Emmanuelle Riva's Oscar Birthday And The 100 Oldest Living Oscar Nominees
Saturday, January 12, 2013 at 11:58PM 
Emmanuelle Riva at the NYFCC Awards earlier this weekGuess who has a birthday on Oscar night this year? Emmanuelle Riva! What fortuitous timing.
The legendary French actress of Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959) fame, was Oscar-nominated just a few days ago for her haunting downward spiral in Michael Haneke's Amour (2012) and on her 86th birthday she could become the oldest winner of any competitive acting Oscar. Christopher Plummer, who turned 83 last month, currently holds that record for his win last year for Beginners. Riva's abundantly well deserved nomination makes her, at this writing, the 64th oldest living Oscar nominee or winner, just a few days younger than American screen legend Sidney Poitier.
So, as we gear up for Oscar night, I thought it was time to look back with gratitude on our elders. Let's pay homage to the Oscar nominees and winners that are still with us. Investigate these talents with your DVD queues and perhaps they'll feel the vibes of new fans "discovering" their cinematic contributions. That would have to be a sweet (and deserved) sensation.
I'm posting today, not just due to the discovery that next month's Emmanuelle Riva Birthday Celebration will involve all the biggest stars in the world, but because it's January 12th, on which we always say happy birthday to #1 on this list. I hope you enjoy!
Reader Comments (33)
I absolutely adore this list! Maybe it's because my first contact with the Oscars was during the 80s, when the Academy rewarded so many veterans...
Nothing would make me happier than Dujardin opening the envelope and saying: "Oh la la, c'est Emmanuelle Riva!".
yay Luise Rainer Happy Birthday!!!. Emmanuelle Riva's nomination is my favorite and I'm just so happy for her. Gives you hope for an actress to never say never. They better sing her Happy Birthday! Oscar nominated actress Terry Moore was born in 1929 ;)
Always love reading through these lists. You still have the years for The Snake Pit and Hold Back The Dawn mixed up though.
Is this the first time that 4 of the 5 actresses nominated in the leading category are from films nominated for best picture?
Didn't Morris actually won the Oscar for FIDDLER ON THE ROOF? I think he did.
I'm happy to see Doris Day is still sane...there were so many reports swirling that she had lost her mind and this is why she went into "hiding".
Also, Lauren Bacall is probably the one on this list who still has the most to give. It's a shame Betty's mother is dead on Mad Men because she would've been perfect for that.
amazing list, but you were undoubtedly tired when you wrote some of these. "Kirk Douglas recently won an Honorary Oscar -- memorably handed to him by Melissa Leo "
Harry Dean Stanton is 86??????
Wow Nathaniel what a comprehensive list. Thank you !
I recently saw Throughly Modern Millie and yes Channing was out there, way out. Wouldn't call her performance "best" acting but it was certainly delightful and entertaining.
I must say this annual post always makes me feel old, not because I'm as old as these guys, but because my own birthday is around these days (next week!!) and this time of the year I'm usually still in denial ;)
94 Christopher Plummer (12/13/29) Best Supporting Actor winner just last year. And Screen legend of course......... and still making the most wonderful movies!!!
Great list--but you left off (or apparently aren't glad they're still with us):Norman Lloyd (11-8-14), Allan Arbus (2-15-18), Marjorie Lord (7-26-18), Efrem Zimbalist Jr. (11-30-18), Audrey Totter (12-20-18), Nehemiah Persoff (8-2-19), Alan Young (11-19-19), Douglas Wilmer (1-8-20), Elliot Reid (1-16-20), Michele Morgan (2-29-20), Jayne Meadows (9-27-20), Noel Neill (11-25-20), Abe Vigoda (2-24-21), Elizabeth Wilson (4-4-21), Clifton James (5-29-21), Gerald S. O'Loughlin (12-23-21).
Lloyd: are you sure those actors are Oscar nominees?
Awesome job! Thanks a lot!
Happy Birthday Louise!
Nathaniel, here in Greece Zeffirelli is mostly (if not exclusively) known for the series (or long movie?) about the life of Jesus. It's on the TV every Easter.
I don't remember having seen Eleanor Parker in anything. I want to see Caged. I must!
Great list! I think Charade should be considered one of Donen's key works, too. I *love* that movie, it's one of my favorites of all-time. He's definitely underappreciated.
One of my favorite actresses, Joanne Woodward, was born on 2-27-30. That would put her at number 96. She won her only Oscar for The Three Faces of Eve, but IMO she should have won for Rachel, Rachel, Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams and Mr and Mrs Bridge.
