RIP 2011

[Strangler Lewis]

While I have not thought of Lee Grant in years, I am still shocked to realize she is 83.

[Strangler Lewis]

Reverend Fred. No, not dead.

[Alex]

Gene Hackman and Sean Connery are the ones that boggle my mind.

[Strangler Lewis]

And if you're keeping score of who would be the oldest living winners of acting Oscars if they were still alive, it looks like George Arliss and Marie Dressler, both at 142, with him having a few months on her.

[Alex]

Yep, if every actor ever to win were still alive these would be the 25 oldest (with birth date):


Marie Dressler - 11/9/1868
George Arliss - 4/10/1868
Charles Coburn - 6/19/1877
Edmund Gwenn - 9/26/1877
Lionel Barrymore - 4/28/1878
Jane Darwell - 10/15/1879
Ethel Barrymore - 8/15/1879
Donald Crisp - 7/27/1882
Walter Huston - 4/6/1884
Emil Jannings - 7/23/1884
Wallace Beery - 4/1/1885
Josephine Hull - 1/3/1886
Victor McLaglen - 12/10/1886
Barry Fitzgerald - 3/10/1888
Warner Baxter - 3/29/1889
Ronald Colman - 2/9/1891
Alice Brady - 11/2/1892
Mary Pickford - 4/8/1892
Margaret Rutherford - 5/11/1892
Hattie McDaniel - 6/10/1892
Thomas Mitchell - 7/11/1892
Fay Bainter - 12/7/1893
Walter Brennan - 7/25/1894
Paul Muni - 9/22/1895
George Burns - 1/20/1896

So Marie Dressler was the first person on the planet born who went on to win an acting Academy Award. The first to go to even be nominated was May Robson, born 4/19/1858.

The first human being to go on to win any main show Academy Award (whose birthdate information is easily available) is George Bernard Shaw, born on 7/26/1856 and who eventually won for his part in Pygmalion. He is also the first to even get a nomination in any category.

Though again, that is based on readily available birthdates. Of the approximately 5,878 people who have been nominated I don't have that information for about 1200 of them.

[Not Afraid]

You have to get pretty close to the bottom of the list to get to a name that I remember as a living person. There may have been some who died after I was born, but it is really only Mary Pickford's and George Burns' deaths that I remember happening. Pickford was a "she's still alive???". So, really it is only George Burns from that list that I actually remember as a living person.

[Strangler Lewis]

Originally Posted by Not Afraid

You have to get pretty close to the bottom of the list to get to a name that I remember as a living person. There may have been some who died after I was born, but it is really only Mary Pickford's and George Burns' deaths that I remember happening. Pickford was a "she's still alive???". So, really it is only George Burns from that list that I actually remember as a living person.

I guess you didn't watch many "The Real McCoys" reruns, because I certainly remember Walter Brennan's death, too.

And George Arliss was born before Marie Dressler.

Makes one wonder who the earliest born person ever to appear in a moving picture of any kind is. Could there be someone from the 18th Century?

To me, Liz Taylor's death is sad because her life was sad and people have basically been waiting for her to die for about 30 years.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by Strangler Lewis

And George Arliss was born before Marie Dressler.

Whoops. I misread what you'd said and didn't look closely when they both floated to the top of the list.

As for oldest on screen, here's the result of poking around with IMDb's Power Searches (keeping in mind that many people don't have birthdate information listed. Quite a few world leaders born early appear in the earliest films (Peopl Leo XIII, Queen Victoria, etc.) but the first credited in IMDb as "Actors" are:

Lotten Amlof, born 7/31/1827. This one seems a bit suspect since her only credit is a 1921 film when she'd have been 94 years old. But who knows.

Daddy Taylor, born 7/9/1828. Another nonagenarian on film if correct as his credit is Chaplin's The Gold Rush in 1925 (when he'd have been 97). But he is credited as "Ancient Dancing Prospector."

Charles Manly, born 9/25/1830. Started a series of short films as Uncle Josh in 1900, worked until 1917.

Sky Hunter born 11/7/1830. Did some kind of short film in 1912.

[Morrigoon]

Pickford was a serious businesswoman, for all her girlish looks.

[Gn2Dlnd]

I think she might disagree with you about her life being sad. In fact, I think she would be shocked that anyone would think so.