Old Movie Stars And Television Stars I had to laugh when I read that William Shatner said he was scared about going up in a Blue Origin Rocket. It sort of ruins his image as the fearless Captain Kirk. Of course, we know this was only fantasy and I really like William Shatner. I am amazed at what a long career he has had. He is ninety years old as of the writing of this article and still in demand for television shows. Some actors and actresses have incredibly long careers. One of the first who comes to mind is Clint Eastwood. Eastwood is 91 years old and still making movies. He can’t make any more action movies where he fights the villains, but he is making more dramatic ones. He is one of those actors I liked from the beginning. Some actors just have the ability to be believable and Clint Eastwood is one of them. His spaghetti westerns became world famous and were quite good and they put him on the map. Then he came up with Dirty Harry where he is a detective and takes on the bosses trying to stifle his work. Will he ever quit the movies or will we eventually see him taking wheel chair parts? Dick Van Dyke was born in 1925 and will be 96 years old in December 2021. Everybody seems to like him and he has had incredible staying power. He started on radio then television. He was also a stage actor and entertainer in nightclubs. He appeared in a sequel to Mary Poppins a couple of years ago after being in the original movie in 1964. It is amazing that someone who made a movie that long ago would be in a sequel 57 years later. I don’t want to leave the ladies out. Angela Lansbury seems to have been around forever. She was also born in 1925. She had been entertaining us for almost 8 decades. Not only is her longevity amazing, but so is the fact she still is seen once in a while. She is the earliest surviving Academy Award nominee. Her mother was Moyna Macgill who was also an actress. Her father was an English politician. She moved to America in 1940 and studied acting in New York City. It only took her two years to get a Hollywood contract. The 1940s were good to her and she was nominated for two Oscars and a Golden Globe Award and to this day she is still around. She was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire known as the CBE and later appointed a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II. Julie Andrews is the beloved actress who played Mary Poppins originally. She was born in 1935 and is 86 years old. She has an entire truckload of awards. She received an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, two Emmy Awards, three Grammy Awards and six Golden Globe Awards. This is incredibly impressive. She also received the honorary Golden Lion and the AFI Life Achievement Award and was made a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II. She still works in entertainment and even does voice overs for cartoons. Harry Belafonte has reached the ripe old age of 92. He appeared in a movie as recently as 2018. He made the movie Carmen Jones way back in 1954. It is amazing he is still going strong. His birth name is Harold George Bellanfanti Jr. He was born in 1927. He became famous as a singer, songwriter, actor and activist. Many people think his most famous song was Day-O. It is said he was close with Martin Luther King Jr. He won 3 Grammy Awards which included one for Lifetime Achievement. He also won an Emmy Award, a Tony Award, the Kennedy Center Honors, National Medal of Arts, and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. Gina Lollobrigida was an incredible beauty and still looks good for her age, after all she was born in 1927. She is quite a person. To give you an idea, she sold all her jewelry and donated the money to stem-cell therapy. She is a supporter of Italian and Italian American causes. In 1950 Howard Hughes signed her to a seven year contract. She did a lot of work in the 1950s. In the 1980s she appeared in a couple of television series. While she is no longer very active in movies or television you do see her make an appearance once in a while. She made 58 movies. John Saxon is an actor who seems to have been around forever. He actually made 104 movies which is quite a record. His most recent movies is After the Thunderstorm released in 2019. His birth name was Carmine Orrico and he was born in 1936. It is said in 60 years he worked on over 200 projects. He played many different parts. Unfortunately, he died last year in 2020 at 84 years old, but worked until the end. He won a Golden Globe Award. He also appeared in many Italian films over the years. There is a man who has made 121 films and appeared in numerous television shows. You might remember him as the head of the Chinese restaurant on Seinfeld who was taking others ahead of him. His name is James Hong. He was born in 1929. He is widely known as an American character actor. He has been on so many famous television shows he would be recognized instantly when you see him. He started his career in 1954 and is still acting. He has also done voice acting. He was Chi-Fu in Mulan. He has been the voice in several video games. His career seems to have no boundaries and he is still going strong. George Hamilton has made 52 movies. The last one I know about was made in 2018. He was born in 1939. He made many memorable movies and was awarded the Golden Globe Award and was nominated for a BAFTA Award. One movie he made had me laughing non stop and that was Love at First Bite. It was a comedy where he played a vampire that comes to America. if you are older, you might have heard of Doc Hollywood and 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag. It just amazes me how some of these actors can have such long careers in an industry which seems to like youth. Some of the younger stars just come and then are gone. This is true for some of the kid starts who just disappear.
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