She lives not far from here in Westport, Connecticut. Was glad to see her attending the Obama fundraiser last summer.
Bollywood is not Oscar's cup of tea. But http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zohra_Sehgal is 100! I found her luminous.
W O W Nathaniel! Really great work!
You should also add to the list of non-Oscar, but glad still here Diana Serra Cary (Baby Peggy [Montgomery]): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diana_Serra_Cary
Terrific post! Comments on some of my favorites on the list all of whom I'd love to see still at work even though they have certainly earned their leisure if they so chose.
Luise Rainer-First of all Happy Birthday! Can't blame her for not being a fan of her film catalog the ones I seen have been an uninspiring lot but that's probably her sworn enemy Mayer's fault. She had a strong will of her own surely something that has helped her get to 103 but that set her against Louie B. and he had the power to ruin her which he supposedly took great glee in doing by sticking her in one piece of junk after another.
Deanna Durbin-Love all her work but I've always found her films as an adult more enjoyable. Her best: It Started with Eve, a delightful comedy with Charles Laughton but recently got a chance to see Christmas Holiday a dark drama where she plays a roadside "hostess"(read prostitute!). It's so shockingly different from all her other films. That alone makes it compulsively watchable but it's a good (not great) film on its own as well as having Gale Sondergaard & Gladys George in the cast and Deanna looks perhaps her most beautiful, sings like an angel of course, less operatically than usual. I've always respected her tremendously too for having the courage of her convictions. She hated Hollywood and celebrity and when her contract expired she turned her back on public life and no matter how much money they threw at her she was done and that was it actually making her husband promise before they married that he would provide the one thing she wanted most-the life of a nobody.
Eleanor Parker-When I first saw the pic I thought you had slipped in Ruth Roman by mistake! Of course she's been gone for years but I never realized they resembled each other before. They were great together along with Patricia Neal in Three Secrets. As well as her better known films another great one of hers to catch is Between Two Worlds with John Garfield and a large chunk of the Warners stock company.
Glynis Johns-What a divine and distinctive talent! Her mermaid movies are great but so is The Court Jester with Angela Lansbury and Mildred Natwick and the deliciously nutty The Chapman Report where she is joined by Shelley Winters, Claire Bloom and a impossibly young and tightly wound Jane Fonda!!
Doris Day-That she doesn't have an honorary Oscar is a disgrace that should have the academy hanging their heads in shame! What the hell do they care if she comes and picks it up they don't even televise them anymore! Best work: Love Me or Leave Me-of course no nomination. Go Academy!
Eva Marie Saint-Effortless elegance to this day. Looking forward to seeing her on screen again. One of the top Hitchcock blondes.
Betty Bacall-So glad to hear she is back at work, last I heard she was still recovering from a broken hip. She's one tough broad, so many performances to pick from, some of the best: Dark Passage, Women's World ( a complete joy and glamour wallow), and Murder on the Orient Express.
Angela Lansbury-Sorry she had to drop out of Wes Anderson's next movie but was filled with admiration when I read an interview with James Earl Jones and she that she couldn't do it because they was touring Australia in Driving Miss Daisy! Amazing! So many great performance again: Manchurian for sure, State of the Union, All Fall Down, The Reluctant Debutante, scores more.
Julie Harris-A towering talent never particularly well served by films or TV. I saw her on stage in The Belle of Amherst and it was one of the most amazing events I've ever seen. She held the entire audience spellbound and in the palm of her hand throughout.
Joan Plowright-She seems to have retired at least from films and that is such a loss. She's always able to convey so much with just small expressions. She's a wonder in Tea with Mussolini, Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont and my favorite Enchanted April.
Joanne Woodward-A great actress who stayed in the game but put family first so her career wasn't as big as it could have been. I think she also sought out intriguing work over star making roles. Still she's memorable in The Stripper, Sybil, Do You Remember Love?, The Glass Menagerie as well as her Oscar work although Mr & Mrs Bridge left me cold. Come back to work Joanne, please.
Other greats and favorites on the list but geez just realized how I've rambled on!
My 3 favorite Dames (maybe it's everyone's as well) - Judi Dench, Maggie Smith & Julie Andrews are 4-5 years too young to make the cut. And they are still actively working... well, at least Judi & Maggie are. But to think that they were still babies when Luise Rainer already won her second Oscar, it makes them really young, isn't it? lol.
