Oldest Living Actors and Celebrities 2020 (Sorted by Death Date Ascending)
1. Helen Mowery
Actress | The Fighting Frontiersman
Helen Mowery was born on April 25, 1922 in Casper, Wyoming, USA as Helen Emily Inkster. She was an actress, known for The Fighting Frontiersman (1946), All About Eve (1950) and Across the Badlands (1950). She was married to Dale Murell Webster and Francis Mitchell Mowery. She died on July 14, 2008 ...
2. Edd Byrnes
Actor | Grease
Edd Byrnes was born Edward Byrne Breitenberger on July 30, 1932 in New York City, the son of Mary (Byrne) and Augustus "Gus" Breitenberger. Edd shared an impoverished and unhappy childhood with brother Vincent and sister Jo-Ann. Their mother worked hard at various jobs to keep the family together ...
3. Buck Henry
Writer | The Graduate
Prolific, multi-talented comedy writer, story editor, actor and director. His father was an Air Force general (Paul Steinberg Zuckerman) turned stockbroker and his mother was silent screen star Ruth Taylor, formerly a member of Mack Sennett's bathing beauties. Buck Henry's first fling with comedy ...
4. Jim Lehrer
Actor | Zoolander 2
Jim Lehrer was born on May 19, 1934 in Wichita, Kansas, USA as James Charles Lehrer. He was a writer, known for Zoolander 2 (2016), Viva Max (1969) and PBS NewsHour (2009). He was married to Kate Tom Staples. He died on January 23, 2020 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA.
5. Monique van Vooren
Actress | Wall Street
Monique van Vooren was born on March 25, 1927 in Brussels, Belgium as Monique Bronz. She was an actress, known for Wall Street (1987), Ça va barder (1955) and Flesh for Frankenstein (1973). She was married to Gerard Purcell and Curt H Pfenniger. She died on January 25, 2020 in New York City,...
6. Fred Silverman
Producer | CBS Summer Playhouse
Fred Silverman was born in 1937, and quickly grew up into the television business. After starting out in the mail-room of ABC-TV in the late 1950s, he rose to director of program development at WGN-TV, Chicago in the early '60s. One day, he abandoned his car during a snowstorm and boarded a plane ...
7. Mary Higgins Clark
Writer | Where Are the Children?
In 2002 Mary Higgins Clark published her memoir "Kitchen Privileges". The book describes her upbringing, first marriage and how she became such a famous author. Meanwhile 36 movies have been made that are based on Mary Higgins Clark's thrillers. For a while Mary Higgins Clark and her daughter ...
8. Gene Reynolds
Producer | M*A*S*H
Gene Reynolds might have fulfilled a youthful ambition and become a baseball player. However, his father's business failed and the family relocated from their erstwhile home in Detroit to Los Angeles in 1934.
Eugene Reynolds Blumenthal was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Maude Evelyn (Schwab), a...
9. Kirk Douglas
Actor | Spartacus
Cleft-chinned, steely-eyed and virile star of international cinema who rose from being "the ragman's son" (the name of his best-selling 1988 autobiography) to become a bona fide superstar, Kirk Douglas, also known as Issur Danielovitch Demsky, was born on December 9, 1916 in Amsterdam, New York. ...
10. Ann E. Todd
Actress | The Blue Bird
Ann E. Todd was born Ann Todd Phillips on August 26, 1931, in Denver, Colorado. Both of her parents had extensive careers in music; her father, Burrill Phillips, was an accomplished composer and pianist. Ann also had one brother, Stephen, who was born in 1937 (and died in 1986). Ann was adopted and...
11. Orson Bean
Actor | Being John Malkovich
Orson Bean, the American actor, television personality and author, was born Dallas Frederick Burrows on July 22, 1928 in Burlington, Vermont to George Frederick Burrows, a policeman who later went on to become the chief of campus police at Harvard University, and the former Marion Ainsworth Pollard...
12. Robert Conrad
Actor | Baa Baa Black Sheep
Robert Conrad was a graduate of Northwestern University, spending his first few years out of school supporting himself and his family by driving a milk truck and singing in a Chicago cabaret. Conrad befriended up-and-coming actor Nick Adams during this period, and it was Adams who helped Conrad get...
