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

Boris Johnson

xp Alexis Morell Carrington Colby Dexter Rowan is active on Twitter, where you'll see her posing with various candidates for this thread

Tatsuya Nakadai, who appeared in Harakiri, Samurai Rebellion, Kwaidan, Yojimbo, Ran and a shitload more - 87 and still acting.

Penderecki (RIP)

likewise :(

Jack Jones

Larry Flynt! A sprightly 77.

John Astin turned 90 yesterday!

julian priester. 84

He plays on Alice by Sunn O))) right? Which is a good 10 years ago but still. Glad to hear he's still kicking.

Ann Jillian. For some reason I thought she had succumbed to breast cancer, but she's a very spritely 70.

Me too!

damn James, would have figured you for a Gen Xer at the oldest

She's not dead?

I mean, that's great news and everything.

Pizza party!

Richard Donner! 89, thought he'd popped it years ago. Apparently he's planning to direct yet another Lethal Weapon film, lord save us.

I just looked up Jennifer Slept Here and watched the opening credits + like 15 sec of the show
nothing sends me hurtling back into the past like Ann Jillian!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34vaDAakTSk

Clive Revill.

... who is 89. Michael Craig however is 92.

watching mulan with my daughter, had a moment of panic when i realised i couldn’t remember if james hong was still alive, relieved to find he’s still kicking at 91

I could have sworn James Hong died 1-2 years ago because we discussed his career on ILX but it turns out that's because he came up in this thread back in Aug. 2018

Vera Lynn (103)

Watched ‘The Brasher Doubloon’, a film noir from 1947 and was surprised to find that Carol Janis who played one of the main characters is still alive at 92. Probably better known at all for being Mindy’s dad in ‘Mork and Mindy’.

Hardy Krüger, 91.

Nehemiah Persoff at 100! he paints now

Boris Johnson

Dr. Know from Bad Brains. I guess he recovered from that serious health scare a couple of years back?

I think his health problems were 2015? Harley Flanagan did a big fundraiser for him in 2018 I think.

Jean-Luc Godard, 89. For some reason I thought he died a few years ago.

Tom Lehrer (92)

Wow, I saw birthday posts for him on Twitter and assumed they were of the posthumous type that are always about.

whoa had no idea godard was still alive

Mike Yarwood.

I am too young to remember Mike Yarwood being on TV and I will be 41 in a few months.
What has he been doing with half of his life?

He is not as old as you think for someone whose career was over 30-odd years ago.

The wikipedia entry is kind of fascinating

Yarwood career declined from the early 1980s. Most of his most famous subjects, such as Heath and Wilson, retired from public life or died and he was unable to master new prominent figures, most significantly, the country's first female Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher (she was played on his show by Janet Brown). As late as 1985 he was still sending up Heath, Wilson and Callaghan, years after all three had left frontbench politics. Also with the emergence of alternative comedy in the 80s which took a far more mordant and satirical attitude towards politicians (Yarwood saw himself as an all round family entertainer rather than a satirist), his career never recovered and the loss of some of his most loved characters and its fragility was directly linked to the politicians he impersonated. In addition, his battle with alcoholism and stage fright further affected his career, making him unreliable and affecting the quality of his output. It also contributed to the break-up of his marriage in 1985.[citation needed]
In February 1986, Yarwood was banned from driving for two years and fined £200 after being found to be nearly three times over the drink drive limit.[4]
His Thames TV show was cancelled at the end of 1987,[5] and he concentrated on stage work. However, subsequent attempts to resurrect his television career failed, although he did make an appearance on the satirical show Have I Got News for You in November 1995.[6]
In the mid-1990s, Yarwood had the chance to return to the stage as prime minister John Major, but failed to re-establish himself before Major's premiership ended. He claimed that one of the difficulties in impersonating John Major and Tony Blair was that they were "nice guys".

his impressions got so good you just don't spot him when he's on TV, which is all the time

Connie Francis, 81

max gillies, 78

frances sternhagen (cliff’s mother in cheers), 90

bob dole, 96

^ would make a good bumper sticker for some.

sandy nelson, 81

i keep seeing a car in my neighborhood with a bob dole '96 bumper sticker on one side and a bernie sticker on the other, and i feel just as confused every time i see it

is the car old enough for the Dole '96 to have been affixed to it in 1996? If not I figure there's a 95% chance of irony

like people born in 1996 can vote now and Bob Dole is a guy from a Viagra commercial that they are also too young to remember, basically a camp figure

i didn't know penderecki was still alive until he died

Bamber Gascoigne, I could swear he died but it seems not

Maybe J.D., they're just big fans of pineapple and chicken.

Beverly Cleary is 104 today.