Love the list but am curious why Angela Lansbury hasn't been made a Dame yet.
Andrews, Dench, Smith, Plowright etc are all Dames - why not the wonderful Angela Lansbury?
Dick Van Dyke needs to be added to the non-oscar nominated list!!!!!!!!!!! He is getting the SAG life achievement award this year!
Bette Streep -- some people actually turn it down. so who knows.
@joel6 - I'm curious about why Mr and Mrs Bridge left you cold. I thought it was a fascinating character study.
You forgot to include several songwriters who won Best Original Song. Currently, the oldest living BOS winner is Alan Bergman (9-11-25, co-lyricist of both "The Windmills of Your Mind" from "The Thomas Crown Affair" and the title song of "The Way We Were"), after the 2012 death of Hal David. Though you included Richard Sherman & Burt Bacharach, you omitted three other still-living BOS winners besides Bergman who born in the 1920's: Johnny Mandel (11-23-25, composer of "The Shadow of Your Smile" from "The Sandpiper"); Bergman's wife Marilyn (11-10-29, the other co-lyricist of his two songs); and Gulzar (8-18-29, lyricist of "Jai Ho" from "Slumdog Millionaire").
I don't have birthdates for past BOS nominees, but one of this year's nominees, Herbert Kretzmer (10-5-25), is actually older than Emmanuelle Riva; he would become the second oldest living BOS winner after Alan Bergman if he wins for "Suddenly" from "Les Miz". OTOH, Adele (5-5-88) would become the youngest BOS winner if she wins for the theme from "Skyfall"; the current youngest winner is Marketa Irglova (2-28-88, "Falling Slowly" from "Once"). And in between them, Seth MacFarlane's co-nominee for "Everybody Needs a Best Friend" from "Ted" is none other than disco-era icon Walter Murphy ("A Fifth of Beethoven"). No 9-year-old in this bunch, but BOS is pretty broad age-wise also.
Amaaaaazing list! Tremendous research! Awe-inspiring group of ACADEMY AWARD VOTERS!!! THESE are the people, who, if you look at it another way 'round, THESE are the people who, if they are all paid-up dues-wise members of AMPAS, ALLLLL of them can vote and probably do!!! Ask yourself what film would THEY vote for for Best Picture and voila there is your answer!
Awesome list. And it’s so great to see some of them still being active and working.
Angela Lansbury has to be the oldest actor working in American theater today day. She’s also probably gonna be the last star from the Golden Age of Hollywood to grace the stage.
It’s such a shame that she had to drop out from Wes Anderson’s next movie due to the scheduling conflict with Driving Miss Daisy Australian tour, especially considering that almost never gets film offers worthy of her talent. I don’t understand why though, and I guess ever Jessica Fletcher won’t be able to solve that mystery.
She really is underrated. Where are her Honorary Oscar and a Dame tittle (I don’t think she turned it down, since she accepted a CBE back in the early 90’s)?
I would love to see her at the Oscars again and set another record. This time as the oldest Oscar winner.
Anyway, I think it’s super-cool for her to agree to take on a lead role in touring production for 5 months and so far from home at her age.
Don Murray ??
:
Donald Patrick Murray
July 31, 1929 in Hollywood, California, USA
Nominated for "Bus Stop" 1956
Another non-nominee but should be added: Jean Stapleton, born 1/19/23 - just days away from turning 90!
How about the beautiful star of THE TEN COMMANDMENTS + LOVE ME TENDER -- Debra Paget , who will turn 80 this year ? and her costar from BIRD OF PARADISE and star of GIGI and CAN-CAN, Louis Jourdan, born in 1921, age 92 this year?
More for the non-nominated category (and I, at least, am glad they're still with us!):
June Foray, 95 (b. 9/18/1917) - Legendary voice actress has worked on everything from Disney movies to The Twilight Zone to Who Framed Roger Rabbit (and it's stunning that she'd somehow never even been nominated for an Oscar OR an Emmy - never mind won one - until last year)
Honor Blackman, 87 (b. 8/22/1925) - still active, just appeared in "I, Anna" last year
Morgan Woodward, 87 (9/16/1925) - Prolific character actor and "Dallas" regular in the 80s
Sir Roger Moore, 85 (b. 10/14/1927)
Adam West, 84 (b. 9/19/1928) - Batman/Bat Ham
Burt Kwouk, 82 (b. 7/18/1930) - Character actor best remembered for playing Cato in the Pink Panther movies