13. Lynn Cohen
Actress | Munich
Lynn Cohen was born on August 10, 1933 in Kansas City, Missouri, USA as Lynn Harriette Kay. She was an actress, known for Munich (2005), The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013) and Eagle Eye (2008). She was married to Ronald Theodore Cohen and Gilbert Laman Frazen. She died on February 14, 2020 in ...
14. Zoe Caldwell
Actress | Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
As a testament to her remarkable talent, Broadway has honored esteemed stage actress Zoe Caldwell four times with Tony Awards: for "Slapstick Tragedy" (1966), for her title role in "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" (1968), for her searing performance as "Medea" (1982), and as opera diva Maria Callas ...
15. Baby Peggy
Actress | Captain January
Silent moppet star Jackie Coogan, immortalized as Charles Chaplin's The Kid (1921), had only one screen rival during the early 1920s, and that was none other than Baby Peggy. She was "discovered" while visiting the Century Studios lot on Sunset Boulevard with her mother when she was a mere 19 ...
16. Ben Cooper
Soundtrack | Wish I Was Here
Handsome, boyish-looking Ben Cooper graduated from child roles to playing juvenile leads in second features, often for Poverty Row studio Republic. As a nine year old, he made his stage debut in Bretaigne Windust's Broadway production of Life With Father, remaining in the cast for the entire run of...
17. Katherine Johnson
Self | 1969
Katherine Johnson was born on August 26, 1918 in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, USA as Katherine Coleman. She was married to James Arthur Johnson and James Francis Goble. She died on February 24, 2020 in Newport News, Virginia, USA.
18. James Lipton
Writer | Inside the Actors Studio
James Lipton was an actor, academic, author, choreographer, interviewer, scriptwriter, and producer for stage and television projects. He was known for creating and hosting the noted and popular TV series Inside the Actors Studio (1994), where successful and prominent actors discussed their craft ...
19. McCoy Tyner
Soundtrack | The Descendants
McCoy Tyner was born on December 11, 1938 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA as Alfred McCoy Tyner. He was married to Aisha. He died on March 6, 2020 in Bergenfield, New Jersey, USA.
20. Max von Sydow
Actor | Det sjunde inseglet
Max von Sydow was born Carl Adolf von Sydow on April 10, 1929 in Lund, Skåne, Sweden, to a middle-class family. He was the son of Baroness Maria Margareta (Rappe), a teacher, and Carl Wilhelm von Sydow, an ethnologist and folklore professor. His surname traces back to his partial German ancestry.
...
21. Suzy Delair
Actress | L'assassin habite... au 21
Prototype of the sexy cheeky French lady, Suzy Delair was discovered by Henri-Georges Clouzot, who became her companion and gave her two memorable roles : Mila Malou, inspector Wens' unbearable girlfriend in two films, Le dernier des six (1941), which he wrote, and L'assassin habite... au 21 (1942),...
22. Stuart Whitman
Actor | The Comancheros
American leading man Stuart Maxwell Whitman was known for his rugged roles. He was born in San Francisco, California, the elder of two sons of Cecilia (Gold) and Joseph Whitman, a realtor. His mother was a Russian Jewish immigrant, while his paternal grandparents were Polish Jews. His family moved ...
23. Lyle Waggoner
Actor | Wonder Woman
This 60s and 70s TV heartthrob was the proverbial tall, dark and classically handsome actor. Completing the solid package was a great, muscular build, smooth charm, an almost perfect set of teeth and a marvelously resonant voice. Born in 1935 in Kansas City, Kansas, and raised in St. Louis, ...
24. Kenny Rogers
Soundtrack | Faster
Born in Texas, the fourth of eight children, singer Kenny Rogers grew up in a poor area of Houston where his father worked in a shipyard and his mother in a hospital. He became the first member of his family to graduate from high school. He took an interest in singing while quite young and as a ...
25. Terrence McNally
Writer | American Playhouse
Terrence McNally was born on November 3, 1938 in St. Petersburg, Florida, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for American Playhouse (1981), Frankie and Johnny (1991) and The Ritz (1976). He was married to Thomas Kirdahy. He died on March 24, 2020 in Sarasota, Florida.
