# What elderly celebrity will you miss most when he or she dies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 9, 2016, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-elderly-celebrity-will-you-miss-most-when-he-or-she-dies/751694 "2016-04-09T19:57:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Personal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Personal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Personal)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-elderly-celebrity-will-you-miss-most-when-he-or-she-dies/751694/41 "2016-04-10T04:08:02Z")
They’ve both been mentioned, but Betty White and Paul McCartney. I still watch Betty White in anything I can, old game shows, Mary Tyler Moore, Golden Girls, whatever. And Paul. Well, he’s Paul McCartney. I was saddened, surprised and amused when he was shut out of some artist’s post-Grammys party for not being VIP. And I had no idea that Beverly Cleary was so old. I read all of her stuff as a kid. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-elderly-celebrity-will-you-miss-most-when-he-or-she-dies/751694/42 "2016-04-10T04:28:39Z")
I’d forgotten about Stephen King. That will definitely do a number on me. And everyone here is apparently a big Beverly Cleary fan, but I grew up on Judy Blume. She’s 78 now and my heart will break when she passes. Also 78 is one of my first cinematic giants… Dustin Hoffman. I think that once I discovered him, I avidly saw everything he’d ever done. So, he’ll be another really difficult death for me. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-elderly-celebrity-will-you-miss-most-when-he-or-she-dies/751694/43 "2016-04-10T09:32:13Z")
I’ll miss Gene Hackman, 86. He retired from acting 12 years ago, but has since embarked on a new career as a novelist. Also, Harrison Ford. ---
**Author:** ![KayLovesPurple](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylovespurple/32/6114_2.png) [@KayLovesPurple](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KayLovesPurple)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-elderly-celebrity-will-you-miss-most-when-he-or-she-dies/751694/44 "2016-04-10T11:40:11Z")
Olivia de Havilland – I always find it fascinating that she is still among us, while her acting colleagues have been dead for decades. The films she starred in feel like they belong to a different era, and for some reason it makes me happy to think that one of the actors is still alive, even then so much time has passed since they were made. Also, as someone said above, Queen Elizabeth. She was queen all my life, it’s going to be a real shock to see someone else on the throne. If the throne will even last, that is (I heard many Brits saying that it’s time for a conversation about monarchy to happen after the Queen dies). ---
**Author:** ![Waltzes\_with\_Cacti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90ced4/32.png) [@Waltzes\_with\_Cacti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waltzes_with_Cacti)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-elderly-celebrity-will-you-miss-most-when-he-or-she-dies/751694/45 "2016-04-10T13:07:55Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Is that a hard 70 or a soft 70? > > Stephen King is 68. He has produced so much media that has shaped our culture, when he dies in the next 10-20 years it is going to be a shock for a lot of people. Soft. ---
**Author:** ![Chicken\_Fingers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Chicken\_Fingers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicken_Fingers)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-elderly-celebrity-will-you-miss-most-when-he-or-she-dies/751694/46 "2016-04-10T13:48:32Z")
> [@dada2fish](#): > > Well he was one year shy of the OP’s definition of elderly, but David Bowie dying at the age of 69 has affected me deeply. I am surprised how much my heart is broken over the death of someone i’ve never personally known. It’s been 3 months now and I still haven’t come to terms with it. Same here, though I’m not surprised at all. He was an inspiration and joy to me for 40 years of my life. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-elderly-celebrity-will-you-miss-most-when-he-or-she-dies/751694/47 "2016-04-10T14:20:33Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Also, Harrison Ford. Yep. I spent my adolescence trying to be a mixture of Han Solo and Indiana Jones. ---
**Author:** ![scruffycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scruffycat/32/200_2.png) [@scruffycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scruffycat)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-elderly-celebrity-will-you-miss-most-when-he-or-she-dies/751694/48 "2016-04-10T15:13:27Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > David Attenborough is fast approaching his 90th birthday. He’ll be missed by many. Yeah, that’s who I first thought of. I can remember being spellbound by Life on Earth as a kid and his nature documentaries have been a constant in my life ever since. ---
**Author:** ![Waltzes\_with\_Cacti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90ced4/32.png) [@Waltzes\_with\_Cacti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waltzes_with_Cacti)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-elderly-celebrity-will-you-miss-most-when-he-or-she-dies/751694/49 "2016-04-10T16:28:49Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Dick Van Dyke > Julie Andrews > Carol Burnett > > I’m 70, and I wish your “elderly” threshold were a bit higher. 