Following the death of actor Richard Widmark (b. December 26 1914) last week at the age of 93, I began thinking about how many actors and actresses are still alive from the Golden Era of Hollywood. Some of these actors have long since retired from the silver screen, others are still working and some are suffering from the onslaught of old age that has left them unable to remember their own name.

The timing of this article is also to commemorate the actress Bette Davis, who would have celebrated her 100th birthday today (April 5 2008) if she hadn’t sadly died from metastasized breast cancer in October 1989. Last April I wrote a review of All About Eve, one of the many films for which Bette Davis was nominated for Best Actress, but the reason for that review was the landmark birthday of another of the nominated actresses: Celeste Holm.

Celeste Holm (b. April 29 1917) is now approaching her 91st birthday, but she is a spring chicken compared to many others still alive. The oldest living actor that my research could uncover is a Dutchman named Johannes Heesters, who was born on December 5 1903 and currently holds the record of being the oldest performer worldwide who is still active, both on the stage and on television, plus had the dubious distinction of being Adolf Hitler’s favourite actor.

I must admit that his name is not one known to me, as is the second oldest actor I could find, an Englishman named John Kidd, who celebrated his 100th birthday last July. John Kidd primarily had a career in television and notched up almost 60 different shows and the same number of parts, yet, like Heesters, he is relatively unknown.

Gloria Stuart (b. July 4 1910), the oldest living actress, is definitely well-known, although it was mainly as her part as Old Rose in James Cameron’s Best Picture winner Titanic, rather than any of her work over the past eight decades. In 1932 Gloria Stuart was one of the 15 WAMPAS Baby Stars (a promotional campaign that chose young women believed to be on the threshold of movie stardom) and she is now one of the two surviving actresses along with Mary Carlisle (b. February 3 1912), although has not worked since the 1940s.

The second oldest working actress is Anita Page (b. August 4 1910), who was once the focus of Benito Mussolini’s obsessive affections and actually retired for 60 years before coming back to films as an 80-year-old lady. Our French readers should recognise the name Paulette Dubost (b. October 8 1910), who has been constantly making films ever since 1931, and Batman fans will know the actor Michael Gough (b. November 23 1913), who portrayed Bruce Wayne’s butler Alfred in the first four films.

Kevin McCarthy (b. February 15 1914) was nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his role as Biff Loman in the 1951 version of Death of a Salesman and he is still working, with his last role being in John Jackman’s 2008 Wesley. Anna Wing (b. October 30 1914) appears as Grandma in Son of Rambow, and fans of the TV series "St. Elsewhere" should remember Norman Lloyd (b. November 8 1914) in his role as Dr. Daniel Auschlander.

How many of the names have you recognised so far? It is surprising the number of actors and actresses that are still employed, plus it is even more inspiring when you realise the list has only reached those born before 1914. My own research stopped at people born in 1925, which means there are many more names to list and that includes many more famous names.

Norman Wisdom and Eli Wallach were both born in 1915, Kirk Douglas in 1916, Ernest Borgnine, Herbert Lom and Joan Fontaine were all born in 1917, while Fontaine’s older sister Olivia de Havilland is also still alive aged 92. Ingmar Bergman turns 90 in July and Richard Todd hits 90 next year, while Ian Carmichael and Mickey Rooney are still two years off their ninth decade.

We can only hope that these actors and actresses notch up many more years before they appear in the Academy Award Obituary montage, plus I haven’t even mentioned the directors that are still with us. Below you can find the full list of living actors, in age order, so you too can utter those famous words: I didn’t know they were still alive!

EXTRA: I have now made a list of oldest living directors, see here:
http://www.theovi.com/art/4766