26. Bill Withers
Soundtrack | The Bodyguard
Singer, songwriter and guitarist Bill Withers was born on July 4, 1938 in the small coal-mining town of Slab Fork, West Virginia and was raised in the nearby town of Beckley. He was the youngest of six children of Mattie (Galloway), a maid, and William Withers, a miner. His father died when Withers...
27. Forrest Compton
Actor | McBain
American supporting actor, on screen from 1954. A chemist's son, he was raised in Pennsylvania and saw action in France during World War II with the 103rd Infantry Division. After demobilisation, he studied acting at Swarthmore College and then spent three years at Yale Drama School (graduating ...
28. Honor Blackman
Actress | Goldfinger
Comparing this sultry-eyed blonde to Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich may seem a bit overzealous, but Honor Blackman's stylish allure cannot be denied.
One of four children, Blackman was born in London's East End, to Edith Eliza (Stokes), a homemaker, and Frederick Thomas Blackman, a statistician ...
29. Shirley Douglas
Actress | Dead Ringers
Shirley Douglas was born on April 2, 1934 in Weyburn, Saskatchewan, Canada as Shirley Jean Douglas. She is known for her work on Dead Ringers (1988), Wind at My Back (1996) and Lolita (1962). She was married to Donald Sutherland and Timothy Emil Sicks. She died on April 5, 2020 in Toronto, Ontario,...
30. James Drury
Actor | The Virginian
Laconic, dark and handsome were the essential attributes for Hollywood western leading men in the 50s and 60s. James Drury fit the bill, keeping in mind that his most famous screen persona - that of the stalwart Shiloh estate ranch foreman known only as 'the Virginian' - took a while to properly ...
31. Brian Dennehy
Actor | First Blood
Imposing, barrel-chested and often silver-haired Brian Dennehy was a prolific US actor, well respected on both screen and stage over many decades. He was born in July 1938 in Bridgeport, CT, and attended Columbia University in New York City on a football scholarship. Brian majored in history, ...
32. Shirley Knight
Actress | Paul Blart: Mall Cop
Shirley Knight was born on July 5, 1936 in Goessel, Kansas, USA as Shirley Enola Knight. She was an actress and producer, known for Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009), As Good as It Gets (1997) and Grandma's Boy (2006). She was married to John Hopkins and Eugene Persson. She died on April 22, 2020 in San ...
33. John Ericson
Actor | Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Ericson was born in Düsseldorf, the son of a German chemist and a Swedish actress and opera singer. Escaping from the Nazi regime, his family emigrated to the U.S. when he was three. At first living in Detroit, they eventually settled in New York where his dad (according to a 1955 newspaper article...
34. Little Richard
Soundtrack | Predator
Richard Wayne Penniman, better known as Little Richard, the self-proclaimed "Architect of Rock 'n' Roll", traveled in his early days with the legendary vaudeville star Spencer "Snake" Anthony. One of Richard's early bands had the young, then unknown singer James Brown (the Godfather of Soul), a ...
35. Jerry Stiller
Actor | Hairspray
As the short, hypertensive male counterpart of the stellar husband-and-wife comedy team "Stiller & Meara," Jerry Stiller and wife Anne Meara were on top of the comedy game in the 1960s, a steady and hilarious presence on television variety, notably Toast of the Town (1948), on which they appeared ...
36. Fred Willard
Actor | Best in Show
Fred Willard radiated a unique charm that established him as one of the industry's most gifted comic actors, first coming to prominence as ambitious but dimwitted sidekick Jerry Hubbard to Martin Mull's smarmy talk-show host Barth Gimble in the devastating satirical series Fernwood 2 Night (1977). ...
37. Richard Herd
Actor | All the President's Men
Utilitarian character actor Richard Herd was one of those stern familiar faces you saw countless times on film and TV but couldn't quite place the name. The stage-trained actor, who shared a striking resemblance to actor Karl Malden, never found the one role that would make him a household name, ...
38. Vera Lynn
Soundtrack | Kong: Skull Island
Vera Lynn was born on March 20, 1917 in East Ham, London, England as Vera Margaret Welch. She was married to Harry Lewis. She died on June 18, 2020 in Ditchling, East Sussex, England.
