Now Henry Gibson is dead and this means that, aside from it being a very lonely Thanksgiving at Jo Anne Worley's* place this year, we have another dead celebrity on our hands. I'm sure when people look back on 2009, they're going to think of this as the year of the dead celebrity**. So I thought I'd take a look at who hasn't died this year, because it's late and I'm bored.

*Two things:
1) I find it unbelievable that Jo Anne Worley is 72 years old. This just seems impossible to me.

2) I went to her IMDb page twice to confirm her age and that had to double the amount of hits her page has gotten in the last year.

**This also begs the interesting question of where do you draw the line when discussing celebrity. I mean, Henry Gibson *was* something of a celebrity when Laugh-In was popular some 40 years ago (and by the way, he looked 73 then, so I don't know how he was 73 now), but when your most famous role of the last 20 years was the creepy neighbor in The 'Burbs ... sorry, you're not a celebrity anymore. We need a new word for these types of people.

OK, this is a partial list:

Hugh Downs (88)
It's not just that Hugh Downs is old, becuase yeah, he's old. He was the announcer on The Jack Paar Show (as in the guy who preceded Johnny Carson) and he played himself on Car 54, Where Are You?. I mean, come on. It's hard to get older than that. But good for Hugh Downs. He provided his own voice on an episode of Family Guy. And he's not dead.

John Forsythe (91)
I'll be perfectly honest: I couldn't pick this dude out of a lineup. But he was the voice of Charlie on Charlie's Angels, and when he was born, the Great War hadn't yet ended. That right there is some old business.

Ernest Borgnine (92)
So, not only is Ernest Borgnine not dead, the dude is still acting. He's got roles in SIX films that haven't yet been released, but are scheduled to come out through 2010. How is this possible? Is he bionic? It gets better: Ernest Borgnine was on the 28th Annual Oscar telecast. The 28th. In case you were sleeping, this year they had the 81st. This man is very, very old.

Gloria Stuart (99)
OK, I saved the best for last. The old woman in the movie Titanic was not only alive when the actual Titanic sank (she was almost 2), SHE'S STILL ALIVE NOW! I'm absolutely stunned. First of all, I can't be the only one who thinks that 99 seems young for her. Second, she appeared in some silent movies, and they weren't silent because they wanted to be. They were silent because they couldn't not be silent.

So there you go. That's four celebrities that aren't dead, and are also very, very old. Balance restored.

You're welcome.

Labels: Ernest Borgnine, Gloria Stuart, Henry Gibson, Hugh Downs, Jo Anne Worley, John Forsythe, not dead celebs