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

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Who knew?

Gear! (Gear!), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 10:53 (nineteen years ago) link

(Richard Widmark)

Gear! (Gear!), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 10:54 (nineteen years ago) link

Saddam Hussein, obv

Ste (Fuzzy), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 11:01 (nineteen years ago) link

Stanley Baxter

Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 12:21 (nineteen years ago) link

(Inverting the question completely) Thora Hird.

Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 12:22 (nineteen years ago) link

she was famous.

RJG (RJG), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 13:25 (nineteen years ago) link

Anita O'Day: though I had never heard of her until the time I also learned that she was still alive.

the pinefox, Wednesday, 24 December 2003 13:26 (nineteen years ago) link

Clive Dunn is the obvious one.

Chriddof (Chriddof), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 14:43 (nineteen years ago) link

Dennis Hopper, every time.

TOMBOT, Wednesday, 24 December 2003 14:51 (nineteen years ago) link

Mickey Rooney

Bryan (Bryan), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 14:59 (nineteen years ago) link

She was famous, yeah, but I thought she was alive and she's not.

Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 15:12 (nineteen years ago) link

So I guess it's only half-inverted.

Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 15:12 (nineteen years ago) link

J.D. Salinger, every time I hear it, I'm surprised.

Huckleberry Mann (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 15:14 (nineteen years ago) link

I'm always vaguelly confused that he even exists.

Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 15:15 (nineteen years ago) link

George Jones.

Carey (Carey), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 15:19 (nineteen years ago) link

Elvis Presley

jewelly (jewelly), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 19:25 (nineteen years ago) link

Joe Namath - I could have sworn he had a heart attack years ago!

miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 19:26 (nineteen years ago) link

Red Auerbach, who I had to make sure was still alive by going to Dead or Alive?

oops (Oops), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 19:31 (nineteen years ago) link

Wait, didn't Studs Terkel die? That site lists him as alive. Or am I thinking of Irv Kupcinet?

oops (Oops), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 19:38 (nineteen years ago) link

That guy from the Von Bondies

Lynskey (Lynskey), Wednesday, 24 December 2003 19:53 (nineteen years ago) link

I feel particularly bad for this, having been such a huge fan of his music, but only earlier in 2003 did I learn that Mr. Sly Stone in fact did not die sometime in the early 80s.

nickalicious at granny's crib, Thursday, 25 December 2003 17:35 (nineteen years ago) link

Ursula Moray Williams

robin carmody (robin carmody), Thursday, 25 December 2003 20:19 (nineteen years ago) link

Reg Varney

Bob Six (bobbysix), Friday, 26 December 2003 19:35 (nineteen years ago) link

Dave Allen

stevem (blueski), Friday, 26 December 2003 19:50 (nineteen years ago) link

I couldn't believe Christopher Lee was alive when I found out he was doing Saruman (and then the Star Wars dingus). He's like, 80!!!

Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 26 December 2003 20:00 (nineteen years ago) link

Oops: Kupcinet just kicked the bucket about a month ago. Studs is alive and well.

jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 26 December 2003 20:01 (nineteen years ago) link

GENE WILDER. I swear he died.

TEH ONE AN ONLEY DEANN GULBAREY (deangulberry), Friday, 26 December 2003 20:54 (nineteen years ago) link

Reg Varney's still alive?

Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Saturday, 27 December 2003 02:01 (nineteen years ago) link

richard pryor.

cozen (Cozen), Saturday, 27 December 2003 02:22 (nineteen years ago) link

i read something saying Nina Simone only died this year. Can that be right?

isadora (isadora), Sunday, 28 December 2003 08:39 (nineteen years ago) link

Windsor Davies

Ricardo (RickyT), Sunday, 28 December 2003 21:45 (nineteen years ago) link

gene wilder recently had a bout with cancer, which thank god he survived.

s1utsky (slutsky), Sunday, 28 December 2003 21:52 (nineteen years ago) link

five months pass...
Bosko Balaban Stats For Season

Name Bosko Balaban
Team Aston Villa
Total Appearances 0
Starts 0
Substituted 0
Total Minutes Played 0
Avg Minutes Played Per Start 0
Goals 0
Avg Goal Mins When Starting 0.0
Avg Mins Played/Goal Scored 0
Goals Scored As Sub 0
Number of Bookings 0
Total Booking Minutes 0
Avg Bookings Per Start 0
Number of Red Cards 0
Total Red Card Minutes 0
Avg Red Cards Per Start 0
Avg Booking Minutes When Starting 0.0

bosko, Monday, 14 June 2004 16:14 (eighteen years ago) link

I was surprised that Bosko even lived.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 14 June 2004 16:15 (eighteen years ago) link

three years pass...

