Aside from celebrities killed on social media multiple times before their actual death, there are plenty of other famous former actors who we believe are either dead or may not yet be alive. Most of these actors have been there since our childhood, we got too used to seeing them before they disappeared into thin air.
Some of these actors moved away due to old age, poor health, or maybe their stars faded away in Hollywood, or even to deal with other projects that have nothing to do with acting and entertainment.
Famous Old Actors You Didn’t Know Are Still Alive
1. Doris Day
( Born: April 3, 1922)
Born Doris Mary Kappelhoff, the actress has been acting since 1939, before she even turned 20. Also a popular singer for many songs, including “Que Sera, Sera (Anyway, Will Be)”, Doris Day appeared in many movies and TV shows through the 1990s. Her most popular works include Romance on the High Seas (1948), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) and Where Were You When the Lights Went Out? (1968).
The actress who has been married four times has left the screen and music to get involved in animal activism because of her love for animals. She founded the Doris Day Pet Foundation which has now become the Doris Day Animal Foundation (DDAF) in 1978 and through this she has helped animals and the people who love them.
2. Olivia de Havilland
(Born: July 1, 1916)
Two years after World War I, Olivia deHavilland was born. She was raised to appreciate the arts that it became natural for her to make a career out of it. Olivia began acting in 1935 when she appeared in A Midsummer Night’s Dream; after which she went on to appear in many other successful works, including Strawberry Blonde (1941), To Each His Own (1946), The Snake Pit (1948), and The Heiress (1949).
Olivia continued to perform until 1988 when she retired. She would nonetheless be the narrator of the 2009 feature film , I Remember Best When I Paint. She won numerous awards including the Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, and was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960. De Havilland had a sister (Joan Fontaine) who was also an actress, although the two did not have had the best of the relationship. Joan passed away on December 15, 2013.
3. Dick Van Dyke
( Born: December 13, 1925)
Born Richard Wayne Van Dyke, this actor cannot be hastily forgotten, although many are unaware that he is still alive. Van Dyke began his career in the entertainment world which included acting, singing and dancing in 1947 when he started as a radio DJ. However, it was in the 1950s that he turned to acting.
With over 50 productions to his credit, he has appeared in many highly successful productions including Goodbye Bird (1963), Dick Tracy (1990), Curious George (2006) and Night at the Museum (2006). The actor’s most recent appearances were in Signed Sealed Delivered (2014) and The Middle (2015). He has won many awards such as Emmy Awards, People’s Choice Awards and Grammy Awards.
Since taking some distance from the major player, the actor has had health problems and he has commented on certain political events in the United States.
4. Mel Brooks
( Born: June 28, 1926)
Brooks is certainly one of the famous old actors that at first many thought he was never going to die, then when he no longer appeared in the movies many believed he was dead. However, the actor born as Melvin Kaminsky is still very much alive.
One of the most sought after directors of the 1970s, Mel Brooks started his career in 1949 and later became super famous for works like Young Frankenstein (1974), The Producers (1967), The Twelve Chairs (1970) and Blazing Saddles (1974).
Although we no longer see him, the actor has not retired from Hollywood as he is still working as a comedian. He voiced Mr. Rogman in The Guardian Brothers (2017), Vlad in Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (2018), and Shogun in Blazing Samurai (2018).
5. Tippi Hadren
( Born: January 19, 1930)
A very versatile person, Nathalie Kay Hedren is an actress and former model who had her best days from the 1950s to the 2000s. Having started her career in 1954, she shot to fame in 1958 for the classic thriller, Vertigo
With many movies and TV shows under her belt, Tippi’s career was cut short following some health issues that kept her from taking on various projects. His most recent works are Free Samples (2012), Return to Babylon (2013), and The Ghost and the Whale (2015).
Since fading from center stage, Tippi Hedren wrote and published her autobiography, Tippi: A Memoir in 2016. In 2018, she did a commercial for Gucci, becoming the face of its watches and jewelry.
6. Christopher Plummer
( Born- December 13, 1929)
Arthur Christopher Orme Plummer is an actor who was a familiar face on screen for nearly six decades. He began acting during his high school days, before making his Broadway debut with a guest appearance in The Starcross Story (1953). Popular for films such as The Sound of Music (1965), Star Trek VI: The Unknown Country (1991), Malcolm X (1992), and more, Plummer has plenty of awards to go for all his hard work.
The actor has been doing voice acting and writing since he started taking a break from movies. More so, he now lives with his wife, Elaine Taylor, in Connecticut. The two have been married since 1970 after the actor’s two failed marriages.
7. Angela Lansbury
( Born: October 16, 1925)
Dame Angela Brigid Lansbury started acting in theaters when she was much younger. Having a career that spanned over 6 decades, she earned a Golden Globe Award and two Oscar nominations for her early film appearances in Gaslight (1944) and The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)
Angela Lansbury is a huge name in film and she has also done popular voice acting, including for the original Beauty and the Beast in 1991. With over a hundred productions to her credit, the actress has her most recent work in Mary Poppins Returns which is slated for release in 2018.
Although she’s still involved in a few productions, many don’t know she’s still alive as most of the roles aren’t major.
8.Kirk Douglas
( Born: December 9, 1916)
The reason many don’t know that Kirk Douglas is still alive is because he is not only among the famous old actors, but is one of the few from the film industry’s golden age who still survives.
Raised in a very poor family as one of seven siblings of immigrant parents, he began his acting career in 1946 when he appeared on Martha Ivers’ Strange Love. By 1949, he had already made a name for himself as an actor with a highly acclaimed performance in Champion which earned him his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. He would go on to star in many other films throughout his career, including Spartacus, Only Are the Brave, and Seven Days in May which he listed as some of his best works.
At over 100 years old, the actor is not only alive, but he is doing quite well. In 1996 he suffered a stroke, but that did not stop him from acting, although it did reduce his public appearances.
9. Sidney Poitier
( Born: February 20, 1927)
Sidney Poitier is a successful actor who became the first black actor to win the Academy Award for Best Actor as well as the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor. Having started his career in 1947, the Baha’i-American actor had his best days from the late 1950s to the 1960s during which he won many awards and appeared in many films.
Having appeared on the 2001 television film , The Last Mason in America, Poitier who is also a director has been involved in diplomatic missions, serving as the Bahamas’ ambassador to Japan from 1997 to 2007 while also serving as the country’s ambassador to UNESCO. .
Beyond being one of the famous former actors who are still alive, he is one of the most respected and decorated. In 1974, Queen Elizabeth II knighted him and in 2009 President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
10. Honor Blackman
( Born: August 22, 1925)
Blackman is one of those who almost disappeared from acting altogether, but it wasn’t until 2015 that she retired her bow from the profession. She began acting in her early twenties when she landed a role in the 1947 film, Fame Is Impulse. In the years to come, the British actress would continue to act in many films and also try her hand at singing.
It was at the age of 15 that her parents decided to offer her acting lessons, putting her on the right track for an acting career. Some of his most recognized performances were The Avengers and the James Bond film The Golden Finger in 1964.
She continued acting until 2015, when she starred in You, Me and Them. Prior to that, she starred in Cockneys vs. Zombies (2012), Victim (2013), and Anything (2013).