# Pick an artist (writer, singer, musician, actor) to give an extra twenty years of life. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 25, 2013, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-an-artist-writer-singer-musician-actor-to-give-an-extra-twenty-years-of-life/653952 "2013-03-25T21:30:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-an-artist-writer-singer-musician-actor-to-give-an-extra-twenty-years-of-life/653952/41 "2013-03-26T22:59:32Z")
I can narrow it down to 3 (all around the same age when they died): 1. Mozart. He would have totally out-composed Beethoven. If you take the last several of his compositions, they were way beyond his earlier works. I’d like to see how he’d mature beyond 1791. 2. Gershwin. Killed by a brain tumor at 37. What would he have done in another 20 years? Oh, and he’d live to see \*Porgy and Bess \*finally get the recognition it deserved. 3. Van Gogh. Can I bring him back for another 20 years, but with a gap of about a century? Long enough for him to get the psychiatric help he needed. Also to let him see what his paintings are selling for. If he had only known . . . ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-an-artist-writer-singer-musician-actor-to-give-an-extra-twenty-years-of-life/653952/42 "2013-03-27T00:31:03Z")
Masaccio or Giorgione. Each dies before 30 or so, and M basically invents Renaissance painting, and Giorgione was just awesomely creative and quirky. Wonder what he’d have done if he’d had as long a life as Titian. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-an-artist-writer-singer-musician-actor-to-give-an-extra-twenty-years-of-life/653952/43 "2013-03-27T01:15:24Z")
Not a particularly famous one, but author Kate Ross (not her real name I think) wrote four kick-ass mystery novels, then died of cancer at around forty-something. So I’d like to give her some more time. I love PTerry as much as anyone, but he’s easily busted the 30+ mark, I’m just not sure if he’s got 20 years-worth more stuff to say. Love to be proved wrong, mind you. ---
**Author:** ![PurpleClogs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f04885/32.png) [@PurpleClogs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PurpleClogs)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-an-artist-writer-singer-musician-actor-to-give-an-extra-twenty-years-of-life/653952/44 "2013-03-27T01:30:15Z")
Johnny Carson. Late night shows have never been the same. ---
**Author:** ![Girl\_Next\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@Girl\_Next\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Girl_Next_Door)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-an-artist-writer-singer-musician-actor-to-give-an-extra-twenty-years-of-life/653952/45 "2013-03-27T01:32:23Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > Jim Henson. A billion kids around the world owe their upbringing to Jim Henson’s creations. He should have had two more decades to create wonderful things. I’d like to change my answer. ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-an-artist-writer-singer-musician-actor-to-give-an-extra-twenty-years-of-life/653952/46 "2013-03-27T01:50:47Z")
> [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](#): > > Leonard Cohen (but only if he gets to keep his ‘Old Man Cohen’-voice). Yes. This. Though his voice 20 years ago (when he was only on his sixties) was already deep in the gravel. If it keeps getting lower for another 20 years from now, it’ll be less of a voice than a subsonic earthquake-like rumble. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-an-artist-writer-singer-musician-actor-to-give-an-extra-twenty-years-of-life/653952/47 "2013-03-27T02:45:30Z")
I would like to extend Joni Mitchell’s 20s by twenty years. Is that possible? ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-an-artist-writer-singer-musician-actor-to-give-an-extra-twenty-years-of-life/653952/48 "2013-03-27T02:54:10Z")
I’d like another 20 years of Stan Rogers. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![toast\_pakora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ec8ea/32.png) [@toast\_pakora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toast_pakora)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-an-artist-writer-singer-musician-actor-to-give-an-extra-twenty-years-of-life/653952/49 "2013-03-27T04:57:39Z")
PD James. Because I read, I think it was The Lighthouse and did a little figuring and she was 90 y.o. or near that, when she wrote it. Won’t be too many more, I don’t think. If an already dead person is allowed: John D MacDonald. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-an-artist-writer-singer-musician-actor-to-give-an-extra-twenty-years-of-life/653952/50 "2013-03-27T05:52:20Z")
I want to give a band another 20 years of productivity. The Beatles, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-an-artist-writer-singer-musician-actor-to-give-an-extra-twenty-years-of-life/653952/51 "2013-03-27T05:56:03Z")
