# Who's the oldest celebrity now? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 29, 2003, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-oldest-celebrity-now/191770 "2003-07-29T23:22:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DaveRaver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daveraver/32/1078_2.png) [@DaveRaver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveRaver)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2003, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-oldest-celebrity-now/191770/1 "2003-07-29T23:22:37Z")
Now that Bob Hope is gone, who is the oldest celebrity, and how old is he/she? ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2003, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-oldest-celebrity-now/191770/2 "2003-07-29T23:33:28Z")
Madame Chiang Kai-Shek of China, born in China on 5 March 1897, is 106 years old. She and her late husband Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek were named [Man and Wife of the Year](http://www.time.com/time/poy2001/photo/kaishek.html) by _Time_ magazine in 1937. She currently lives in New York City. ---
**Author:** ![DaveRaver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daveraver/32/1078_2.png) [@DaveRaver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveRaver)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2003, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-oldest-celebrity-now/191770/3 "2003-07-29T23:45:18Z")
That’s impressive, but let me rephrase my question: Who is the oldest big-name entertainer now? (former examples would be George Burns, Milton Burle, Bob Hope). Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2003, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-oldest-celebrity-now/191770/4 "2003-07-30T00:12:10Z")
I just spent 15 minutes making a list, and the goddam computer gave me that “cannot find server” crap. So the hell with it: I’ll just link to [this site](http://www.tech.org/~cleary/NNC/nncmain.html) and y’all can look 'em up yourselves. Goddam Internet. ---
**Author:** ![audit1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@audit1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audit1)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2003, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-oldest-celebrity-now/191770/5 "2003-07-30T00:55:05Z")
Charles Lane Character actor 98 (best known as Homer Bedloe on Pettycoat Junction Fay Wray 95 King Kongs Friend Leon Askin 95 General Burkhalter on Hogans Heroes Eddie Albert 95 Green Acres ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2003, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-oldest-celebrity-now/191770/6 "2003-07-30T01:13:46Z")
All the big, _big_ names of the 1920s and '30s are gone. The biggest left are Fay Wray, Eddie Albert, Kitty Carlisle Hart, Anita Page and Gloria Stuart. Oh, and the oldest–and biggest–of all: Nazi whore Leni Riefenstahl, who’s 101. ---
**Author:** ![jack\_ss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c77e96/32.png) [@jack\_ss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jack_ss)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2003, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-oldest-celebrity-now/191770/7 "2003-07-30T01:21:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eve \* > \*\*All the big, _big_ names of the 1920s and '30s are gone. The biggest left are Fay Wray, Eddie Albert, Kitty Carlisle Hart, Anita Page and Gloria Stuart. > > Oh, and the oldest–and biggest–of all: Nazi whore Leni Riefenstahl, who’s 101. \*\* You might wanna be careful throwing accusations like that around. I’m not aware that Leni ever was paid for sex. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2003, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-oldest-celebrity-now/191770/8 "2003-07-30T01:25:25Z")
I was using “whore” in it’s umm, “looser” sense, in that she took money from them and prostituted her talents. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2003, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-oldest-celebrity-now/191770/9 "2003-07-30T01:32:34Z")
**Leon Askin** will turn 96 on Sept 18, 2003 ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2003, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-oldest-celebrity-now/191770/10 "2003-07-30T01:35:10Z")
Sorry, I left out I was replying to audit1’s posting about Leon Askin just to say he’s actually closer to 96 years old. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2003, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-oldest-celebrity-now/191770/11 "2003-07-30T01:51:38Z")
Although Deanna Durbin is only 82, she was making pictures in the mid 1930’s. I think she is living in Europe. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2003, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-oldest-celebrity-now/191770/12 "2003-07-30T02:15:56Z")
