18 Notable People From History With Serious Longevity

December 12, 1925, marked the opening of the world’s first motel.The world’s first motel opened in San Luis Obispo, CA.The motel opened in San Luis Obispo, CA. Richard Wayne Van Dyke was born in West Plains, MO, one day later. That first motel closed in 1991. Van Dyke's TV career continued for about thirty years after that.

In a 2021 interview, he hoped to reach that milestone year.He hoped to reach that milestone year.:

I want to enjoy it. I look forward to 100. George Burns did it, and I will too!

When George AbbottGeorge AbbottBecame a producer and director in theater and film. Abbott was born in a small town in western New York in 1887. Grover Cleveland was president two years before the Dakotas joined the Union, and the Gilded Age was in full swing.Gilded AgeThe Gilded Age was in full swing.

Fifty-seven years later, a columnist stated nobody alive matched the volume of output by the man known as “Mr. BroadwayHis career still had almost 40 years left.

Abbott stayed active his whole life. Turning 100 did not slow him down much. He died peacefully in 1995 at 107.

Mel Brooks is a comedy legend. He has entertained audiences for over seven decades. Brooks wrote, produced, and starred in some of the most influential comedies ever made.

In the 1950s and '60s, Brooks performed sketches with Carl Reiner (who lived to 98).He performed the 2,000-year-old man.He is getting closer to understanding that age in real life.

Brooks was born in 1926, the same year Harry Houdini died.Harry Houdini died.The world can only hold so many great showmen at once.

George Burns began a career renaissance in 1975 at age 79 with an Oscar-winning turn inan Oscar-winningThe Sunshine BoysThe Sunshine Boys, his first film role in 36 years. He had a triple bypass just six weeks before filming started and learned the entire script by heart. This unlikely comeback lasted nearly 20 years.He learned the entire script by heart.This comeback story lasted almost 20 years.

In 1983, still short of 100, he wrote a book calledHow To Live To Be 100 Or MoreHe promised to keep that promise bytongue firmly in cheek:

Will I reach 100? Yes. I am booked at the London Palladium in January 1996.

George Burns did reach 100.Burns made it to 100.He credited his 100 years to a balanced diet, daily naps, and an exercise routine that surpassed much younger men.

If you have seen a BBC nature documentary, you have heardthat voice.That voice is David Attenborough.Sir David AttenboroughAttenborough has written, produced, and narrated documentaries for the network since the 1950s. He remains active today.

Born May 8, 1926, in Middlesex, England, the biologist, natural historian, and author is just a few months younger than thevery mediumhe has had such a celebrated career on.

Bob Hope, perhaps the most influential entertainer of the 20th century, was born in England in 1903, the same year as theWright Brothers’Bob Hope moved to Cleveland, OH, young. He worked until his nineties. His legal name was Leslie; he chose Bob for a friendlier stage name.

He was a stage and movie actor.He was a pioneer ofstand-up comedy.Hope began entertaining American soldiers wayback in 1941.Bob Hope kept a busy schedule for fifty years. His place as an entertainment legend was set, but his act grew old later on.

Comedy ages fast. Hope’s jokes age fast.His tired and outdated jokes about women and minorities pushed away younger audiences. While Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor, and George Carlin used their acts to speak truth and mock the establishment, Hope was part of that establishment. People felt he stayed in the spotlight too long.Hope alienated younger audiences with his acts about women and minorities. While Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor, and George Carlin used their shows to challenge power and mock the system, Hope belonged to that system. People felt he stayed in the spotlight too long.

In 1998, Arizonan announced his "death."Robert “Bob” Stump.A retired US Representative and Senator mistakenly read a prepared obituary by the Associated Press and thought Hope had died. The comedian actually died five years later, months after his 100th birthday.

Betty White was in grade school when...She sliced bread.was invented in 1928, so she might have known about the best thing before that.

Her long life shows she starred as Rose Nylund from 1985 to 1992 inThe Golden Girls.Her premise featured women enjoying their golden years. White worked in TV for thirty more years. She died two and a half weeks before her 100th birthday, just after...a special celebrating her centenary was filmed.Even dead, this golden lady got the last laugh.

The...39th US President.Historians rank him somewhere in themiddle of the pack.His work promoting human rights and environmental issues in the White House was good. But a slow economy gave him only one term as president.