Also, I’d like to give John Kennedy Toole another 20 years so he could write a sequel to _A Confederacy of Dunces._ He’d have to be in restraints for part of that time, as he reportedly killed himself after many attempts to get his novel published. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-an-artist-writer-singer-musician-actor-to-give-an-extra-twenty-years-of-life/653952/52 "2013-03-27T06:06:22Z")
HP Lovecraft. 67’s still too young, but better than 47. Plus his stories were gradually growing better with age unlike other writers, it’d have been interesting to see stories with a World War II or Atomic Age background. ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-an-artist-writer-singer-musician-actor-to-give-an-extra-twenty-years-of-life/653952/53 "2013-03-27T06:33:34Z")
I’d like to keep Guy Clark (age 71) around for another 20 years. ---
**Author:** ![movingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-an-artist-writer-singer-musician-actor-to-give-an-extra-twenty-years-of-life/653952/54 "2013-03-27T07:06:31Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > I’d like another 20 years of Stan Rogers. ☹ Amen to that. What a great voice. Canada can be so proud to have produced him AND Gordon Lightfoot. ---
**Author:** ![James\_Otto\_Sweet\_Heart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ac8455/32.png) [@James\_Otto\_Sweet\_Heart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/James_Otto_Sweet_Heart)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-an-artist-writer-singer-musician-actor-to-give-an-extra-twenty-years-of-life/653952/55 "2013-03-27T07:50:32Z")
Of the singers who are not here anymore, Eddie Rabbit and Keith Whitley are who I miss, may they both rest in peace. God bless you and their families always!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂 Holly ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-an-artist-writer-singer-musician-actor-to-give-an-extra-twenty-years-of-life/653952/56 "2013-03-27T08:53:10Z")
Indeed, like **Qin Shi Huangdi** , I am going to be cruel…and nominate H.P. Lovecraft. Even with health issues cured, his typical luck might not have given him a very happy life. Professionally, financially, or personally. But that’s not the real horror. He now dies in 1957. He gets to see almost unimaginable societal change. He gets to see _The Wizard of Oz_. He gets to see _Creature from the Black Lagoon_, in 3D. He gets to see the early stages of the Civil Rights movement; he gets to see the early whispers of the counterculture. He gets to see the War. He gets to see Europe in flames. He gets to see eighty million people die. He gets to see Coventry. He gets to see Auschwitz. He gets to see Hiroshima. He gets to see over 175 atmospheric atomic tests. He just misses Sputnik. I’d love to see what he would make of it all…but for _him_, the shock might be too much to bear. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-an-artist-writer-singer-musician-actor-to-give-an-extra-twenty-years-of-life/653952/57 "2013-03-27T10:13:11Z")
OJ Simpson. He may need it for parole appeals. ---
**Author:** ![coolbyrne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bc79bd/32.png) [@coolbyrne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coolbyrne)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-an-artist-writer-singer-musician-actor-to-give-an-extra-twenty-years-of-life/653952/58 "2013-03-27T11:20:54Z")
It would have to be Freddie Mercury. What I wouldn’t give to have him around for an extra 20 years. Forty-five is too young to see a talent like that go. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-an-artist-writer-singer-musician-actor-to-give-an-extra-twenty-years-of-life/653952/59 "2013-03-27T17:43:38Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I can narrow it down to 3 (all around the same age when they died): > > 1. Mozart. He would have totally out-composed Beethoven. If you take the last several of his compositions, they were way beyond his earlier works. I’d like to see how he’d mature beyond 1791. > > 2. Gershwin. Killed by a brain tumor at 37. What would he have done in another 20 years? Oh, and he’d live to see \*Porgy and Bess \*finally get the recognition it deserved. These were the first two that came to my mind as well. It would have been amazing to see what else either of them could have come up with had they had another couple decades. Mozart was only 35 when he died! ---
**Author:** ![vodkalover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/cdc98d/32.png) [@vodkalover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vodkalover)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-an-artist-writer-singer-musician-actor-to-give-an-extra-twenty-years-of-life/653952/60 "2013-03-27T18:09:45Z")
Sam Kinison - may he rest in peace. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-an-artist-writer-singer-musician-actor-to-give-an-extra-twenty-years-of-life/653952.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pick-an-artist-writer-singer-musician-actor-to-give-an-extra-twenty-years-of-life/653952.md?page=4)