# 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:** 4
**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:** [September 7, 2020, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/61 "2020-09-07T15:53:54Z")
Great. šŸ¤¦šŸ»ā€ā™‚ļø Missed that one altogether, or didnā€™t get it filed away right. Keeping track of the living and the dead is just gonna keep on getting more difficult. People oughta die on a schedule to make this easier. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2020, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/62 "2020-09-07T18:11:58Z")
Run, runner! ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2020, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/63 "2020-09-07T18:36:46Z")
I think to get closer to an Ave Vigoda of today one should include false alarms about his/her death that were seriously reported, and the actor having fun with it. On that division, I propose Jeff Goldblum. I didnā€™t know that he is now 67 years old. > **[The Day We Thought Jeff Goldblum Died](https://www.portlandmercury.com/movies-and-tv/2016/06/22/18265356/the-day-we-thought-jeff-goldblum-died)** > > It was the saddest day in history. > Although New Zealand police initially confirmed the death of Jeff Goldblum, Goldblum himself appeared three days later on _The Colbert Report_ , where Stephen Colbert pressed him repeatedly on the rumorā€”until a deadpan Goldblum broke the news that, although he hadnā€™t even _been_ in New Zealand recently, he was, in fact, dead. > Since Colbert was too upset to speak, Goldblum heroically delivered his own eulogy, comparing his muscularity to Marlon Brando and his pathos to Meryl Streep. ā€œI cannot overstate,ā€ Jeff Goldblum somberly concluded, ā€œhow amazing Jeff Goldblum was in bed.ā€ ---
**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:** [September 7, 2020, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/64 "2020-09-07T19:05:59Z")
I always remember Elinor Lavisch and Aunt Charlotte (Dame Judi Dench and Maggie Smith in A Room with a View) as seeming to be not young. They are both around 85. And what about Richard Wilson? His One Foot in the Grave series started running, I donā€™t believe it, thirty years ago. His character Sort of cameoed in Father Ted ā€“ Dermot Morgan who played Father Ted Crilly stopped living shortly after filming ended for the third season, but Wilson soldiers on. ---
**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:** [September 7, 2020, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/65 "2020-09-07T20:12:06Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > And what about Richard Wilson? His One Foot in the Grave series started running, I donā€™t believe it, thirty years ago. His character Sort of cameoed in Father Ted ā€“ Dermot Morgan who played Father Ted Crilly stopped living shortly after filming ended for the third season, but Wilson soldiers on. He was the ā€œold manā€ on Merlin as well and that ended 8 years ago. I definitely had to look up to see if he was still alive. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2020, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/66 "2020-09-07T20:31:30Z")
Ed Asner has been old for a long time now. ---
**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:** [September 7, 2020, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/67 "2020-09-07T20:39:47Z")
Then there is Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno, who has always been in some weird dusk of seeming both young and old at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2020, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/68 "2020-09-07T20:46:47Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Ed Asner has been old for a long time now. For the past 50 years, at least. [He was only 40](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Asner#/media/File:Mary_Tyler_Moore_cast_1970.jpg) when _The Mary Tyler Moore Show_ premiered in 1970, but he looked older ā€“ being balding and heavyset probably helped to make him seem older than he was. ---
**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:** [September 7, 2020, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/69 "2020-09-07T21:24:13Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > [He was only 40](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Asner#/media/File:Mary_Tyler_Moore_cast_1970.jpg) when _The Mary Tyler Moore Show_ premiered in 1970 Three years prior to that he was the evil ranch owner in [El Dorado](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061619/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_354). I think he was born old. ---
**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:** [September 7, 2020, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/70 "2020-09-07T21:53:23Z")
He was also in The Slender Thread two years before that, not looking a whole lot younger yet. A movie which also featured Sidney Poitier, who, while not born looking old has nonetheless always seemed rather old. A little like Morgan Freeman, who I think must be part sharpei. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2020, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/71 "2020-09-07T22:15:28Z")