39. Ian Holm
Actor | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Sir Ian Holm was one of the world's greatest actors, a Laurence Olivier Award-winning, Tony Award-winning, BAFTA-winning and Academy Award-nominated British star of films and the stage. He was a member of the prestigious Royal Shakespeare Company and has played more than 100 roles in films and on ...
40. Joel Schumacher
Director | The Phantom of the Opera
Joel Schumacher was born on August 29, 1939 in New York City, New York, USA as Joel T. Schumacher. He was a director and writer, known for The Phantom of the Opera (2004), Batman & Robin (1997) and 8MM (1999). He died on June 22, 2020 in New York City.
41. Carl Reiner
Actor | Ocean's Eleven
Carl Reiner was a legend of American comedy, who achieved great success as a comic actor, a director, producer and recording artist. He won nine Emmy Awards, three as an actor, four as a writer and two as a producer. He also won a Grammy Award for his "2,000 Year Old Man" album, based on his comedy...
42. Hugh Downs
Self | Live from Lincoln Center
Hugh Downs was born on February 14, 1921 in Akron, Ohio, USA as Hugh Malcolm Downs. He was an actor and producer, known for Live from Lincoln Center (1976), Car 54, Where Are You? (1961) and Concentration (1958). He was married to Ruth Shaheen. He died on July 1, 2020 in Scottsdale, Arizona, USA.
43. Earl Cameron
Actor | Inception
Earl Cameron was born on August 8, 1917 in Pembroke, Bermuda. He was an actor, known for Inception (2010), Thunderball (1965) and The Interpreter (2005). He was married to Barbara Cameron and Audrey J. P. Godowski. He died on July 3, 2020 in Kenilworth, Warwickshire, England.
44. Brigitte Bardot
Actress | Le mépris
Brigitte Bardot was born on September 28, 1934 in Paris, France. Her father had an engineering degree and worked with his father in the family business. Brigitte's mother encouraged her daughter to take up music and dance, and she proved to be very adept at it. By the time she was 15, Brigitte was ...
45. Olivia de Havilland
Actress | The Heiress
Olivia Mary de Havilland was born July 1, 1916, in Tokyo, Japan, to British parents Lilian Augusta (Ruse), a former actress, and Walter Augustus de Havilland, an English professor and patent attorney. Her sister, Joan, later to become famous as Joan Fontaine, was born the following year. Her ...
46. Sophia Loren
Actress | Una giornata particolare
Sophia Loren was born as Sofia Scicolone at the Clinica Regina Margherita in Rome, Italy, on September 20, 1934. Her father, Riccardo Scicolone, was married to another woman and refused to marry her mother, Romilda Villani, despite the fact that she was the mother of his two children (Sophia and ...
47. Raquel Welch
Actress | The Three Musketeers
A new reigning 1960s international sex symbol took to the cinematic throne as soon as Raquel Welch emerged from the sea in her purposely depleted, furry prehistoric bikini. Tantalizingly wet with her garb clinging to all the right amazonian places, One Million Years B.C. (1966), if nothing else, ...
48. Armin Mueller-Stahl
Actor | Eastern Promises
Armin Mueller-Stahl was born on December 17, 1930 in Tilsit, East Prussia, Germany. He is an actor and director, known for Eastern Promises (2007), Shine (1996) and The International (2009). He has been married to Gabriele Scholz since 1973. They have one child. He was previously married to Monika ...
49. John Cleese
Actor | A Fish Called Wanda
John Cleese was born on October 27, 1939, in Weston-Super-Mare, England, to Muriel Evelyn (Cross) and Reginald Francis Cleese. He was born into a family of modest means, his father being an insurance salesman; but he was nonetheless sent off to private schools to obtain a good education. Here he ...
50. Woody Allen
Writer | Manhattan
Woody Allen was born Allan Stewart Konigsberg on December 1, 1935 in Brooklyn, New York, to Nettie (Cherrie), a bookkeeper, and Martin Konigsberg, a waiter and jewellery engraver. His father was of Russian Jewish descent, and his maternal grandparents were Austrian Jewish immigrants. As a young boy...