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

Pete Doherty

Sandy Koufax

http://www.tmz.com/2015/07/30/valerie-harper-hospitalized-brain-cancer-maine/

Horrible of me, but I thought she'd already died.

Oh, here in a few years, you'll be saying the same about Sandy Duncan.

I actually did a quick check a few minutes ago to see if Sandy Duncan was still alive.

Lupita Tovar (just turned 105).

Hubert de Givenchy

Clive James. Could have sworn he died a couple of years ago.

The reverse of this - thinking at the weekend "Marlon Brando is still alive, I think? Or did I hear that he died last year" - no, he died in 2004.

Ken Dodd

no word on his father's dog though

Johnny Meeks, Gene Vincent's guitarist. Just passed away July 30th, I was quite sure this happened long ago.

I had a dream last night that I met Bob Hope at some festival, and in my sleep I was thinking "I'm surprised he's actually still alive!"

I don't know why, because he's not really that old or anything, but I was convinced that Gary Waldhorn was dead

Also not that old, but for some reason I thought that I remembered hearing that Marsha Warfield died quite a few years ago.

Yogi Berra.

You think he's lived a long time, wait until you see how long he stays dead.

Charlotte Rae. I could've sworn she had died.

Norman Lear

^^ This one for me too, just the other day.

Was surprised to read that George Segal is not only alive but acting in The Goldbergs.

Al Molinaro -- Al from Happy Days.

See, that's one of those guys I'm scared to look up because then I'll discover he was like 35 years old when he played that role.

Jeez, that dude is 96 now! I think if I made it to 96, I'd just have the doctors put me in a medical coma so I could be assured I'd make it to 100.

that makes me feel a little better, but damn.

Maybe he seems older because we associate Happy Days with the 50s.

Wow. So in the Happy Days universe, Al was still alive in 1996.

Poor Arnold Morita died in 1985. Maybe he got to see that Karate Kid movie right before he went.

Clive James. Could have sworn he died a couple of years ago.

― suffeeciant attreebution (aldo)

he's been terminally ill for about 4 or 5 years and has been writing about his imminent death, in terms that make it seem like it's just round the corner, ever since. due to this ive assumed multiple times over recent years that he must have passed away.

Was just watching a "What's My Line?" from '55-ish and Rhonda Fleming was the mystery guest. Guess who's turning 92 in a couple days?

Gene Wilder

William Eggleston

Lee Scratch Perry (79)
Lawrence Ferlinghetti (96!)

I thought Perry was much younger than that

Ferlinghetti! Wow!

David Rockefeller is still alive. He turned 100 this summer. Figured his whole generation passed away decades ago.

Lee Scratch Perry is still looking in good condition, it might be that magic piss he has an inexhaustible supply of.

genarians.com is a valuable resource for surprisingly undead celebrities (although some of the entries fall into the 'famous for being old' camp)

Alexander Butterfield, the guy who revealed the White House taping system during the Watergate hearings. He turned 89 in April.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Butterfield

Stylianos Pattakos
Greek general, co-masterminded the military junta (1967-1974)
11/08/1912

lol, stay strong big guy

Happy 98th Denis Healey!

Is Kirk Douglas still alive?
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Holy crap, he is!

yeah this is always kirk douglas for me

I mean hell, it wouldn't be unreasonable if someone came along in this thread and posted Michael Douglas.

hey he looked pretty good in ant-man!

http://pixel.nymag.com/imgs/daily/vulture/2015/07/21/21-young-michael-douglas.w1200.h630.jpg

I had the same reaction to seeing Kirk Douglas on that site. I could have sworn he died a couple years ago, for sure!

is it true that Stylianos Pattakos is related to Corey Pattakos? I'm sure I read read this somewhere, but can't seem to find confirmation. (Corey Pattakos is also actually still alive btw)

http://img.webme.com/pic/s/scene-kidsboysandgirls/coraypattakos..jpg

Nehemiah Persoff, the actor who played the cab driver in On the Waterfront when Brando says, "I coulda been a contender!" He was already in his mid-30s at that point. Appeared in about 1000 TV episodes also.

"Raging Bull" Jake LaMotta is 94.

Had no idea--or that a frightening looking quasi-sequel to Raging Bull came out this year (LaMotta was forced by MGM to change the title). Came out where, I don't know.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sysU_g5pjc

I mean, I have vague (and evident phantom) memories of Kirk Douglas obits on the news a few years ago, ha.