# Who are our current "Abe Vigodas"? (people you might be surprised to learn are still alive)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985>\
**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:** 5

<div class="post-metadata">

**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 8, 2020, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/81 "2020-09-08T03:09:15Z")

</div>

> [@Mahaloth](#):
>
> alive.

What about that guy who looked old when he played Major Major Major Major half a century ago?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**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 8, 2020, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/82 "2020-09-08T03:21:59Z")

</div>

> [@eschereal](#):
>
> What about that guy who looked old when he played Major Major Major Major half a century ago?

Bob Newhart turned 91 on this past Saturday. 🙂

One thing that seems to be a uniting factor for “actors who looked old for a long time” is early baldness.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2020, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/83 "2020-09-08T05:58:52Z")

</div>

> [@dorvann](#):
>
> Chuck Yeager, Henry Kissinger and Bod Dole are still alive. They were all born in 1923.

I think the “AV Effect” is more than just age in years. There has to also be a certain _je ne c’est quois_ that only true Vigoda-types present.

IMO, of those already mentioned, Betty White and Hank Kissenger best represent true Vigoda-ism.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2020, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/84 "2020-09-08T06:01:36Z")

</div>

> [@Omniscient](#):
>
> The Abe Vigoda meme existed because he was that character actor who looked old _decades_ ago. He played grandfathers back when many of us were still small kids, and here we are adults turning grey ourselves and he’s still there.

Yes. Wilford Brimley was a great example of this. He just left the Vigoda-boat a month ago.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2020, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/85 "2020-09-08T06:11:17Z")

</div>

I concur. And I wish the Dope still honored accuracy as much as it used to.

I wish it could handle nuance as well as it used to. For instance, there is a difference between the Abe Vigoda thing and just mentioning old celebrities who are still alive. I would think that would be obvious, but no.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2020, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/86 "2020-09-08T11:01:11Z")

</div>

> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#):
>
> I concur. And I wish the Dope still honored accuracy as much as it used to.
> 
> I wish it could handle nuance as well as it used to. For instance, there is a difference between the Abe Vigoda thing and just mentioning old celebrities who are still alive. I would think that would be obvious, but no.&nbsp;

_Despite the OP saying_

> Who might some of us not realize are still living?
> 
> I’ll go first.
> 
> Willie Mays is still alive at age 89. And God bless him, a national treasure.

Willie Mayes is _not_ an example of someone who always seemed old. He’s an example of someone we didn’t realize is still around.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2020, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/87 "2020-09-08T11:42:13Z")

</div>

Ian McDiarmid turns out he was only 33 when Star Wars came out , they used makeup to make him look older He’s only 76 now

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Boycott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boycott/32/6741_2.png) [@Boycott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boycott)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2020, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/88 "2020-09-08T12:29:05Z")

</div>

George Lazenby turned 81 a couple of days ago.

The Aussie car mechanic who later became a car salesman, then a male model and then James Bond. All by the age of 30.

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was a box office hit in 1969 and every so often when Bond fan communities conduct surveys, it gets rated as one of the best, if not the best, of the franchise.

Unfortunately because it was the only Bond that Lazenby did, subsequently fading into obscurity after it, the movie is not one that lived long in the broader public consciousness. He was actually offered a contract to do the next six Bond movies but his agent told him Bond wouldn’t survive the 1970s because it was counter-culture time and movies were heading into that kind of direction.

Which to a point was true but Bond survived it and has for so long because fads come and go. Roger Moore’s Bond became a much less serious character taking the mood of the time into account but Daniel Craig’s Bond is a brutal cynic in a digital world (and longer gaps between films).

I wish Lazenby continued for at least one more film. Diamonds are Forever saw the return of Sean Connery who by then was pretty much fed up of Bond and in his own words was doing it only for the money. If Lazenby stayed that film would have been a revenge story but instead it was like OHMSS never happened.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**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 8, 2020, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/89 "2020-09-08T12:49:46Z")

</div>

> [@Boycott](#):
>
> On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was a box office hit in 1969 and every so often when Bond fan communities conduct surveys, it gets rated as one of the best, if not the best, of the franchise.

Wait…what?! I always hear about that being the worst Bond movie.

Just took a look at several sites ranking the Bond movies and it’s rated fairly high by several, 16th was the worst, and there are several well established clunkers that are considered worse by consensus. Never realized anyone liked the movie or Lazenby.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**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, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/90 "2020-09-08T13:15:55Z")

</div>

> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#):
>
> IMO, of those already mentioned, Betty White and Hank Kissenger best represent true Vigoda-ism.