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Johannes Heesters - 5 December 1903
Magda Foy - 8 March 1906
Barbara Kent - 16 December 1906
Lelita Rosa - 19 July 1908
George Beverli Shea - 1 February 1909
Pola Illory - 10 October 1909
Carla Laemmle - 10 October 1909
Luise Rainer - 12 January 1910
Lupita Tovar - 27 July 1911
Mary Carlisle - 3 February 1912
Marta Eggerth - 17 April 1912
Connie Sawyer - 27 November 1912
Tony Martin - 25 December 1912
Risë Stevens - 11 June 1913
Patricia Morison - 19 March 1914
George "Shep" Houghton - 4 June 1914
Anna Wing - 30 October 1914
Norman Lloyd - 8 November 1914
Alicia Rhett - 1 February 1915
Wally Cassell - 3 March 1915
Harry Morgan - 10 April 1915
Totti Truman Taylor - 7 September 1915
Frank Cady - 8 September 1915
Marguerite Patten - 4 November 1915
Eli Wallach - 7 December 1915
John Horsley - 1915
Olaf Pooley - 2 February 1916
Harry Rabinowitz - 26 March 1916
Sam Beazley - March 1916
Olivia de Havilland - 1 July 1916
Kirk Douglas - 9 December 1916
Birgitta Valberg - 16 December 1916
Edward Burnham - 25 December 1916
Dennis Edwards - 28 December 1916
Ernest Borgnine - 24 January 1917
Isuzu Yamada - 5 February 1917
Zsa Zsa Gabor - 6 February 1917
Patricia Kennedy - 17 March 1917
Vera Lynn - 20 March 1917
Paul Rogers - 22 March 1917
R.G. Armstrong - 7 April 1917
Celeste Holm - 29 April 1917
Milton Reid - 29 April 1917
Danielle Darrieux - 1 May 1917
George Gaynes - 16 May 1917
Phylis Diller - 17 July 1917
Lorna Gray (Adrian Booth) - 26 July 1917
Earl Cameron - 8 August 1917
Herbert Lom - 11 September 1917
Marsha Hunt - 17 October 1917
Joan Fontaine - 22 October 1917 (sister to Olivia)
Movita Castaneda - 4 December 1917
Elyse Knox - 14 December 1917
Allan Arbus - 15 February 1918
Patty Andrews - 16 February 1918
Mary Healy - 14 April 1918
Ruth Duccini (born Ruth L. Robinson) - 23 July 1918
Majorie Lord - 26 July 1918
Karl "Karchy" Kosiczky - 21 September 1918
Baby Peggy - 26 October 1918
Dennis Ramsden - 7 November 1918
Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. - 30 November 1918
Joyce Redman - 9 December 1918
Dusty Anderson - 17 December 1918
Audrey Totter - 20 December 1918
Sheila Mercier - 1 January 1919
Patricia Laffan - 19 March 1919
Sara Gregory - 16 May 1919
Muzaffer Tema - 15 June 1919
Al Molinaro - 24 June 1919
Patricia Medina - 19 July 1919
Helen Shingler - 29 August 1919
Marge Champion - 2 September 1919
Warren Stevens - 2 November 1919
Nova Pilbeam - 15 November 1919
Alan Young - 19 November 1919
Dulcie Gray - 20 November 1919
Olga Lowe - 1919
Douglas Wilmer - 8 January 1920
Clive Dunn - 9 January 1920
Jerry Maren - 24 January 1920
Shirley Yamaguchi - 12 February 1920
Mary Anderson - 3 April 1920
Renée Asherson - 19 May 1920
Betty Driver - 20 May 1920
Sid Melton - 23 May 1920
Setsuko Hara - 17 June 1920
P.D. James - 3 August 1920
Olympe Bradna - 12 August 1920
Maureen O'Hara - 17 August 1920
Dinah Sheridan - 17 September 1920
Ruth Terry - 21 October 1920
Mickey Rooney - 23 September 1920
Margery Mason - 27 September 1920
Jayne Meadows - 27 September 1920
Nanette Fabray - 27 October 1920
Ann Rutherford - 2 November 1920
Douglas Dick - 20 November 1920
Fred Cox - 4 December 1920
Frank Thornton - 15 January 1921
Elisabeth Kirkby - 26 January 1921
Carol Channing - 31 January 1921
Peter Sallis - 1 February 1921
Betty Jaynes - 12 February 1921
Abe Vigoda - 24 February 1921
Harry Carey Jr. - 16 May 1921
Clifton James - 29 May 1921
Garry Walberg - 10 June 1921
Louis Jourdan - 19 June 1921
Muriel Pavlow - 27 June 1921
Jean Kent - 29 June 1921
Nancy Davis (a.k.a. Nancy Reagan) - 6 July 1921
Jean Heywood - 15 July 1921
Esther Williams - 8 August 1921
Cobina Wright Jr. - 14 August 1921
Monty Hall - 25 August 1921
Phyllis Thaxter - 20 November 1921
