Silverado was playing on TV this afternoon which got me thinking.
Some people noted The Lion in Winter for the longevity of its cast. The movie was made in 1968. And as late as 2003 (the year Katherine Hepburn died) all of its major cast members were still alive. That’s a thirty-five year run.
Silverado was made in 1985, thirty-three years ago. All of its major cast members - Kevin Kline, Scott Glenn, Rosanna Arquette, John Cleese, Kevin Costner, Brian Dennehy, Danny Glover, Jeff Goldblum, and Linda Hunt are still alive.
Personally, I’d like to see all movies beat that record from now on–in other words, immortality for everyone! (With a couple of exceptions.)
But I suppose that’s off the table.
I’m not sure how meaningful a statistic that is, anyway: the obvious way to win is to make movies with no cast other than a single infant. Make enough of them and you could get a record of 100 years, perhaps.
But in any case: both are very enjoyable movies. I’m glad the Silverado folks are all still with us, and about half of the Lion people, too (Anthony Hopkins, Timothy Dalton, Jane Merrow, and John Castle). Long live!
Hmmm. Best as I can tell, the seven main cast members of 1980’s Flash Gordon are still alive*, including Max von Sydow, Brian Blessed and Topol, none of whom are particularly young.
Who is a major cast member of the movie Baby Doll, released in 1956?
Karl Malden died in 2009.
Carroll Baker is still alive.
Eli Wallach died in 2014.
Mildred Dunnock died in 1991.
Lonny Chapman died in 2007.
It’s unknown when Eades Hogue died
It’s unknown when Noah Williamson died.
The director, Elia Kazan, died in 2003.
How about Terms of Endearment from 1983, which managed to win Best Picture at the Oscars? Shirley MacLaine, who thereby won Best Actress, is still with us; and so is Jack Nicholson, who thereby won Best Supporting Actor; and so are Debra Winger and John Lithgow, who got an Oscar nomination apiece for it; and so is Jeff Daniels, and so is Danny DeVito; and so on, and so on?
As far as I can tell, the first credited actor from Old Yeller (1957) to die was Chuck Connors in 1992, 35 years later. Presumably the canine actor died earlier, but he wasn’t credited.
Speaking of Jeff Goldblum and Kevin Kline — and, technically, Kevin Costner — first there was The Big Chill, which put Tom Berenger and Glenn Close and William Hurt and Mary Kay Place and Meg Tilly and JoBeth Williams on the poster.