the last famous person you were surprised to discover was actually still alive

It is not unlikely that Marina Porter, as she became in 1965, has visited the dentist in the five decades since the JFK assassination. She may have had further treatment, perhaps including fillings, and possibly extractions. She may even have had her teeth cleaned.
Scandalously, records of any treatment since 1962 do not appear to have been placed in the public domain.

^Until any further records come to light I’m going to stick with the Single Dentist Theory.

Julian Glover(86), probably best known for playing Donovan in The Last Crusade. Has an acting career stretching from fifties through to...today.

I also remembered he was in a mostly-lost sixties Dr Who episode, which led me down a bit of a rabbit hole of trying to find out how many original DW cast members are still alive.

From the first episode in 1963, William Russell (Ian) and Carole-Anne Ford (Susan) both still around, 96 and 80 respectively. Original director Waris Hussein is still around at 82, he must be one of the last survivors on the production side.

Reminds me, I noticed that actor, Morris Perry, who's been in everything on British TV - he was almost certainly in Doctor Who at some point or other - is still alive at 96.

... yes, there he is in Doctor Who!

https://firebreathingdimetrodon.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/who-colony06.jpg

(on the left)

Lois Smith, 90, who was in East of Eden in 1955 and played Jack Nicholson's sister in Five Easy Pieces. She's been working all along, was in Lady Bird a few years back.

She's great in Minority Report, as the sidelined inventor of the precognitive program.

Terence Stamp!

Irma P. Hall

Film producer and president of the Mirisch Corporation, Walter Mirisch, 99.

Dang. There’s something about old movie producers that makes them slow to die. Sam Goldwyn lived to 94; Dino De Laurentiis to 91. Irwin Winkler is still alive at 90 and Roger Corman is 95.

... Carlo Ponti made it to 94.

I think I was dimly aware of this, but Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is now a hale 90 year old, alive & well. That has to be a record for Soviet premiers.

gorbachev was president and general secretary of the party but actually never technically premier (except looselt speaking of course)

premiers who reached 96 and 97 were molotov and malenkov respectively (the first wasn't president but he was general secretary of the party at one point, tho not a point when it meant boss in full charge) (the second was never president or general secretary of the party

molotov was also second longest-lived "old bolshevik"
malenkov was not an old bolshevik bcz he joined the party too late (after 1916)
the actual longest-lived old bolshevik was lazar kaganovich (also 97, tho he was kicked out of the party in 1961 after trying to overthrow kruschev)

(as were molotov and malenkov come to think of it lol)

I can't remember which book described Molotov aka "stone arse" on his '42 trip to Britain sleeping with a huge chunk of sausage and a revolver under his pillow, because he was para he was going to get done in or poisoned or if I'm just making it up. but this tickled me:

"People used to joke, mocking the Soviet gerontocracy, that then Soviet leader Konstantin Chernenko, who was 73 years old, saw the 94-year-old Molotov as his successor"

Jerry Springer, 77.

most recently seen here at the end of this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhPOeKgO6LI

Saw a Happy Birthday Mom from Zoe Cassavetes on Twitter recently, and lo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gena_Rowlands Didn't know she was active that long, or that she was in 10 of John's movies (or possibly problematic re some of them later)

was thinking of her anyway, having seen her four Alfred Hitchcock performances, one on Presents, three on Hour.

when i'm 94 i will also sleep with a huge chunk of sausage under my pillow

Don't forget the revolver, and/or Revolver---tomorrow never knows.

Leslie Caron, 90

Sir Derek Jacobi, 82.

Gail Halvorsen, who flew US Air Force cargo planes in the 1948 Berlin Airlift, and was much loved in the city for dropping a total of 23 tons of candy to West Berlin children using improvised handkerchief parachutes. Still going strong at the age of 100.

It was gratifying to have many American friends join our celebration of German Armed Forces Day. It was a particular treat to hear from Col. Gail Halvorsen, Berlin's 'Candy Bomber'. During the Airlift, he lifted spirits - it only felt right to send him a care package of our own. pic.twitter.com/1ZC0SB79SI

— German Embassy (@GermanyinUSA) June 22, 2021

There's a recording studio in Berlin called Candy Bomber. Never knew what the name meant until today.

I could have swore Morgan Freeman died a few years ago but he didn't.

Keep thinking the same about John Carpenter.

Geez, John Carpenter is only 73! And thankfully finding a lot of happiness in his latest iteration in the band with his son and godson.

Alas, a lifetime of heavy smoking ...

Damon Albarn.

Yeah, I hope he's making music for decades more, it must be that some of the directors he is associated with have died that I thought he had too

Carpenter that is

Erno Rubik

UK film director Desmond Davis (Girl With Green Eyes, Smashing Time)

Joanne Woodaward

-woodward.

Rude of me

James Ivory, 93.

Canadian rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins, age 86

He's gotta make sure Robbie doesn't have the last word.

with Rumsfeld kicking it, I had to double check that, yes, Kissinger is still alive at 98

I was going to say Derrida but I looked it up and he's been dead for more than a decade -- missed that

is there a "people you didn't realise were dead" thread?

I watched Poverty Row noir ‘Strange Illusion’ from 1945 last night and was pleasantly surprised that the actor who played the protagonist is still with us. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Lydon

Today I learned that director Martin Brest (Beverly Hills Cop, Midnight Run, etc.) has been more or less a recluse since the failure of Gigli. This article was fascinating:

https://web.archive.org/web/20141222232939/http:/www.playboy.com/articles/what-happened-to-director-martin-brest

He's just ... gone.

Jackie Joseph, who played "Audrey" in the original 1960 The Little Shop of Horrors and was a regular on The Doris Day Show in the early '70s. (87 yo).

I knew he was still alive, but it's still worth noting Ahmad Jamal turned 91 yesterday.

June Lockhart (b. 1925), best known as a TV mom on Lassie and a mom-scientist on Lost In Space.

I saw her last night in a small but memorable part in Meet Me In St. Louis (as an east-coast romantic rival who turns out to be good-hearted) and it was driving me crazy who she looked like, until I realized it was Heather Graham on Arrested Development; Graham, of course, appeared in the godawful film version of Lost in Space as the daughter to Mimi Rogers's version of Lockhart's old character. (Lockhart is also in the film, in a cameo as a holographic space principal.)

― Newb Sybok (Doctor Casino), Friday, December 22, 2017 12:27 PM (three years ago) bookmarkflaglink

Still with us at 96 (inspired by a Svengoolie screening of The She-Wolf of London).

What, no mention of Petticoat Junction?

Alfred Brendel, 90.

Felicia Farr, 88.