People i'm surprised and pleased are still alive.

For reasons too bizarre to explain, I have been reading the autobiography of Cheetah, the chimp who was Tarzan's assistant in the the Tarzan movies of the 1930s. I was surprised to find that at the time of writing (I think it was at least partially ghostwritten) the chimp was living in retirement in Florida. Looking at various websites, he appears to have died only very recently, at age 80 or so [source]. Also, the guy who made the famous movie 'Onibaba' died last year, aged 100. My family, a hedonistic and cancerous lot, tend not to make it to 60, and so being outlived by a Hollywood chimp is very interesting to me. So, I spent some time researching people who I would be surprised to find out were still alive. It's been one of those kind of days.

 There are so many bizarre websites around that confirm whether people are dead or not, and to be honest I don't think they should be encouraged, so I'll give you the highlights from the half dozen or so that I perused.. Also, the following list includes people whom I have heard of at least obliquely. It might be impressive that there is a Hungarian chess master alive at 108, but I'm not surprised by it as I hadn't encountered him before. However, I am surprised and glad that the following are still going:

Eli Wallach (Born 1915)

I knew that he wasn't long dead, as I'd seen him in Roman Polanski's interminable 'The Ghost Writer' a few years ago, but he looked diminished and shrivelled even in the third Godfather Movie, which is not only terrible, but almost 25 years old. This also got me thinking that I haven't Seen The good, the bad, and the ugly in a decade, I wonder if it'll be as good if I watched it now?

Tatsuya Nakedai (Born 1932)

Another surprise, and a hugely famous and established actor. Star of not only the Human Condition trilogy, but numerous movies by Akira Kurosawa, including Yojimbo, High and Low, and a very brief cameo in Seven Samurai, which was 1954. I suppose that he looked ancient even in Ran, which was 1985, so just assumed that he had died by now. Luckily that was just effective makeup. In a recent interview on the Criterion edition of Yojimbo he not only looked alive, but looked pretty damn good.

Lots Of People Involved In The Original Godzilla (1954) 
Godzilla, lest we forget, was brought to life by the Nukes dropped on Japan. It appears that most of these guys have had a good blast of life-extending radiation by being in this movie. Of those still going are the main, pretty-boy, love-interest scientist of the movie. Akira Takarada, (1934)  who is set to appear in a new Godzilla movie, 60 years after the original one. Also still going are Kenji Sahara, (1932) who was later to play Rodan (the fire breathing flying dinosaur one), and most impressively the two people who went inside the rubber suit of Godzilla. That's right, both the actors who played the original Godzilla are still going. The main actor, Haruo Nakajima, (1929) had a good career and starred in Seven Samurai in the same year. He's still going, perhaps more impressive is that his stunt double, Katsumi Tezuka, (born 1912) is also around. Stunt doubles aren't really expected to make it to 100. Must have been something in the water.

Gloria Stuart (1910 - 2010) 

Aka 'The Old Lady Gibbering Away Through Titanic' She died aged 100, in the year 2010. That's almost 15 years after Titanic. Anyone unlucky enough to have seen that movie would be surprised that she survived fifteen minutes after is wrapped up. 

   

U.S. President John Tyler (1790) Still has living grandchildren.

This one is pretty cool. In The 1840s, Tyler became the tenth President of the U.S.A in the 1840s. He had kids when he was 70ish, and then they had kids when they were aged 70ish too. That's probably not something you'd want to witness, but the result is his two surviving grandchildren, octogenarians who are alive and well in 2013. Pretty cool, in a creepy kind of way. [source]

Kirk Douglas (1916)

Paths of Glory was 1957, and he's still going. A guy I had thought had died relatively recently, but didn't. Good on him. On a side note, I have a very pronounced cleft chin as he does, unless I put weight on, and that's one of the first bits of my to fill in. It's very much a chubby barometer for me. 

Musicians still performing: Jerry Lee Lewis (1935), B.B. King (1925), Chuck Berry (1926), Little Richard (1932)

Berry, King and Richard are all old black guys, cool enough to do whatever they want, or to ever really age excessively ('black don't crack' is a new adage I've learned). However, they don't seem to really tour, just make a few welcome appearances now and then. What is most amazing is that the weedy, whitey Jerry Lee Lewis is still performing regularly, from what I understand, in Vegas and other places like it. White musicians just don't seem to age as well. Who looks better now, B.B. King or Mick Jagger? Did anyone see Ray Davies at the olympic closing ceremony last year? that dude hasn't got long to go either, by the looks of things.

Lauren Baccall (1924) 

I'd just assumed that she'd have died by now too, and she's not even 90. That's what you get for marrying the much older, much less attractive Bogart.

Shirley Temple (1928)

Another I had just assumed was dead. It's hard to imagine that the highest box office draw of the 1930s is still around in a healthy mid 80s. I don't see Justin Bieber or any modern child stars making it to that age, and I look forward to various drug problems and arrest of that little cretin.

There you go people, spread this information. Also, I keep forgetting that Jack Nicholson is still around, mainly because he looks so different from how he did in, say, Easy Rider compared with say About Schmidt - it is like it's two different blokes. I'll add pictures to this later, but can't be bothered now. Enjoy the Sun!