Which actor/actress has had the longest career?

Cafe Society
1

http://us.imdb.com/Name?Valli,+Alida
I was doing a search on Alida Valli whose most famous role (and the only one I have seen her in) was as Harry Lime’s girl friend inThird Man. I was curious about which other movies she had acted in and was surprised to find that not only was she alive but she was still acting in Italian movies including one in 2002. Meanwhile her first credited role goes back to 1930…

Which set me wondering if any other actor/actress has been around longer.

Two possible variants:

  1. Someone who is still acting (like in 2002 or 2001) who has been acting longer.
    2)Anyone who has acted for longer than Valli’s 72 years over any period.

I suspect that there is someone in world cinema who has been around even longer. Any ideas?

2

Milton Berle’s first credited movie role was in 1914 as a child, and his last was in 1999 (with a few TV roles after that) for a total of 85 years.

3

PS. Berle’s last acting (non-documentary) role in a theatrical release seems to have been in Storybook (1995) - 81 years. His last role in a TV movie was in Two Heads are Better than None (2000) - 86 years.

4

Cool. I doubt anyone could beat that. Any ideas for the first category (I am not counting his 2001 appearances on TV shows as himself for the record)?

BTW feel free to list other long careers even if they don’t break the record.

Another interesting category would be the longest period in starring roles. Once again you could have two sub-categories in terms of current starring roles and the all-time records.

5

Gloria Stuart doesn’t beat Valli but comes close. First role in 1932, still appearing on TV at least in 2001.

6

Ruth Gordon’s first movie role was in 1915, and last in 1988 (73 years). However, she acted almost entirely in the theater until the 1960s.

7

John Wayne certainly had a long career as a leading man. If you count his getting leading man roles in B-Westerns in the early 30s, it would be something like 46 years. If you count from Stagecoach* in 1939, it would be 37 years.

When did Paul Newman become a leading man, and is he still considered a lead or a co-lead?

Clint Eastwood has been a lead for something like 38 years.

Jackie Cooper, if he is still acting, would have a career that has lasted at least 74 years.

Another interesing variant on the question might be: What living actor, even if he/she no longer acts, was in the oldest film? Example, is there a guy out there somewhere who was in a (fairly prominent) film made in 1910 or even earlier?

Sir Rhosis

8

Mickey Rooney has been at it since 1926 according the IMDb. That makes 76 years (and running). Not quite better than Uncle Milty, but enough to earn him the silver medal (…thusfar…) in this thread.

9

http://us.imdb.com/Name?Hepburn,+Katharine
Katherine Hepburn starred in Morning Glory in 1933 and On Golden Pond in 1981; that’s 48 years. She’s probably the person to beat.

10

http://us.imdb.com/Name?Newman,+Paul
Although Paul Newman was a good guess. He starred in Somebody up there likes me in 1956 and Road to Perdition this year making 46 years. He is definitely a leading contender for a current star with the longest career as a lead.

As a first approximation I am treating a listing in the top two credits on IMDB as a starring role with case-by-case exceptions if someone has seen the film and thinks otherwise.

11

There are many definitions of a “starring” role. It does not necessarily mean getting first or second billing. One definition of starring is that the actor’s name appears in all advertising (posters, etc.) for the film that includes any acting credits. Given that definition, Gloria Stuart was starring in 1932 and in 2000, a span of 68 years (69 if you include the TV movie she made in 2001). That certainly beats Katharine Hepburn, who also starred in 1932, but whose last screen role was in 1994.

But there is an actress whose starring career was longer than either of those ladies: Lillian Gish (1893-1993). She made her film debut in 1912, had her first starring role in 1914, and made her last film The Whales of August with fellow veteran Bette Davis in 1987, making a starring span of 73 years, and a career span of 75 years.

If we remove the “starring” criterion, actor Curt Bois (1901-1991) may hold the record. He made his film debut (uncredited) in Der Fidele Bauer (1908), and his last film was Wings of Desire (1987), marking a film career of 79 years.

The earliest-born person to star in a film was Joseph Jefferson (1829-1905), who transferred his stage performance as Rip Van Winkle to film in 1896.