# 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:** 24
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/461 "2023-12-21T00:59:54Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > William Daniels (age 96) > Roger Corman (age 97) > Stanley Baxter (age 97) > Mel Brooks (age 97) > Norman Jewison (age 97) > Dick Van Dyke (age 97) > Mike Nussbaum (age 99) > Norman Lear (age 101) Update: ~~Norman Lear (age 101)~~ ---
**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:** [December 21, 2023, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/462 "2023-12-21T01:03:47Z")
Don’t look at me. He was alive when I left him. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/463 "2023-12-21T17:47:10Z")
Where I come from, whoever touched it last broke it. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/464 "2023-12-21T17:51:49Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Don’t look at me. He was alive when I left him. The murderer always says that in Agatha Christie novels. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/465 "2023-12-21T18:50:42Z")
Yeah, that was a shock to me; I had just assumed he’d passed away sometime around the turn of the century. ---
**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:** [December 21, 2023, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/466 "2023-12-21T22:22:27Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > The murderer always says that in Agatha Christie novels. It can’t be me. I’m the obvious suspect. ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2023, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/467 "2023-12-22T00:51:47Z")
kissinger … until he … well … died ---
**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:** [December 22, 2023, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/468 "2023-12-22T02:10:25Z")
Right. Kissinger killed Norman Lear. He died several days before Lear in order to throw suspicion off himself and onto @Northern_Piper who discovered the body, and @Little_Nemo who last saw him alive. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2024, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/469 "2024-01-14T17:51:58Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > Joyce Randolph, who played Trixie Norton on “The Honeymooners” in 1955 is still alive at 98. > **['Honeymooners' Star Joyce Randolph Who Played Trixie Dead at 99](https://www.tmz.com/2024/01/14/honeymooners-joyce-randolph-dead-dies-trixie-norton-jackie-gleason/)** > > Joyce Randolph, who played Trixie Norton on "The Honeymooners," has died ... TMZ has learned. ---
**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:** [January 15, 2024, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/470 "2024-01-15T01:45:20Z")
Funny that that post was made 4 days before her birthday. ---
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2024, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/471 "2024-01-15T01:49:15Z")
Creed Bratton ---
**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:** [January 15, 2024, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/472 "2024-01-15T01:53:24Z")
> [@MyFootsZZZ](#): > > Creed Bratton. Really? He’s only 80. I didn’t figure he had died. ---
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2024, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/473 "2024-01-15T02:05:01Z")
I guess I mean, like Abe Vigodas, he plays ‘the old guy’. 80 isn’t young, but yeah. We’ll hear about it when (if) it happens. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2024, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/474 "2024-01-15T03:42:09Z")
I recently watched a 1967 Tom Lehrer concert on PBS, which prompted me to look up his [Wikipedia page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Lehrer?wprov=sfti1#Early_life). I was surprised to see that he put out his first album at the age of 25. (He’d been writing and performing novelty songs since his teens - and in fact entered Harvard at 15.) At the height of his popularity, he was only in his early 30s. On his records, he always seemed to maintain a very professorial demeanor, so I’d assumed he was older than that. He is still alive at 95. ---
**Author:** ![ComputerGuy99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@ComputerGuy99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ComputerGuy99)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2024, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/475 "2024-01-15T04:22:31Z")
Maybe Ruth Buzzi is thought to fit this list because she and Artie Johnson frequently did a skit on Laugh In where she played a little old lady sitting on a park bench being “hit on” by an old man (Artie Johnson.) Always made me laugh way back then! ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2024, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/476 "2024-01-15T06:56:57Z")
When my husband and I ran into her in a shop in Santa Barbara along about 20 years ago, she looked a lot younger than she had to have been at that time. Nice lady, too. We had a very pleasant chat with her. I thought she was just another shopper, but DH (seven years older than I am) recognized her. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2024, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/477 "2024-01-15T20:09:49Z")
Mary Costa, the voice behind Briar Rose (aka Aurora°) in Disney’s _Sleeping Beauty_, is still kicking it at 93. During her career after that, she was a frequent guest on the radio station where my grandfather was an announcer, and became friends. °: I don’t think the character spoke or sang after being compelled to become “Princess Aurora.” ---
**Author:** ![Bob\_Blaylock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_blaylock/32/3235_2.png) [@Bob\_Blaylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob_Blaylock)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2024, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/478 "2024-01-15T20:54:41Z")
> [@Seanette](#): > > When my husband and I ran into her [Ruth Buzzi] in a shop in Santa Barbara along about 20 years ago, she looked a lot younger than she had to have been at that time. Nice lady, too. We had a very pleasant chat with her. I thought she was just another shopper, but DH (seven years older than I am) recognized her.   At the time, I believe I was in my forties. (I’m 61, now.  My next birthday will only last a minute, as that will be my sixty-second birthday.)) I noticed that the woman with whom @Seanette was conversing bore a significant resemblance to Ruth Buzzi, but she looked much too young.  I thought that she looked about my age, but I can remember, as a child, being allowed to stay up late each week to watch _Laugh In_, and she was on that show, already an adult while I was still a child, so surely she must be closer to my parents’ age than to mine.   As I started to mention the resemblance, I noticed that she was wearing a name tag with the name _“Ruthy”_ on it, and identifying her as a participant in the _Concours d’Elegance_ event that was taking place nearby.  Anyway, she did turn out to be Ruth Buzzi.  She was pleased that I thought she looked so much younger than she surely had to be. I later verified what I thought, that she was right about my parents’ age, significantly older than I, significantly older than she looked. She’s 87 now, to my 61, so that makes her about twenty-six years older than I am. If I was in my forties when we met her, then she must have been in her late sixties or early seventies; but she certainly could have passed for being in her forties.  I wonder if, at that age, I will be able to pass for forties.  I am pretty certain that I could, now, at 61.  I have some idea in my head of how a guy should look by the time he’s in his fifties, and since I turned fifty, I have taken note that I just do not see it in the mirror; and even now, at 61, I still do not see it. But I’ve got some years, yet, to catch up to how old Ms. Buzzi was when we met her. More recently, I have learned that she and her husband have long been avid collectors of antique luxury automobiles, which would certainly make sense with regard to her having been a participant in the _Concours d’Elegance_ which is all about showing of such vehicles. ---
**Author:** ![Bob\_Blaylock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_blaylock/32/3235_2.png) [@Bob\_Blaylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob_Blaylock)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2024, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/479 "2024-01-15T20:59:30Z")
  Something recently caused me to think of Brigitte Bardot, to wonder if she was still alive, and how old she might be.   Apparently, yes, she is still alive, at 89. ---
**Author:** ![Bob\_Blaylock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_blaylock/32/3235_2.png) [@Bob\_Blaylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob_Blaylock)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2024, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/480 "2024-01-15T21:07:56Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Then there’s Jimmy Carter. He’s not doing so hot, though.   He’s been dying for an awful long time.  I’m still rooting for him to make it to a hundred.  Several months to go, yet. [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=23) [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=25)