Telma Hopkins!

but that was last week.

today it was ARNOLD STANG!!!!

don't know why i though telma hopkins died.

tremendoid, Friday, 8 February 2008 06:25 (fifteen years ago) link

Zsa Zsa Gabor just turned 91 a few days ago.

Roz, Friday, 8 February 2008 07:03 (fifteen years ago) link

abe vigoda

remy bean, Friday, 8 February 2008 07:11 (fifteen years ago) link

I think Ernest Borgnine is still at it too.

nickn, Friday, 8 February 2008 07:52 (fifteen years ago) link

doris day

Frogman Henry, Friday, 8 February 2008 08:00 (fifteen years ago) link

she's getting a grammy tomorrow

tremendoid, Friday, 8 February 2008 08:03 (fifteen years ago) link

two years pass...

Shirley Temple

lol @ dog w/ sunglasses (Pillbox), Thursday, 23 September 2010 19:06 (twelve years ago) link

!!!

Les centimètres énigmatiques (snoball), Thursday, 23 September 2010 19:07 (twelve years ago) link

Leonard skinner, but he's now dead.

Your cousin, Marvin Cobain (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 23 September 2010 19:08 (twelve years ago) link

I was surprised that Bosko even lived.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, June 15, 2004 4:15 AM (6 years ago) Bookmark

dying here

had no idea Sam Beckett lived until 1989 until the other day

CharlieS, Thursday, 23 September 2010 19:12 (twelve years ago) link

j.d. salinger, but then he died not long after i found out

just1n3, Thursday, 23 September 2010 19:24 (twelve years ago) link

four months pass...

Louie Anderson

Godzilla vs. Rodan Rodannadanna (The Yellow Kid), Friday, 18 February 2011 06:17 (twelve years ago) link

He was on Tim & Eric a year or two ago.

Wacky Way Lounge (Evan), Friday, 18 February 2011 06:41 (twelve years ago) link

Kenneth Mars, but once again after he was dead.

Your cousin, Marvin Cobain (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 18 February 2011 07:56 (twelve years ago) link

Jane Russell

Alba, Friday, 18 February 2011 09:00 (twelve years ago) link

Clive Dunn

Alba, Friday, 18 February 2011 09:01 (twelve years ago) link

I saw him in the street once, in Soho, like 10 years ago, he looked great.

Kiss Me, Dudley (Tom D.), Wednesday, 21 December 2022 19:51 (three months ago) link

A perennial (and only just turned 90) but still:

Merry Christmas! pic.twitter.com/LCEN46v5ry

— Sir Quentin Blake HQ (@QuentinBlakeHQ) December 24, 2022

Andrew Farrell, Saturday, 24 December 2022 19:04 (three months ago) link

Fair play to the guy for rolling along still but his artwork enrages me

Hello I must be Göring (Matt #2), Saturday, 24 December 2022 20:08 (three months ago) link

i like him but there was a smart point in a recent LRB that QB's artwork greatly launders the nastiness in roald dahl's writing

mark s, Saturday, 24 December 2022 20:20 (three months ago) link

yesterday was reading The Enormous Crocodile (a book set in Africa) and thinking about exactly this

Camaraderie at Arms Length, Saturday, 24 December 2022 20:38 (three months ago) link

Just watching "White Christmas" and noticed one of the dancers in one of the musical numbers was George Chakiris... still alive at 90.

Twa pehs an' an ingin ane an' aw (Tom D.), Sunday, 25 December 2022 13:19 (three months ago) link

Okay, that I am really surprised about.

A Kestrel for a Neve (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 26 December 2022 17:07 (three months ago) link

Columnist/author/humorist Dave Barry, 75.

