# 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:** 58
**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:** [November 24, 2025, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/1147 "2025-11-24T23:37:51Z")
So is Bob Cousy. He’s 97. 6x NBA champ, famous early Celtic. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2025, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/1148 "2025-11-25T04:36:57Z")
ISTM that I look this up every year. [Terry Kilburn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Kilburn), ‘Tiny Tim’ in _[A Christmas Carol](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Christmas_Carol_(1938_film) "A Christmas Carol (1938 film)")_ (1938), is still alive at 98. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2025, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/1149 "2025-11-25T06:46:01Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > ‘Tiny Tim’ who did NOT die ---
**Author:** ![saucywench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@saucywench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saucywench)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2025, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/1150 "2025-11-26T00:13:47Z")
Terry Kilburn is now 99 years old. Today is his birthday. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2025, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/1151 "2025-11-26T23:31:03Z")
> [@saucywench](#): > > Terry Kilburn is now 99 years old. Today is his birthday. . I had to look him up, but: good for him. God bless us, every one! . (or, oops, I could just have read upthread a bit!) ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2025, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/1152 "2025-12-06T03:47:25Z")
Update: > **[Frank Gehry, the most celebrated architect of his time, dies at 96](https://apnews.com/article/architect-frank-gehry-died-obit-guggenheim-disney-a023a30877e6e9644dd9ad8f1f4217f4)** > > Groundbreaking architect Frank Gehry who was behind the acclaimed Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, and Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles has died. He was 96. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2025, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/1153 "2025-12-06T04:09:46Z")
Ja, I had no idea Gehry was still alive. ---
**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:** [December 6, 2025, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/1154 "2025-12-06T17:21:26Z")
Vera Miles is still with us at 95. Thought she’d died years ago. ---
**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:** [December 6, 2025, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/1155 "2025-12-06T17:46:19Z")
Vera Miles is a few months younger than another Hitchcock star, Tippi Hedren. As I wrote in a previous post on this thread, since her daughter Melanie Griffith and her granddaughter Dakota Johnson are also movie stars, if Johnson has a daughter soon and Hedren lives a few years more and the daughter of Johnson becomes a movie star when she is young, there would be four generations of movie star actresses alive at once. Unfortunately, Johnson just broke up with a longtime boy friend, so there’s no reason to think she will have a child soon. ---
**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:** [December 7, 2025, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/1156 "2025-12-07T02:55:11Z")
Just found out that Robert Colbert, of the Time Tunnel, is still with us at 94. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2025, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/1157 "2025-12-07T05:38:22Z")
It was posted before, but I missed it. I just found out Sandy Koufax is still alive at 89. (He’ll be 90 at the end of the month.) ---
**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:** [December 12, 2025, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/1158 "2025-12-12T18:54:50Z")
Dick Van Dyke’s 100th birthday is just hours away. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.winston_oboogie/32/2945_2.png) [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Winston_OBoogie)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2025, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/1159 "2025-12-12T20:47:38Z")
Yeah, but no one is surprised he’s still alive. He’s been working a lot and in the media a lot. Same with Mel Brooks - he’ll be 100 in June. ---
**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 13, 2025, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/1160 "2025-12-13T03:51:46Z")
I was reminded of him because I saw a book of his work in a used book store; Peter Max, psychedelic artist from the sixties, is still alive at 88 (although apparently in poor health). ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2025, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/1161 "2025-12-13T22:53:36Z")
> [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](#): > > Yeah, but no one is surprised he’s still alive. He’s been working a lot and in the media a lot. Same with Mel Brooks - he’ll be 100 in June. PBS had a two-hour tribute to Dick Van Dyke last night (worth looking for). They showed two projects he’s done recently–at age 98 and at age 99. Including dancing! ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.winston_oboogie/32/2945_2.png) [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Winston_OBoogie)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2025, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/1162 "2025-12-14T00:55:10Z")
They had to make him look older for Mary Popins Returns! ---
**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 14, 2025, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/1163 "2025-12-14T04:53:24Z")
I was re-watching _West Side Story_ last night (1961 not 2021) and it has a surprisingly large number of living cast members for a movie that was released sixty-four years ago: Richard Beymer, George Chakiris, Rita Moreno, and Russ Tamblyn in the main roles, along with John Astin, Nick Covacevich, Eliot Feld, Elaine Joyce, Bert Michaels, JoAnne Miya, Gus Trikonis, and Eddie Verso in supporting roles. Compare it to _The Great Escape_, which had a similar sized cast and was made two years later, but only has one surviving cast member (John Leyton). ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2025, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/1164 "2025-12-14T21:32:19Z")
> [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](#): > > They had to make him look older for Mary Popins Returns! Some people just have good genes. In the PBS tribute (“Starring Dick Van Dyke,” in the _American Masters_ series) they had the now-adult kids from the original movie saying they had NOT known that the ‘old banker’ they had a scene with was actually Van Dyke. Quite a tribute to his acting (and the makeup, of course). ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2025, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/1165 "2025-12-14T23:10:09Z")
And at least as the elder Mr. Banks, his accent work was on point. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2025, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/1166 "2025-12-16T22:49:05Z")
I bet he would like to hear that opinion–reportedly he was chagrined by the criticism of his Cockney work as Bert. [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=57) [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=59)