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

just saw it for the first time last night, which was what put me on this case!

Hermeto Pascoal

Not exactly surprised, but every now and again it's nice to remember Burt Bacharach is still alive (93).

Irene Papas, 95.

(I'm listening to one of the albums she did with Vangelis right now).

Jerry Lee Lewis, 85 or so

Irene has been suffering from Alzheimer's for many years though, unfortunately. Did the fabled 20 minute version of "∞" ever appear btw?

Ah, that's a shame, she was something special!

Clive Davis, 89.

That made me look up author Clive Cussler, who is no longer with us— passed away last year.

jfk jr

Bud Grant, head coach of the Minnesota Vikings 1967-1983. 94 years old.

It keeps on being counterintuitive bc he seemed old even in the 1970s due to premature greying of the hair

Forgot about Bud Grant--I wonder if fictional Minnesota newsperson Lou Grant was named after him.

They had the same color hair

Oh wait, I'm thinking of Ted Baxter

I wonder how many times Roger Corman has been mentioned in this thread? Still alive, 95.

JLL gets me every single time

He's THE KILLER, not the killee

Jerry Lee Lewis is cousins with fellow ivory-tinklers Jimmy Swaggart & Mickey Gilley, both of which are still with us - 86 & 85 respectively

my mom’s folks (s. Mississippi) all lived well into their 90s and like it just defies all science and reason

So many hip-hop legends:

Melle Mel (a mere 60)
Afrika Bambaataa (64)
Kurtis Blow (62)
Arthur Baker (66)
Grandmaster Flash (63)
Fab Five Freddy (62)
Kool Moe Dee (59)
Doug E. Fresh (55)
All the members of the Funky 4+1 (afaict; at least one of them was hospitalized with covid in 2020)

And many more. Which is great!

do you understand life expectancy

for life expectancy add four plus one

Yeah, but there are all sorts of reasons people die young, especially those who found fleeting fame 40 years ago. I mean, how much drugs do you think Arthur Baker did? (Answer: a lot. "I was 100 pounds overweight, taking cocaine every night and a really heavy drinker,” Baker told Melody Maker.)

And also, as far as general life expectancy goes, I mean, Robbie Shakespeare was just a few years older than most of those dudes, and he just died, so ...

Sheldon Harnick, "Fiddler on the Roof" lyricist, 97.

Fiddler on the Roof of Life Expectancy.

Yeah, but there are all sorts of reasons people die young

got it: 'no'

Nehemiah Persoff still going at 102. Sadly his wife died this year after 70 years of marriage.

I knew this would be your post.

bridget riley, 90 years old god bless her

Louis Farrakhan, 88

fantasy dinnerparties: caril ann fugate, jerry lee lewis, bridget riley, louis farrakhan

Plot twist: Bridget Riley turns out to be the real killer

Bridget Riley is an op

https://c.tenor.com/d2V5XMzWlvoAAAAC/delete-this-sonic-the-hedgehog.gif

Peter Blake, 89

I've always been more surprised that he was famous, he's just a bang average illustrator in my rude opinion!

Not famous famous but kinda

I had a fascinating conversation with Nuria Schoenberg-Nono today. It will be up on my podcast soon, and perhaps also as a YouTube video. pic.twitter.com/5RCjxTu34O

— Samuel Andreyev (@SamuelAndreyev) December 10, 2021

She's famous to me.

Yoko Ono’s first two husbands, Toshi Ichiyanagi (88) and Anthony Cox (84-85).

Death of Anne Rice made me realize that Piers Anthony was still alive. 87.

Robert R McCammon is 69, i guess i thought he was a lot older.

Alan Dobie, ubiquitous actor on UK TV in the 60s and 70s, 89.

bell hooks either a day or several hours before her death was announced.
Happen to be reading her quite a bit and have several other titles ordered so wanted to know if I'd missed any of the good ones and then found out that she was still apparently alive when i thought she was already gone for a while. Next thing I heard she's gone.
I think Chris Haskett was the first place I heard it from.

rompin ronnie hawkins !!

was about to argue and realized you weren't talking about connie hawkins

Yes https://t.co/XYjMn9zj2A

— Al Green (@algreen) December 19, 2021

dele alli

lol

glynis johns, who played the mother in mary poppins, is 94
She's also one of the handful of still-alive villains from the Batman TV series. Iirc, the others are John Astin, Joan Collins, Barbara Rush, and Julie Newmar (and Lee Meriwether, if you count the movie).

― Making Plans For Sturgill (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, July 13, 2018 8:04 AM (three years ago)

All still alive!