Josh in Chicago, Monday, 26 December 2022 17:16 (three months ago) link

Garnet Mimms, 89

― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, December 20, 2022 2:35 AM (six days ago) bookmarkflaglink

Ah grand: my first single I bought (well, I won it at a fete) was "It's been such a long way home" and it's a great track.

Mark G, Monday, 26 December 2022 17:23 (three months ago) link

Stuart Hall (the paedo one), 93 on Christmas Day.

Twa pehs an' an ingin ane an' aw (Tom D.), Friday, 30 December 2022 13:07 (two months ago) link

the restorative benefits of a prison diet in the nonce wing for a few years did him no harm at all!

calzino, Friday, 30 December 2022 14:17 (two months ago) link

There might be something in that, Rolf's 92 after all.

Twa pehs an' an ingin ane an' aw (Tom D.), Friday, 30 December 2022 14:22 (two months ago) link

my brother once made a complete feigning arsewipe out of himself when he met Stuart Hall by excitedly blurting out to a friend "I can't believe we are talking to Stuart Hall" mid conversation.

calzino, Friday, 30 December 2022 14:35 (two months ago) link

Political satirist Mark Russell, 90 (active on Twitter, per the current politics thread).

Infanta Terrible (j.lu), Friday, 30 December 2022 17:41 (two months ago) link

Priscilla Pointer, who played Victoria Principal’s mom on Dallas. Also real mom of Amy Irving. (98)

Josefa, Wednesday, 11 January 2023 20:22 (two months ago) link

Cynthia Ozick, 94.

alimosina, Friday, 20 January 2023 21:42 (two months ago) link

Graham Kerr--"the Galloping Gourmet"--turned 89 yesterday. Hope he took a sip of wine and looked mischievously into a camera that wasn't there.

clemenza, Monday, 23 January 2023 18:40 (two months ago) link

OTM

A Drunk Man Looks At Partick Thistle (Tom D.), Monday, 23 January 2023 18:49 (two months ago) link

I actually meant my comment as a compliment, having enjoyed watching him a kid, but your post made me think that I'd better look him up and find out what horrible things he did that I didn't know about.

In a 1975 interview publicizing Take Kerr, Kerr renounced the show The Galloping Gourmet, saying that "What I did wasn't art, it was a crime," given the increasing rate of obesity in the United States. He also apologized for two of his trademarks on that show, his wine drinking and his double entendres. He stated that he was trying to convince TV stations to remove reruns of the show from syndication.

Relatively speaking, I guess not too bad.

clemenza, Monday, 23 January 2023 23:06 (two months ago) link

Yeah, I saw one "I heart cooking TV" show that showed one recipe where he basically said it would not cause weight gain, and it was full of full fat cream and all sorts.So, fair play to him...

Mark G, Tuesday, 24 January 2023 22:58 (two months ago) link

At work today, someone started saying, "The late Stanley Baxter..." and I was like woah there!

A Drunk Man Looks At Partick Thistle (Tom D.), Tuesday, 24 January 2023 23:19 (two months ago) link

roger corman, 96

sault bae (voodoo chili), Thursday, 26 January 2023 02:11 (two months ago) link

he seems to be a fixture in this thread lol. go roger!

sault bae (voodoo chili), Thursday, 26 January 2023 02:13 (two months ago) link

Brian Glanville, 91.

He is still writing, mostly obituaries of old footballers. I love this one on the old Juventus footballer, later director (possibly corrupt ofc), and politician.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/jun/20/giampiero-boniperti-obituary

xyzzzz__, Saturday, 28 January 2023 01:12 (one month ago) link

Sly Stone, 79

Mr. Snrub, Saturday, 28 January 2023 07:25 (one month ago) link

Petula Clark turned 90 in November.

clemenza, Monday, 30 January 2023 07:08 (one month ago) link

George Foreman, a mere 81.

Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 31 January 2023 00:40 (one month ago) link

an 81 year old boxer is like the longevity equivalent of a 160 year old person who never got hit in the head for a living

G. D’Arcy Cheesewright (silby), Tuesday, 31 January 2023 00:49 (one month ago) link

GASMS

| (Latham Green), Tuesday, 31 January 2023 21:14 (one month ago) link

Judith Chalmers, 87.