😉 Oh, sorry, **panache45**. To make it up to you for inadvertently labeling you (libeling you?) as elderly, here’s an interview with Carol Burnett from today’s _Washington Post_: [www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/carol-burnett-talks-showbizs-evolution-gut-instinct-and-what-tv-shows-shed-binge-on/2016/04/07/d5b8de5a-f844-11e5-8b23-538270a1ca31\_story.html?hpid=hp\_hp-cards\_hp-card-lifestyle%3Ahomepage%2Fcard](http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/carol-burnett-talks-showbizs-evolution-gut-instinct-and-what-tv-shows-shed-binge-on/2016/04/07/d5b8de5a-f844-11e5-8b23-538270a1ca31_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-cards_hp-card-lifestyle%3Ahomepage%2Fcard) Miss Burnett is still energetic and funny. I adore her. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-elderly-celebrity-will-you-miss-most-when-he-or-she-dies/751694/50 "2016-04-10T16:36:42Z")
I probably won’t know until they’re gone. The ones that leave a large body of work I won’t miss so much because they won’t really be gone. It’s probably someone who leaves too soon. Phil Hartman was a case like that, I didn’t realize how much I’d miss him until he died much too soon, I felt like he hadn’t done his best work yet. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-elderly-celebrity-will-you-miss-most-when-he-or-she-dies/751694/51 "2016-04-10T17:26:26Z")
It’s too late, as James Garner died two years ago. For those still alive, I guess it would be Dylan. I remember Dylan, Baez, Collins and the others of the folk movement from when they were new acts, doing hard-hitting social commentary and writing sheer poetry. Right now, it’s a race to see who dies first, them or me. ---
**Author:** ![67java89](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/aeb1de/32.png) [@67java89](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/67java89)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-elderly-celebrity-will-you-miss-most-when-he-or-she-dies/751694/52 "2016-04-10T17:36:54Z")
I will say, posthumously, Joan Rivers. Think what you will of her, but she was hilarious and one of a kind. I will miss Neil Diamond when he goes. ---
**Author:** ![Paegan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/258eb7/32.png) [@Paegan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paegan)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-elderly-celebrity-will-you-miss-most-when-he-or-she-dies/751694/53 "2016-04-10T17:45:15Z")
Jimmy Buffet…he turns 70 in December. I have all of his albums/cd’s and have seen him in concert 14 times. He just makes me happy. Mother, mother ocean, I have heard you call, Wanted to sail upon your waters since I was three feet tall. You’ve seen it all, you’ve seen it all. Watch the men who rode you, Switch from sails to steam. And in your belly you hold the treasure that few have ever seen, most of them dreams, Most of them dreams. Yes, I am a pirate two hundred years too late. The cannons don’t thunder there’s nothin’ to plunder I’m an over forty victim of fate Arriving too late, arriving too late. I’ve done a bit of smugglin’ I’ve run my share of grass. I made enough money to buy Miami, But I pissed it away so fast, Never meant to last, never meant to last. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-elderly-celebrity-will-you-miss-most-when-he-or-she-dies/751694/54 "2016-04-10T19:33:39Z")
I was watching Muhammad Ali on the Johnny Carson show. He will definitely be missed. World champion heavyweight boxer. Olympic gold medal winner. He refused induction into the U.S. Army during the Vietnam war and his case was upheld by the Supreme court. He was larger than life. He was the Greatest. ---
**Author:** ![zoog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7ea924/32.png) [@zoog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoog)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-elderly-celebrity-will-you-miss-most-when-he-or-she-dies/751694/55 "2016-04-10T19:53:14Z")
Phil Lesh will hit me pretty hard when his time comes. ---
**Author:** ![Elemenopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5e925/32.png) [@Elemenopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elemenopy)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-elderly-celebrity-will-you-miss-most-when-he-or-she-dies/751694/56 "2016-04-10T20:57:09Z")
Morgan Freeman, for sure. He’s almost 80, but it seems like he has at least one more good role in him. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-elderly-celebrity-will-you-miss-most-when-he-or-she-dies/751694/57 "2016-04-10T21:14:47Z")
Got it on the opening post-- Dick Van Dyke. Great memories. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-elderly-celebrity-will-you-miss-most-when-he-or-she-dies/751694/58 "2016-04-10T21:35:07Z")
> [@Elemenopy](#): > > Morgan Freeman, for sure. He’s almost 80, but it seems like he has at least one more good role in him. Did he achieve everything on his bucket list? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ryan\_Liam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ryan_liam/32/3965_2.png) [@Ryan\_Liam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ryan_Liam)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-elderly-celebrity-will-you-miss-most-when-he-or-she-dies/751694/59 "2016-04-10T21:41:51Z")
I’ll definitely miss Michael Caine, I checked up on Sean Connery the other day just to make sure he wasn’t reported to be in bad health. ---
**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:** [April 10, 2016, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-elderly-celebrity-will-you-miss-most-when-he-or-she-dies/751694/60 "2016-04-10T22:03:55Z")
> [@MacCat](#): > > Was just speaking about this earlier today, Leonard Cohen… …and Joni Mitchell. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-elderly-celebrity-will-you-miss-most-when-he-or-she-dies/751694.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-elderly-celebrity-will-you-miss-most-when-he-or-she-dies/751694.md?page=4)