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

John Astin, Gomez Addams and (what made me think of him) fill in actor on S2 of Batman when Frank Gorshin was playing silly buggers over his contract.

often think of stephen sondheim as being dead but obviously he isnt and his death will be a big deal that i won't forget when it comes

Robert Blake, 87

Beverly Cleary, who just died at 104. For some reason I thought she died about 10 years ago.

He's been mentioned here repeatedly but I showed my kid the Muppets skit with 'day-o' yesterday and holy shit Harry Belafonte is STILL alive.

and still a meaningful figure!

Beverly Cleary, who just died at 104. For some reason I thought she died about 10 years ago.

Same. I was certain that she had already passed some time ago.

Periodically I find myself having to check if Desmond Tutu is still alive, and he is, 89.

Was reading a "Hogan's Heroes could be made today" thing and found out again that Robert Clary is still alive (95).

could NOT, of course.

Nita Talbot, who played "Marya" on Hogan's Heroes is still alive at 90.

Pete Murray, one of the 'safe hands' old guard in the initial Radio 1 lineup.

Good one.

Shirley (Lady) Porter, 90.

Lee Elder, 86 (somewhat famous).

Decades did a weekend marathon of Police Woman, leading me to the trivia that it's currently the earliest US TV show where all the main cast is still alive.

That's why I've been calling for a Police Woman revival for ages. But one could make a case that the same applies to The Time Tunnel (1966-1967) because from that we still have James Darren (84), Robert Colbert (89), - those are the two main guys - and Lee Meriwether (85).

Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot, 86

Jürgen Habermas, 91

The film, "Buck and the Preacher", is on just now and I'm watching it thinking, "Yeah, Harry Belafonte, he's always turing up in this thread, but I wonder when Sidney Poitier died?", then I find out Sidney Poitier is still alive too! Is, in fact, 94 too! Born 9 days before Belafonte to be precise.

Kenneth Cope, 90 today

It has occurred to me that four of the principal female cast of Fellini's 8 1/2 are still alive:

Claudia Cardinale (83 today)
Anouk Aimée (89 this month)
Sandra Milo (87)
Barbara Steele (83)

(Rossella Falk who died in 2013 would've been the only other to belong to that group).

Winnie Ewing, 91.

Freddie 'Parrot Face' Davies, after he tweeted about being old and irrelevant after he was a question on The Chase answered incorrectly.

Swiss film director Alain Tanner, 91.

Bruce "father of Crispin" Glover, 89, who I could swear died years ago but seems not.

Unless I saw wrong, pretty much (all?) the entire original Tropicalia crew is still alive and kicking. Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, Tom Zé ...

René Schérer, philosopher and brother of Éric Rohmer, 98.

I didn't know that the philosopher Jürgen Habermas was still alive until yesterday, when a news article came up about him rejecting an award being given by the UAE. I thought he'd been dead for years! He's 91, soon to be 92.

What's the borderline age for assuming someone is no longer alive? Somewhere above 80? 90?

It's a sliding scale. 90 for philosophers, 80 for ingenues of yesteryear...

50 for junkie rock stars

funnily enough I also nominated Habermas just upthread

I think for me someone can be in their 70s as long as I haven’t heard about them for ages.

RIP Lloyd Price, who I am surprised to learn was still alive until very recently.

Wow, me too.

I always assumed it was his "Stagger Lee" that inspired the Clash's nod on "London Calling."

Johnny Rivers

There's an old "Tales of the Unexpected" on just now, starring French actress, Micheline Presle, who Wiki tells me is still alive at 98.

Julio Iglesias, 77

actor norman lloyd (not ~famous~ but you’d probably recognize him) is 106

Tommy Steele, a sprightly 84 years old

Jazz bassist Richard Davis is 91 and apparently still alive. I learned this while researching a piece on pianist Andrew Hill (Davis played on almost all of Hill's Blue Note albums).

Yep, he got a street named after him in Madison (where he still resides) a couple years ago:

https://madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/new-city-street-honors-legendary-bassist-former-uw-music-professor-richard-davis/article_76f83dcf-16c9-521c-a9ff-16cf1cb3147f.html

And when Springsteen played Milwaukee in ‘08, he brought Davis onstage for “Meeting Across The River”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gnWNO0l-y4

Jazz bassist Richard Davis is 91 and apparently still alive. I learned this while researching a piece on pianist Andrew Hill (Davis played on almost all of Hill's Blue Note albums).

In high school I played in a couple of bands with a bassist who went on to study with Davis, and currently owns the bass that Davis played on Out To Lunch!, the Hill dates, at Coltrane’s funeral with Albert Ayler’s group, Astral Weeks, and just about every other significant recording he was involved in.

Mike Stoller of Leiber & Stoller fame, 88.

woah, yeah, that shocks me.

But Jerry died a little while back.

gena rowlands (90)

Still sometimes kick myself that I didn't go to see Leiber and Stoller when they did a book tour to promote Hound Dog. Someone I know, with whom you are probably familiar, actually interviewed both of them.