Maggot Bairn (Tom D.), Saturday, 4 February 2023 13:50 (one month ago) link

Kenneth Anger turned 96 yesterday.

Dan Worsley, Saturday, 4 February 2023 18:37 (one month ago) link

Patricia Routledge, 94 today

Happy 94th birthday to Patricia Routledge. Seen here showcasing her Tony Award winning singing talents on the 1973 album – Presenting Patricia Routledge pic.twitter.com/lTh49uZsBf

— 𝐃𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐀𝐠𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐆𝐮𝐚𝐧𝐨 (@agnes_guano) February 17, 2023

Dan Worsley, Friday, 17 February 2023 16:29 (one month ago) link

Ray Reardon, 90.

fetter, Friday, 17 February 2023 21:24 (one month ago) link

Eric Bogle, writer of "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda" and "No Man's Land" / "The Green Fields of France" / "Willie McBride"

In 2009, Bogle told an audience in Weymouth that he had read about a girl who had been presented with a copy of the song by then prime minister Tony Blair, who called it "his favourite anti-war poem". According to Bogle, the framed copy of the poem credited him, but stated that he had been killed in World War I.

Andrew Farrell, Sunday, 19 February 2023 01:48 (one month ago) link

What a photo

Dick Van Dyke, 97, says ‘beautiful young wife half my age’ keeps me going https://t.co/C0OXXOU6Pt pic.twitter.com/n9STIoWAQ8

— New York Post (@nypost) February 20, 2023

Alba, Tuesday, 21 February 2023 11:49 (one month ago) link

Waheeda Rehman.

Wile E. Galore (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 4 March 2023 02:05 (three weeks ago) link

Guy Roux.

Maggot Bairn (Tom D.), Wednesday, 8 March 2023 22:58 (two weeks ago) link

Leotyne Price, 96

Leontyne, even

Barbara Bain, 91.

Maggot Bairn (Tom D.), Wednesday, 22 March 2023 11:44 (five days ago) link

Catherine Robbe-Grillet, 92 (last spotted, by me anyway, in the video for "Brando" by Scott Walker/Sunn O))) )

Michael Jones, Wednesday, 22 March 2023 11:57 (five days ago) link

Joss Ackland

― Michael Jones, Saturday, 8 February 2020 23:19 (one year ago) bookmarkflaglink

Still with us, 93. He just popped up in the film, "Seven Days From Noon" earlier... that's "Seven Days From Noon" from 1950!

― Someone left a space telescope out in the rain (Tom D.), Friday, 21 January 2022 19:39 (one year ago) bookmarkflaglink

now 95 as he has a leap-year-day birthday (so actually that make him a limber 24)

the beared photos that google throws up are startling and nearly terrifying (but i still somewhat confuse him with jess yates)

mark s, Wednesday, 22 March 2023 14:14 (five days ago) link

bearded but also beared

mark s, Wednesday, 22 March 2023 14:15 (five days ago) link

Dick Van Dyke crashes his car into a gate in Malibu

The 97-year-old is said to have lost control of the wheel of his Lexus over wet streets in Malibu, California, recently drenched by rain.

Bruised and bloodied, the Mary Poppins star appears to have only suffered "minor injuries", police said.

you gotta roll with the pączki to get to what's real (snoball), Wednesday, 22 March 2023 16:38 (five days ago) link

Somebody has a beard? (xp)

Bringing Up Initials B.B. (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 22 March 2023 17:56 (five days ago) link

Don't want to be ageist at all, but I wonder if it's wise for Dick Van Dyke to be driving any other car than Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang

Andy the Grasshopper, Wednesday, 22 March 2023 18:08 (five days ago) link

i mean the cursed and sinister IRL car fleming based CCBB on had a bodycount so

mark s, Wednesday, 22 March 2023 18:39 (five days ago) link

buried at midnight in an unmarked grave in 1927 but today walks* among us once more (and hence belongs in this thread)

*is on show in a museum

mark s, Wednesday, 22 March 2023 18:42 (five days ago) link

Diagnosis: fender bender

piedro àlamodevar (wins), Wednesday, 22 March 2023 19:31 (five days ago) link


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