Yeah, now that you mention it, Shirley Temple and Mickey Rooney are still “young,” but they were two of the biggest stars of the 1930s. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2003, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-oldest-celebrity-now/191770/13 "2003-07-30T05:23:15Z")
> [@](#): > > I was using “whore” in it’s umm, “looser” sense, in that she took money from them and prostituted her talents. Her choices in the matter being what? I’m not aware of a lot of people who said “no thanks” to Hitler and got a response of “that’s cool.” ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2003, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-oldest-celebrity-now/191770/14 "2003-07-30T06:24:09Z")
There is no evidence that Leni Riefenstahl was anything but delighted to be given virtually unlimited resources as a documentary filmmaker under Hitler. Riefenstahl was herself apolitical, and there is no indication that she shared in Nazi ideology (in fact, her heroic documentation of black and asian athletes winning gold medals at the 1936 Olympics would seem to contradict Nazi racial theories). Nevertheless, she was fascinated by power and the powerful, and was a supremely gifted filmmaker; thus she served a useful purpose to Hitler. Riefenstahl has said that if Stalin had given her the opportunities Hitler did, she would have worked for Stalin too. The said thing is, I believe her. She had the world’s biggest set of moral blinders. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_Bowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@Doug\_Bowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Bowe)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2003, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-oldest-celebrity-now/191770/15 "2003-07-30T07:38:43Z")
…and according to everything I’ve read Joe Goebels hated her. But enough of this hijack. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2003, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-oldest-celebrity-now/191770/16 "2003-07-30T07:46:53Z")
> [@](#): > > there is no indication that she shared in Nazi ideology (in fact, her heroic documentation of black and asian athletes winning gold medals at the 1936 Olympics would seem to contradict Nazi racial theories). According to the IMDb, she also spent decades photographing and documenting African native cultures. That - and the fact that she made a film after WWII that many have interpreted as a refutation of Nazism - probably say a lot about the subject. As for blinders, that seems like an understatement. > [@](#): > > There is no evidence that Leni Riefenstahl was anything but delighted to be given virtually unlimited resources as a documentary filmmaker under Hitler. And who wouldn’t be delighted at unlimited resources? I’d still say I doubt that she was making an unpressed decision. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2003, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-oldest-celebrity-now/191770/17 "2003-07-30T12:25:45Z")
We have already _had_ two or three Leni Riefenstahl threads in Cafe Society and Great Debates, where they belong. Can we please get back to the OP? ---
**Author:** ![braintree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@braintree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/braintree)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2003, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-oldest-celebrity-now/191770/18 "2003-07-30T13:44:27Z")
Leon Askin is still alive? Jeez the porker looked like a walking cardiac arrest on Hogan’s heros and he looked a lot older than Bob Hope did at the same time. Good for him. And I think Leni Riefenstahl’s historical reputation is pretty much a lock no matter what we say here. On the subject of ancient juveniles, Jackie Cooper of “Treasure Island” fame is going to be 82 this September. He put out a pretty good autobiography called “Please Don’t Shoot My Dog” the title of which is inspired by the fact that his uncle, director Norman Taurog, threatened to do just that when he wouldn’t cry for a scene. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2003, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-oldest-celebrity-now/191770/19 "2003-07-30T16:30:01Z")
Child stars of the 30s will be with us for a long time yet. Rose Marie of the Dick van Dyke Show made her first appearance as Baby Rose Marie the Child Wonder in a 1929 movie. She’s almost 80. Robert Blake of the Our Gang comedies is not quite 70. Baby LeRoy is 71, although he hasn’t made a movie since 1935. ---
**Author:** ![LibrarySpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@LibrarySpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LibrarySpy)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2003, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-oldest-celebrity-now/191770/20 "2003-07-30T16:52:24Z")
I can’t believe Lauren Bacall (78) has been left out thus far. True, she didn’t start acting until the 1940s, but she’s well-associated with Humphrey Bogart. Angela Lansbury (77). Doris Day (78). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-oldest-celebrity-now/191770.md?page=2)