# 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:** 17\ **Page:** 75
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2026, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/1487 "2026-09-13T10:44:14Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > Form CNN commentator, the ever-winsome [Jack Cafferty](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Cafferty) is still alive at 83. I could have sworn he had died some years ago, but, nope, it was his wife. Speaking of commentators, former ESPN college football studio analyst Lee Corso is still with was at 91. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2026, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/1488 "2026-09-13T13:03:22Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > Speaking of commentators Don Criqui, who called NFL and college football games for 47 seasons, is still with us at age 85. ---
**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 13, 2026, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/1489 "2026-09-13T13:28:30Z")
Dan Rather is still alive at 94 and Tom Brokaw at 86. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2026, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/1490 "2026-09-13T14:54:48Z")
From the tradition of male/female comedy duos… Elaine May, 94 Anne Meara, 85 Charlie Brill, 88 (Jerry Stiller and Mitzi McCall both lived into their 90s.) ---
**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:** [September 13, 2026, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/1491 "2026-09-13T20:56:38Z")
Erin and Diane Murphy from the television show _Bewitched_ are 62. They are the fraternal twin sisters who played Tabitha. (It’s not uncommon for fraternal twins to play a single person on a television series due to laws that restrict the number of hours per day a child can work.) They are the only actors playing regular or semiregular characters on that show who are still alive. ---
**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 14, 2026, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/1492 "2026-09-14T13:54:38Z")
May and Brill, yes. But Anne Meara died in 2015. ---
**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 14, 2026, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/1493 "2026-09-14T18:22:41Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Dan Rather is still alive at 94 and Tom Brokaw at 86. They just don’t fit the category for me. ---
**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 21, 2026, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/1494 "2026-09-21T16:32:25Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > With the death of Linda Lavin, I thought I’d see who else from _Alice_ was still alive. I was surprised to see that Polly Holiday (‘Flo’) is still alive at 87. She’s about three months younger than Linda Lavin was. > > I was surprised to learn that Phillip McKeon died in 2019 at the age of 55. An update on the casts of the movie, _Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore_, released in 1974, and the tv series, _Alice_, which ran from 1976 to 1985. Ellen Burstyn (movie Alice) - alive Linda Lavin (tv Alice) - died 2024 Diane Ladd (movie Flo) - died November 3, 2025 Polly Holliday (tv Flo) - died September 9, 2025 Valerie Curtin (movie Vera) - alive Beth Howland (tv Vera) - died 2015 Alfred Lutter (movie Tommy) - alive Philip McKeon (tv Tommy) - died 2019 So the movie actors all outlived their tv counterparts, even though the movie came out first. ---
**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:** [September 26, 2026, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/1495 "2026-09-26T13:00:18Z")
Remember Hans Blix, the UN Weapons Inspector who didn’t find any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? Still alive at 98. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2026, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/1496 "2026-09-26T14:14:28Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Valerie Curtin (movie Vera) - alive > Beth Howland (tv Vera) - died 2015 Something that surprised me when I learned it was that Howland was married to Charles Kimbrough, who played the strait-laced Jim Dial on _Murphy Brown_. Oh, and it may have been mentioned elsewhere in this sprawling thread, but _Barney Miller_ vets Hal Linden and Max Gail are both still around, at 95 and 83, respectively. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2026, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/1497 "2026-09-26T14:19:50Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > _Barney Miller_ vets Hal Linden and Max Gail are both still around, at 95 and 83, respectively. Barbara Barrie, who played Linden’s wife Liz Miller, is also still alive at age 95. Her role was a regular for the first couple of seasons but was then phased out. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2026, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/1498 "2026-10-06T10:57:53Z")
While falling down a Wikipedia rabbit hole, I was reminded that all of the three hosts of the show _That’s Incredible!_ are still alive. John Davidson will be 85 in December. His female counterpart, Cathy Lee Crosby, will be 82 in the same month. Fran Tarkenton turned 86 in February. ---
**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:** [October 6, 2026, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/1499 "2026-10-06T15:07:26Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > John Davidson will be 85 in December. Wow, this is a good one. I had no idea he was alive. ---
**Author:** ![caligulathegod](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caligulathegod/32/9685_2.png) [@caligulathegod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caligulathegod)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2026, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/1500 "2026-10-06T22:59:40Z")
Eva Marie Saint just passed, 102. She had been mentioned a few times. ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2026, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/1501 "2026-10-07T02:01:33Z")
I was looking at who is the oldest actor now. Maybe: Lee Grant. Apparently the birth year is in question. She would be the oldest, if it’s the earliest birth year. If not, it’s Dick Van Dyke. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2026, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/1502 "2026-10-07T02:23:59Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Robert Tilton has probably been mentioned, but we shouldn’t be surprised a scam-evangelist and total fraudster is alive. Seems like these guys always live a long time. Jim Bakker(?) I think is alive as well. > [@kenobi\_65](#): > > > [@Mahaloth](#): > > > > Jim Bakker(?) I think is alive as well. > > He is; he turned 86 yesterday, in fact. > > And, he’s still running an online “ministry,” still running scams, etc. He’s apparently been pushing end-times prepper stuff for a while. @Mahaloth you may now mentally cross off Bakker’s presence in **this** thread: > [@Jim Bakker of PTL Club fame, dead at 86](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jim-bakker-of-ptl-club-fame-dead-at-86/1033620): > > And so it goes. Not sure what to say about this other than, hopefully he and Tammy Fay are reunited in their proper place. You didn’t even have to wait a whole year for him to lose his eligibility. @kenobi_65 already knows, as he’s been posting in the thread above. ---
**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:** [October 7, 2026, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-our-current-abe-vigodas-people-you-might-be-surprised-to-learn-are-still-alive/919985/1503 "2026-10-07T13:15:25Z")
Jim Bakker will always stand out in my memory as the first fraud TV preacher I could remember. We learned, in church, later about Robert Tilton and Benny Hinn, who we were warned against by our Youth Pastor. This was before Creflo Dollar made it big. I didn’t hear of him until after 2000. When he asked for a brand new private jet, he kind of blew up in fame. [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=74)