Jackie Stallone - 29 November 1921
Deanna Durbin - 4 December 1921
Peter Hansen - 5 December 1921
Liz Smith - 11 December 1921
Edna Doré - 1921
Cyril Frankel - 1921
Margaret Garland - 1921
Betty White - 17 January 1922
Patrick Macnee - 6 February 1922
Denis Norden - 6 February 1922
Steven Hill - 24 February 1922
James Noble - 5 March 1922
Carl Reiner - 20 March 1922
Turhan Bey - 30 March 1922
Doris Day - 3 April 1922
Michael Ansara - 15 April 1922
Joyce Jacobs - 15 April 1922
Jack Klugman - 27 April 1922
Bill Macy - 18 May 1922
Peter Hughes - 20 May 1922
Christopher Lee - 27 May 1922
Eleanor Parker - 26 June 1922
William Schallert - 6 July 1922
Jean Darling - 23 August 1922
Regina Resnik - 30 August 1922
Sid Caesar - 2 September 1922
Janis Paige - 16 September 1922
Max Bygraves - 16 October 1922
Coleen Gray - 23 October 1922
George S Irving - 1 November 1922
Jacqueline White - 23 November 1922
Eileen Essell - 1922
Bill Kerr - 1922
Larry Storch - 8 January 1923
Jean Stapleton - 19 January 1923
Diana Douglas - 22 January 1923
Anne Jeffreys - 26 January 1923
Liz Smith (II) - 2 February 1923
Robert Rietty - 8 February 1923
Charles Durning - 28 February 1923
Patrick Moore - 4 March 1923
Booth Colman - 8 March 1923
Andy Granatelli - 18 March 1923
Peter Vaughan - 4 April 1923
Hugh O' Brian - 19 April 1923
Eric Sykes - 4 May 1923
James Arness - 26 May 1923
Roy Dotrice - 26 May 1923
Peggy Stewart - 5 June 1923
Earl Hamner Jr. - 10 July 1923
Michael Medwin - 18 July 1923
Rhonda Fleming - 10 August 1923
Rose Marie - 15 August 1923
Richard Attenborough - 29 August 1923
Jimmy Perry - 9 September 1923
Margaret Pellegrini - 23 September 1923
Glynis Johns - 5 October 1923
Donald Sinden - 9 October 1923
Nicholas Parsons - 10 October 1923
Dina Merrill - 29 October 1923
Nadine Gordimer - 20 November 1923
Arthur Hiller - 22 November 1923
James Karen - 28 November 1923
Dewey Martin - 8 December 1923
Ralph Nossek - 1923
Barbara Perry c. 1923
Geoffrey Bayldon - 7 January 1924
Ron Moody - 8 January 1924
Brian Rix - 27 January 1924
Dora Bryan - 7 February 1924
Leslie Phillips - 20 April 1924
Zizi Jeanmaire - 29 April 1924
Priscilla Pointer - 18 May 1924
Theodore Bikel - 2 May 1924
Tony Britton - 9 June 1924
Eva Marie Saint - 4 July 1924
Lauren Bacall - 16 September 1924
Steve Forrest - 29 September 1924
Bill Dana - 5 October 1924
Ruby Dee - 27 October 1924
William Russell - 19 November 1924
Edward I Koch - 12 December 1924
Joan Leslie - 26 January 1925
Elaine Stritch - 2 February 1925
Hal Holbrook - 17 February 1925
Dorothy Malone - 30 January 1925
George Kennedy - 18 February 1925
Morris Perry - 28 March 1925
Tommy Kelly - 6 April 1925
Bob Hastings - 18 April 1925
George Cole - 22 April 1925
Brian Moll - 19 May 1925
June Lockhart - 25 June 1925
Gloria DeHaven - 23 July 1925
Jacques Sernas - 30 July 1925
Stan Stennett - 30 July 1925
Alan Bergman - 11 September 1925
Morgan Woodward - 16 September 1925
Angela Lansbury - 16 October, 1925
June Whitfield - 11 November 1925
Kaye Ballard - 20 November 1925
Julie Harris - 2 December 1925
Jean Porter - 8 December 1925
Dick van Dyke - 13 December 1925
Peggy Cummins - 18 December 1925

(List updated April 25th 2011)
NB: All info is collected from imdb.com

Thanks to Joey Hernandez, Omer Denizkur, Omer Kanioz, Lori Muns, Alan, Margaret F, Nicholas, Dez Hazell, William Zucker, Jay Payton, David & Hudson Jones, and Rand Noel for their contributions.

If you think there is a living actor/actress born in 1925 or earlier that is missing from the list or know that one of them has passed away, then please email asa@ovimagazine.com

Also, if you know of any other living film industry professionals born before 1925 that are missing from this list, then please email me or leave a comment.