Kissinger might be, but Betty White has literally become famous for her age at this point, kind of like George Burns in later years. I think they were celebrating her birthday on TV every year once she reached 90.

> [@needscoffee](#):
>
> Willie Mayes is _not_ an example of someone who always seemed old. He’s an example of someone we didn’t realize is still around.

I guess we have two categories, which I really didn’t realize.

1. People I’m really surprised are still alive, or at the very least had no idea. **Willie Mays** is in this category.

2. People who I always thought were _way_ older than they really were/are. **Wilford Brimley** is probably the model for this.

Abe Vigoda was both. I assumed he was 65+ when he made the Godfather(he was 50). His fame dipped low enough that people could easily watch the Godfather or other things from the 70’s and assume he had died in the mid-to-late 1980’s.

The perfect combination is 1 + 2. **Younger than we thought + dropped a bit off the radar.**

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**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, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/91 "2020-09-08T13:20:55Z")

</div>

Actually, the really perfect combination is the following. Abe Vigoda did all of them:

Younger than we initially thought  
+  
Fame dropped/dipped and the fell a bit off the radar  
+  
Lived to an older age than average

=

**Abe Vigoda - Fame peaked in the 1970’s, was only in his 50’s then, and he lived until 94.**

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2020, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/92 "2020-09-08T13:23:15Z")

</div>

Ed Asner for sure.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Boycott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boycott/32/6741_2.png) [@Boycott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boycott)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2020, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/93 "2020-09-08T13:25:02Z")

</div>

You hear that because it’s best known for being _the one with George Lazenby_.

There’s a stigma to his name because he was a nobody before Bond and didn’t amount to much after Bond. Ergo he must have been a failed hiring. When actually his performance … was fine. You have to remember this was not just his first Bond, or his first starring role. It was his first role of any kind. And he followed Connery who up until that point the whole world only knew as Bond. Given that the movie and his performance got reassessed and I believe was the best selling DVD release the franchise had for a while.

It also helps that movie has aged well. It wasn’t reliant on fancy gadgets or fantastical villains which some of the later films over-used. Roger Moore’s Moonraker came out 10 years later but it is like a comedic parody if you introduced it to a young kid now.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2020, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/94 "2020-09-08T14:42:21Z")

</div>

He’s still active, too. Last year, I saw a lecture by him (he closed with clips from Addams Family and Night Court, too).

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2020, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/95 "2020-09-08T15:11:09Z")

</div>

At least Abe Vigoda is still with us. Helluva constitution.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**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 8, 2020, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/96 "2020-09-08T15:12:56Z")

</div>

There’s a little bit of Abe Vigoda in all of us. 😃

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**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:** [September 8, 2020, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/97 "2020-09-08T15:15:22Z")

</div>

When I first became aware of Larry King (probably mid-1980s or so) he already looked ancient. Not only is he alive at 86, he still hosts a weekly talk show!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2020, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/98 "2020-09-08T18:19:28Z")

</div>

Lazenby may have officially played Bond only the once, but he played a British Secret Agent with initials “JB” and drove an Aston Martin in the TV movie The Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E. in 1983. According to Wikipedia he also “played” Bond in

> [@](#):
>
> 1996 video game _[Fox Hunt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_Hunt_(video_game))_ [[30]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Lazenby#cite_note-30) (parts of which were reedited into a feature film[[31]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Lazenby#cite_note-31)[_[better source needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:NOTRS)_ ]) and an episode of _[The New Alfred Hitchcock Presents](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Alfred_Hitchcock_Presents)_ , entitled “Diamonds Aren’t Forever”. In 2012 Lazenby made a guest appearance on the Canadian sketch comedy series _[This Hour Has 22 Minutes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Hour_Has_22_Minutes)_ , spoofing the 007 series in a skit called “Help, I’ve Skyfallen and I Can’t Get Up”.[[32](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Lazenby#cite_note-32)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**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, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/99 "2020-09-08T18:35:40Z")

</div>

> [@Wheelz](#):
>
> When I first became aware of Larry King (probably mid-1980s or so) he already looked ancient. Not only is he alive at 86, he still hosts a weekly talk show!

With King, he’s been getting the old man jokes for 30 years. His posture, his rather old-man face, everything.

George Carlin once said, “Hey, some guys are old men when they’re little kids.”

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**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:** [September 8, 2020, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/100 "2020-09-08T19:47:59Z")

</div>

> [@eschereal](#):
>
> Maggie Smith

Dame Maggie Smith is an excellent example: she was old in 1969, when she was in _The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie_. The point of the title is that Miss Jean Brodie considers herself to be in her prime at a time when most of society considers that she has passed it.

[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=4)

[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=6)