316/79 "2012-07-05T02:47:05Z")
Conrad Bain, Mr Drummond on Diff’rent Strokes, is still alive at 89. And as far as I know, his twin brother Bonar Bain is still alive, too. ---
**Author:** ![Toucanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Toucanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toucanna)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2012, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-alive/625316/80 "2012-07-05T05:09:41Z")
[Jake LaMotta](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jake_LaMotta#section_4), [Lyndon LaRouche](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyndon_LaRouche), and “still active”, according to his Wikipedia entry, [Slim Whitman](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slim_Whitman). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-alive/625316.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-you-were-surprised-to-find-out-are-alive/625316.md?page=5)