# Who are our current "Abe Vigodas"? (people you might be surprised to learn are still alive) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** actor-characters\ **Created:** [September 7, 2020, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985 "2020-09-07T01:18:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2020, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/181 "2020-12-26T05:01:40Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > I had it in my mind that Olivia de Haviland would be the last connection with old Hollywood, but that really is Lansbury. Her first screen role was in _Gaslight_ (1944) with Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer. It was a supporting role, but still a very significant one. Before ‘44, Jane Withers had been top-billed over Jackie Cooper in one movie, and top-billed over the Ritz Brothers in another; and top-billed over singing cowboy Gene Autry, and top-billed over Oscar winner Walter Brennan; and top-billed over Charles “Ming the Merciless” Middleton, and top-billed over Jean “Dale Arden” Rogers; and top-billed over Kane “Lamont Cranston” Richmond, and top-billed over Sidney “Charlie Chan” Toler; and so on, and so on. The screen debut of young Henry Fonda? _There she is,_ the year after she was in a Shirley Temple flick and the year before she was top-billed over Rita Hayworth — which, in turn, was the year before she was top-billed over Lon Chaney, Jr. And a film with Dana Andrews? Yep, that’s her name on the movie poster — the year after she was top-billed over George Reeves, which in turn was the year after she was top-billed over Charles ‘Buddy’ Rogers. Even leaving aside that she was in a Claudette Colbert drama and a W.C. Fields comedy and half-a-dozen other things before ‘44, I’d figure she’s a living connection to old Hollywood. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2020, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/182 "2020-12-26T06:20:55Z")
Oh, Wow. Didn’t know Jane Withers was alive either. She worked into her 70s or maybe even 80s, and then stopped, so I guess I assumed she’d died. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2021, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/183 "2021-04-29T14:06:32Z")
Thanks to the pandemic, I’ve been rewatching a lot of old cartoons at home, and then reading about them online. I’ve been surprised to learn that a lot of the people involved in these shows are still around. A couple of examples: - I used to watch [_The New Pink Panther Show_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pink_Panther_Show#The_New_Pink_Panther_Show_%281971%E2%80%931974%29) on Saturday mornings in the 1980s. This show reran the _[Ant and the Aardvark](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ant_and_the_Aardvark)_ shorts, which even as a kid I realized were pretty old. (The shorts were produced between 1969 to 1971.) So I was amazed to learn this week that, forty years later, the actor who voiced both title roles, [John Byner](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Byner), is still alive. It was also interesting for me to learn that he was imitating the voices of comedians [Dean Martin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Martin) and [Jackie Mason](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Mason), for the ant and aardvark characters, respectively. As a kid, I had no idea who these comedians were and until now I had never seen any clips of them performing live. (Jackie Mason, who incidentally is also still alive, I retroactively recognized as the voice of Krusty the Clown’s father on _The Simpsons_.) - Even more amazingly, I’ve just learned that [Ruthie Tompson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruthie_Tompson), one of the animators for Disney’s 1937 film [_Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_White_and_the_Seven_Dwarfs_%281937_film%29), is alive and kicking at 110. I never would have guessed that any adult involved in a film that old would still be around today. (Marge Champion, who was mentioned upthread as also being involved in _Snow White_, died in October 2020.) ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2021, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/184 "2021-04-29T14:40:15Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > I was reading the Death Pool thread Which is where I usually find the people I’m surprised were still alive (right up until they suddenly weren’t). Recently-dead Tempest Storm and Walter Mondale (now _there’s_ a couple) both surprised me. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2021, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/185 "2021-04-29T15:03:05Z")
While this thread was quasi-resurrected, I agree Brimley is probably the closest more modern Abe Vigoda. He was quite well known and played almost exclusively “old” characters going back to his 40s. I think some of it is just certain people look really old early in life, sometimes it can be based on how they dress but certain hair styles I think make you look older. Wallace Shawn is a good example of this, the way he dressed and kept his hair in the early 1980s (when he filmed _My Dinner with Andre_) easily age him 20 years. I think the effect is then magnified for people like Shawn / Vigoda / Brimley because as they age into “genuine old age” it’s _less apparent_ because they had already been dressing and looking older than they were for many years. Like I can pull up pictures of Wallace Shawn from events he’s done in the last 5 years where he doesn’t look terribly older than he did in Princess Bride. Meanwhile take someone like Kevin Costner, I remember well when he got on my radar as an actor–that run in the late 80s/early 90s of _The Untouchables_, _Bull Durham_, _No Way Out_, _Field of Dreams_, and _Dances with Wolves_. Costner looks quite youthful in those. Fast forward to 2020 and his tv series _Yellowstone_, and he doesn’t look at all wrong for the part of a family patriarch / grandfather he plays. In fact he looks pretty much right at what you’d expect for a man of 65. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2021, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/186 "2021-04-29T16:34:06Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > I agree Brimley is probably the closest more modern Abe Vigoda. It is true, but he is also sadly dead. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2021, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/187 "2021-04-29T16:38:00Z")