Canā€™t believe no one has mentioned Angela Lansbury. She played Laurence Harveyā€™s mother in Manchurian Candidate (she was just three years older than him) and from then on she was always cast older. On Broadway she was 41 when she was in _Mame_ the old battle-axe Mama Rose in _Gypsy_ when she was 49. She was only 59 when she started _Murder She Wrote_. Sheā€™s now 94, and according to IMDB, has been cast in an upcoming movie. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2020, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/72 "2020-09-07T22:21:47Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > > [@eschereal](#): > > > > And what about Richard Wilson? His One Foot in the Grave series started running, I donā€™t believe it, thirty years ago. > > He was the ā€œold manā€ on Merlin as well and that ended 8 years ago. I definitely had to look up to see if he was still alive. He was old in _Only When I Laugh_ too. But this reminds me of actress Stephanie Cole, who played the stern Mrs Delphine Featherstone, aka The Black Widow, in _Open All Hours_, then an Aged Care resident in _Waiting For God_ (when she was only 50), then _Doc Martin_ā€™s Auntie Joan, then was back again as Delphine in the sequel to the aforementioned, _Still Open All Hours_. And sheā€™s still going at only age 78 (SDMB fans will know her from the radio show _Cabin Pressure_). She has always been old, even when she was young. ---
**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:** [September 7, 2020, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/73 "2020-09-07T22:32:05Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > _Doc Martin_ Now there is a guy who has the old look down. He looked and acted old in The Revengersā€™ Comedies and Shakespeare in Love, before he was even 30 ā€“ what will he look like in thirty years? Hell, he is younger than me. Now I am scared. How old do I look? ---
**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:** [September 7, 2020, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/74 "2020-09-07T23:08:28Z")
He doesnā€™t fit the ā€œhe always seemed oldā€ definition but Iā€™m amazed Jerry Lee Lewis is still alive. (Good clean living is definitely not a factor.) This guyā€™s been a part of rock and roll so long the Beatles grew up listening to him. ---
**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:** [September 7, 2020, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/75 "2020-09-07T23:21:40Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Ed Asner has been old for a long time now. Oh, of course. Heā€™s a classic example of this. I thought he was 80 when I was a kid! Wilford Brimley was always like Abe Vigoda, too. We all assumed he was 65-75 back when he made Cocoon, but he wasnā€™t. In fact, he was younger then than Tom Cruise is now. Reminds me of the Principal in Back to the Future. They go back to 1955 and he still doesnā€™t have hair or look any different. Some people just look the same no matter what! ---
**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:** [September 8, 2020, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/76 "2020-09-08T01:19:44Z")
My old District Manager is like that. Iā€™ve known the guy for forty years and he looks maybe ten years older now than he did then. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2020, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/77 "2020-09-08T01:59:35Z")
I assumed that Wallace Shawn of Princess Bride fame had died long ago and that if he were still alive heā€™d be ancient by now. Then I heard that not only is he still with us, but will be participating with the rest of the cast (other than Andre the Giant) in a reading of the script next week. Not only that, but he is only 76, not in his 90s or 100s like I was imagining šŸ˜®. ---
**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:** [September 8, 2020, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/78 "2020-09-08T02:09:34Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > I assumed that Wallace Shawn of Princess Bride fame had died long ago and that if he were still alive heā€™d be ancient by now. Then I heard that not only is he still with us, but will be participating with the rest of the cast (other than Andre the Giant) in a reading of the script next week. Not only that, but he is only 76, not in his 90s or 100s like I was imagining. Yeah, he was about 43 when they filmed Princess Bride in 1986. Iā€™m 42 now and I I think I look nowhere the same age as him. I saw My Dinner With Andre and I just realized he was in his 30ā€™s when he was in that! ---
**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:** [September 8, 2020, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/79 "2020-09-08T02:11:31Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > I assumed that Wallace Shawn of Princess Bride fame had died long ago and that if he were still alive heā€™d be ancient by now. Then I heard that not only is he still with us, but will be participating with the rest of the cast (other than Andre the Giant) in a reading of the script next week. Not only that, but he is only 76, not in his 90s or 100s like I was imagining šŸ˜®. The Ferengi makeup and appliances make him look older. (Yeah, I know, different franchises, but the joke was too good to pass up.) ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2020, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/80 "2020-09-08T02:29:14Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > The Ferengi makeup and appliances make him look older. > > (Yeah, I know, different franchises, but the joke was too good to pass up.) I canā€™t believe Iā€™d forgotten he played the Grand Nagus on DS9 šŸ˜‚. [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=3) [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=5)