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

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.

Robert Wagner, 91. Just caught a glimpse of him looking huge and old in an episode of NCIS - playing opposite David McCallum, a mere 87.

Not totally surprised by that, RJ seems to have signed some Beat the Devil deal.

Ray Reardon

Norman Loyd (Daniel Auschlander on St. Elsewhere) died today. I remember being surprised he was still alive about four years ago. He was 106.

CBA to search (impossible right now anyway, as I’m on Zing), but I watched a Grace & Frankie episode last night with Ed Asner as a guest star, and was... surprised.

ed asner is active on twitter, i seem to remember.

he's also a 9/11 truther!

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

― mookieproof, Sunday, May 9, 2021 3:18 PM (two days ago)

oh shit i killed him

damn

FINALLY.

Holy buckets! Norman Lloyd was in Hitchcock's Saboteur. That is definitely one of them movies were you'd reasonably expect everyone involved in it was now well and truly checked out. Well like, but not just yesterday!

Jasper Johns, 91 today.

My guy

Wendy Carlos

― rhymes with "blondie blast" (cryptosicko), Monday, June 6, 2016 3:29 PM (four years ago) bookmarkflaglink

<3 <3 <3

http://www.wendycarlos.com/

Garth Hudson

Albert Brooks, thank goodness.

he's pretty active (and mildly funny) on twitter

Peter Marshall.

I think I knew this but while checking to see if he was still alive I saw his sister was Joanne Dru!

And their actual last name is LaCock.

Marshall also active on twitter

James Lovelock, who was recently in a youtube video about microwaving hamsters

Michael Fish, weather forecaster. I was surprised to find he was only 43 when he gave his famous forecast in 1987.

"Earlier on today, apparently, a woman rang the BBC and said she heard there was a hurricane on the way. Well, if you're watching, don't worry, there isn't!"

He looked close to retirement then.

Forgot Brian De Palma (80) was still around. I guess he's working on a couple of things, but I never even heard of his last one, sorta released in 2019, nor perhaps the one before that, in 2012.

He was right!

xpost

No he wasn't, unless you're being pedantic about what constitutes a 'storm' vs. a 'hurricane'.

I got confused for a second and thought it was Josefa who didn’t know who Peter Marshall’s sister was, but then I blinked and read more carefully.

Trying to remember now what Peter Marshall said about the Laugh-In guys, maybe that Dick Martin was a mensch but not Dan Rowan.

Here: Who do we love from ROWAN & MARTIN'S LAUGH-IN?