I’m aware. I was just agreeing with the thread sentiment that in spite of his being dead he was a good representative of the “Vigoda” effect. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2021, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/188 "2021-04-29T17:34:33Z")
Siân Phillips (Livia in _ **I, Claudius** _), age 87. Larry Storch (Cpl Agarn in _ **F Troop** _), age 98. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2021, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/189 "2021-05-01T16:54:14Z")
Vera Miles (Janet Leigh’s sister in _ **Psycho** _). Born August 23, 1929 (now 91 years old). ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2021, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/190 "2021-05-01T17:05:32Z")
Not an actor, but I think it still fits: a couple days ago, a woman choking in a restaurant was saved when she was given the Heimlich Maneuver…, [by Dr. Heimlich himself.](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-36400365) ---
**Author:** ![TheGunIsMightierThanThePen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thegunismightierthanthepen/32/2981_2.png) [@TheGunIsMightierThanThePen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheGunIsMightierThanThePen)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2021, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/191 "2021-05-01T17:11:53Z")
That article is from May 2016 though. I checked on Wikipedia and it says Heimlich passed away in December 2016. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2021, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/192 "2021-05-01T17:20:14Z")
Well, by “a couple days ago,” of course I meant “about two thousand.” ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2021, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/193 "2021-05-02T00:44:47Z")
Norman LLoyd is still with us at 106! ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2021, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/194 "2021-05-02T00:51:07Z")
If he passes Roberta McCain(died at 108), he may be the longest living celebrity I can think of. ---
**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:** [May 2, 2021, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/195 "2021-05-02T04:46:30Z")
The best example I know of of a film professional who not only lived a long time but also kept working for a long time is the Portuguese director Manoel de Oliveira, who lived to be 106 (from 1908 to 2015). He made mostly shorts and documentaries until 1972, when he made a feature film at the age of 63. After then he actually began making more and more feature films till 2012, when he made his last feature film at the age of 103. He then continued to make shorts until he died. His wife, who had been married to him for nearly 77 years at his death, outlived him and lived to be 101 herself: > **[Manoel de Oliveira - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0210701/)** > > Manoel de Oliveira. Director: Os Canibais. Manoel de Oliveira was born on 11 December 1908 in Oporto, Portugal. He was a director and writer, known for Os Canibais (1988), I'm Going Home (2001) and Gebo and the Shadow (2012). He was previously... ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2021, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/196 "2021-05-11T23:31:18Z")
RIP Norman Lloyd > **[Norman Lloyd Dies: ‘St. Elsewhere’ Actor Who Worked With Welles, Hitchcock...](https://deadline.com/2021/05/norman-lloyd-dead-st-elsewhere-actor-1234754280/)** > > Norman Lloyd, the Emmy-nominated veteran actor, producer and director whose career ranged from Orson Welles’ Mercury Theatre, Alfred Hitchcock’s Saboteur and acting with Charlie Chaplin… ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2021, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/197 "2021-05-11T23:50:36Z")
Yep, Normal Lloyd. 106 years old. One of the older celebrities out there. John McCain’s mother outlived him, 107. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2021, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/198 "2021-05-12T01:52:38Z")
According to the wiki thing, she was 108 when she checked out last year. That is a 27-year-longer tenure on the dirtball than her son, 3 years more than their difference in age. ---
**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:** [May 12, 2021, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/199 "2021-05-12T02:02:22Z")
I was watching _The Battle of Britain_ (1969) recently and I checked the cast afterwards to see who was still among us. I knew Michael Caine was still alive. But I hadn’t realized Edward Fox is also. ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2021, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/200 "2021-05-20T02:42:38Z")
Just saw an old movie poster for _The Towering Inferno_ that included a rave from critic Gene Shalit. I would’ve bet good money that he’d been dead for decades but nope…he’s still alive and kicking at 95. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985.md?page=11)