Pete Best is still alive, but so is Ringo Starr.
It’ll be ironic if Best ends up being the last surviving Beatle.
The Texaco Huntley-Brinkley Report replaced The Camel News Caravan in 1956. Chet Huntley died of cancer in 1974. John Cameron Swayze lived until 1995.
On PEE-WEE’S PLAYHOUSE, the original King Of Cartoons was Gilbert Lewis, who outlived and got replaced by the much kinglier William Marshall.
(Marshall even played Blacula as if he were playing Othello, is the thing.)
The first three anchors. of the “Today” show: Dave Garroway, Hugh Downs and John Chancellor outlived Frank McGee who died at age 52
Well there is the notion firmly out there - which I don’t agree with - that the Beatles are dying in reverse order of significance. Random example of what’s out there. Not that I endorse the suggestion.
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Yankee first baseman Wally Pipp outlived Lou Gehrig, who replaced him for 2130 games.
John Astin replaced Frank Gorshin as the Riddler for one season on the Batman TV series.
A double play: Rod Steiger and Sidney Pointier starred in the movie version of In the Heat of the Night; Carroll O’Conner and Howard Rollins in the TV series. Steiger outlived O’Conner by a year; Rollins died in 1996 and Poitier is still alive.
Dave Bickler was the lead singer on Survivor’s massive hit “Eye of the Tiger”. He was fired and replaced by Jimi Jamison, who performed on a number of hits in the mid-80’s, thus denying the band their rightful honor as a one-hit wonder. Jamison died from a meth-induced stroke in 2014, only a year after the band had reunited and gone on tour with BOTH singers.
Laurie Beechman, who took over the role of Grizabella in the Broadway musical CATS, died in 1998. Buckley, who originated the role on Broadway, is still alive.
OJ Simpson’s first wife Margarite outlived his second wife Nicole.
God outlived Jesus, at least for the three days the latter was dead.
Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing) outlived her replacement (Donna Reed).
Disclaimer: Bel Geddes returned to her role.
For you Millennials, I am talking about DALLAS.
Shemp Howard outlived his brother Curly long enough to take the role back.
David McCallum, Jill Ireland’s first husband, outlived Charles Bronson, her second husband.
1920 Presidential election. While Woodrow Wilson wasn’t nominated, he hoped a deadlock convention would renominate him, despite the stroke that paralyzed his administration. But he outlived his successor, Warren Harding.
1956 Presidential election. Adlai Stevenson made an issue out of Dwight Eisenhower’s health after his heart attack. Eisenhower outlived Stevenson.
FDR outlived his would-be 1940 replacement, Wendell Willkie.
If we’re going with Presidents, Hoover outlived Roosevelt and Kennedy. Truman and Eisenhower also outlived Kennedy. Truman outlived Eisenhower. Carter and Ford outlived Reagan.
But I believe the record belongs to Martin Van Buren who outlived four of his successors: William Harrison, John Tyler, James Polk, and Zachary Taylor.
Gilligan’s Island has one and potentially two more cases.
In the original pilot, 3 actors appeared who were replaced in the regular run of shows.
John Gabriel, the original “The Professor”, is still with us while Russell Johnson passed away a couple years ago.
Meanwhile, Kit Smythe (the original Ginger) and Nancy McCarthy (Bunny) are still with us and might outlive their replacements. But you’d have to allow a Bunny = Mary Ann equivalency plus the changes to the roles of the two others.
Fun fact while looking this up: Jerry Van Dyke passed on playing Gilligan so he could do My Mother the Car. (Funny how such an infamous show was important in boosting the careers of Allan Burns, James L. Brooks, etc.)
One other future example I’m betting on is that Amanda Walsh from the unaired pilot of The Big Bang Theory is going to outlive the hard living Kaley Cuoco. But again we have to assume a Katie = Penny equivalency.