A little bit of background. My wife rented and watched the entire “Winds of War” miniseries, and when she saw the venerable Charles Lane, she said, “Hey, the Petticoat Junction guy.” I noted that he would be 102 years of age in about three weeks. She asked if he still worked in movies/TV. I replied that I didn’t think he had acted onscreen since about 1994/95.
Which led me to thinking… who is the oldest actor/actress who is still going fairly strong. Regular on a show, or appears in say at least ten guest spots/roles a year or more on TV/movies/stage.
“That Petticoat Junction guy” is actually Frank Cady, also still alive, at 91 (though he hasn’t worked since 1990).
Phyllis Diller is still working at 89, Gloria Stuart is 96 and was still acting in 2004, and you can’t kill that obnoxious little golem Mickey Rooney with an ax: he’s still working at 86.
The oldest continuously working person is show business is probably the director Manoel de Oliveira:
He’s 98 and still directing a film every year, which is about the average pace for directors. The actors mentioned in this thread who are in their nineties are apparently just working for a few weeks every year.