Did you see on the news this week that Olivia de Havilland turned 100 years old? Her sister Joan Fontaine passed just three years ago at age 96. Good genes! Curious about others who have lived to see 100 (known as centenarians), I found this website that someone takes great care in compiling:
Why, Herman Wouk, David Rockefeller, Vera Lynn, AND June Foray--the voice artist for Natasha Fatale, are still alive? You recall Natasha, don't you?
I'm grateful to "Leno," an obit writer that I follow, who shared this list of female film or TV notables who are over 90 years old:
BIRTH YEAR - NAME OF ACTRESS - FILM OR TV TITLE
1911: Lupita Tovar (Dracula (Spanish), mother of Susan Kohner), Renee Simonot (French actress/dubber for Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz)
1912: Mary Carlisle (Baby Face Morgan), Connie Sawyer (A Hole in the Head)
1914: Gisele Casadesus (My Afternoons with Margueritte), Gertrude Hadley Jeannette (Shaft)
1915: Danuta Szaflarska (Time to Die, 2007), Patricia Morison (Song of Bernadette),
1916: Olivia de Havilland (Gone With the Wind), Jean Rouverol (Autumn Leaves)
1917: Zsa Zsa Gabor (Moulin Rouge), Danielle Darrieux (La Ronde), June Foray (Rocky & Bullwinkle), Marsha Hunt (Smash-Up), Suzy Delair (The Mad Adventures of 'Rabbi' Jacob)
1918: Fay McKenzie (Down Mexico Way, 1941), Ivy Bethune (Back to the Future), Baby Peggy Montgomery (Helen's Babies, 1924)
1919: Sono Osato (The Kissing Bandit, 1948), Margot Hielscher (Doktor Faustus, 1982), Marge Champion (dancer and model for Snow White)
1920: Michele Morgan (The Fallen Idol), Maggie Griffin (TV's My Life on the D-List), Franca Valeri (The Widower, 1959), Nanette Fabray (The Band Wagon), Kate Murtagh (Farewell, My Lovely, 1975), and Noel Neill (TV's The Adventures of Superman).
1921: Carol Channing (Thoroughly Modern Millie), Barbara Hale (The Boy With Green Hair), Muriel Pavlow (Doctor in the House), Patricia Barry (Send Me No Flowers), Liz Smith (A Private Function)
1922: Betty White (TV's The Golden Girls), Joan Copeland (TV's As the World Turns), Micheline Presle (Devil in the Flesh, 1940s), Tônia Carrero (Tico-Tico no Fubá, 1952), Janis Paige (Silk Stockings), Louise Latham (Marnie), Lee Wilde (Look for the Silver Lining, 1949), Lyn Wilde (Look for the Silver Lining), Jacqueline White (Crossfire, 1947),
1923: Valentina Cortese (Day for Night), Anne Jeffreys (Dillinger, 1945), Gloria Henry (TV's Dennis the Menace), Elizabeth Sellars (The Day They Robbed the Bank of England, 1960), Peggy Stewart (Oregon Trail, 1945), Maria Pacôme (The Undergifted, 1980), Rhonda Fleming (Spellbound), Rose Marie (TV's The Dick Van Dyke Show), Glynis Johns (Miranda), Dina Merrill (Operation Petticoat), Inge Keller (Aimee & Jaguar)
1924: Carole Cook (The Incredible Mr. Limpet), Machiko Kyo (Rashomon), Doris Day (Pillow Talk), Noreen Nash (Giant), Priscilla Pointer (Carrie, 1976), Gisela May (Fleur LaFontaine, 1978), Eva Marie Saint (North by Northwest), Maria Dolores Pradera (Vida en Sombras, 1948), Joyce Randolph (TV's The Honeymooners), Lily Weiding (The Green Butchers), Anita Linda (Adultery, 1984), Maria Riva (The Scarlet Empress, 1934), Marge Redmond (The Trouble With Angels)
1925: Katherine "Scotty" MacGregor (TV's Little House on the Prairie), Dorothy Malone (The Man of a Thousand Faces), Elena Verdugo (TV's Marcus Welby), Kristine Miller (I Walk Alone), June Lockhart (TV's Lost in Space), Cara Williams (The Defiant Ones, 1958), Gloria DeHaven (Two Girls and a Sailor), Miiko Taka (Sayonara), Lola Albright (TV's Peter Gunn), Arlene Dahl (Journey to the Center of the Earth, 1959), Honor Blackman (Goldfinger), Angela Lansbury (Gaslight), Mary Kay Stearns (TV's Mary Kay and Johnny), Lee Grant (Shampoo), June Whitfield (TV's Absolutely Fabulous), Kaye Ballard (TV's The Mothers-in-Law), Peggy Cummins (Gun Crazy, 1950)
1926: Nancy Gates (Suddenly), Jean Alexander (TV's Coronation Street), Jane Withers (Giant), Gloria Jean (Never Give a Sucker and Even Break), Charlotte Rae (TV's The Facts of Life), Cloris Leachman (Young Frankenstein), Virginia Patton (It's a Wonderful Life)
Hmm, Glynis Johns played Mrs. Banks in Mary Poppins. I didn't know she played a London mermaid in Miranda. And yes, Gloria Henry was mom to Dennis The Menace. I also learned that a little girl named Jeanne Russell had accompanied her brother to the casting call for boys to act as playmates of Dennis in his fictional 1959 neighborhood. The young boy wasn't picked for the TV show. But his sister was! She got the role of Margaret. Evidently Jay Thomas (Dennis) had pointed to little Jeanne and said, "I like HER!" Today former child star Margaret works as a chiropractor.
Having just spent a good 40 minutes googling some of these names, I'm now going to make coffee. But will only drink it inside, as the humidity is 76 percent outdoors according to my trusty HUMIDITY-IS-LOATHSOME app. Here's hoping your name makes a centenarian list some day!