Since leaving the White House in 1980, Carter has gained a reputation asthe greatest ex-president.People recognize him for his decades of humanitarian and charitable work. In 2019, he became the longest-lived former president, beating the record of one of his successors.George H.W. Bush.(who lived to 94).

He is best known for hostingThe Price Is Right.Bob Barker’s sign-off reminding viewers to spay and neuter pets causeda big dropin the rate of animals killed in the US. Since 1973, this rate fell from 13.5 million to 1.5 million in 2009.

Barker was born in Darrington, WA, on December 12, 1923, just weeks after the arrest of Adolf Hitler, following the failure of theBeer Hall Putsch.also called the Munich Putsch.

Kirk Douglas was born...Issur DanielovitchKirk Douglas overcame extreme poverty and discrimination as the son of Russian Jewish immigrants in New York. He became a leading man in the golden age of Hollywood. As a child, he took several jobs to survive, carrying that work ethic into his acting career, averaging three movies a year at his peak.

He survived multiple health scares, as well as aA 1991 helicopter crashclaimed the lives of two passengers, allowing him to reach 103. His final film role appeared inEmpire State Building Murdersin 2008.62 years afterhis first film appearance, inThe Strange Love of Martha Ivers.

The British monarch sends a congratulatory message to any subject celebrating their100th birthday.Over her 70-year reign, Elizabeth II sent many centenary messages but did not reach that milestone herself. Longevity runs in the family; her mother lived to 101, and her husband died a year before her at 97.

Much changed during her life. When she was born in April 1926, theBritish Empirewas near its peak territory, though it declined after the First World War. By 1953, when she took the throne, Britain started its decolonization. At her death, that global empire was only a fewoverseas territories..

Henry Kissinger was one of the most polarizing public figures of the 20th century.Henry KissingerRichard Nixon's national security adviser and later Secretary of State (a role he kept in the Ford administration). The first foreign-bornSecretary of StateKissinger and his family moved to the US from Germany in 1938 to escape Nazi persecution. After serving with the US Army in WWII, he started his academic career at Harvard.

As a respected expert in foreign policy, he advised several presidents before joining the Nixon administration. He used an unsentimental approach to diplomacy, favoring balance and order over ideals. This led to diplomatic wins like Nixon’s historicvisit to Beijingin 1972.arms treatieswith the Soviet Union and personally negotiated peace deals in the Middle East.

Kissinger’s obsession with secrecy caused him to remove colleagues and hide the bombings of Laos and Cambodia from Congress. Escalating and extending the Vietnam War achieved little for the US beyond increasing the casualty count. The destabilizationOperation Menucontributed to the rise of the Khmer Rouge andthe genocidethat followed.

Kissinger secretly met with North Vietnam’s Le Duc Tho many times to reach a peace agreement. For what became the Paris Peace Accord, Kissinger and Tho jointly won theNobel Peace Prize.Only Kissinger accepted it—and later tried to get the award back. From the White House, Kissinger used his skills and contacts to set up a highly successfulconsulting companystill active today. His100th birthdayA June 2023 celebration included many high-profile guests, though the guest list remained secret.

Henry Kissinger is on the list of 18 Notable People From History With Serious Longevity.He died at age 100.He died the same year at his home in Connecticut.

This collection features figures from the last two centuries because sanitation and medical care in the Middle Ages did not allow for extreme old age. Some unheralded peasant or minor noble might have lived to 100, but at least one medieval leader nearly reached a century.

Enrico Dandolo.Enrico Dandolo became Doge of Venice in 1192, already in his 80s—an astonishing age for the 12th century. He was more than a figurehead; he led the Venetian forces in the Fourth Crusade and theEnrico Dandolo caused the sack of Constantinople.a decade later, marking the first successful breach of the city's walls in 900 years.

While Dandolo was in his 90s, he had been blind for at least 20 years.

Some artistsGeorgia O’Keeffe died tragically young.Others reach old ages, but Georgia O'Keeffe's longevity was different. The Wisconsin native balanced teaching and art until a breakthrough in 1918.

She started taking annualGeorgia O’Keeffe made trips to New Mexico.O'Keeffe painted in solitude for months before moving there full-time in 1949. O'Keeffe created about 900 paintings until poor health and eyesight slowed her down in her last two decades; she died in 1986.

John D. Rockefeller grew up in a modest upstate New York home. He built a huge fortune after the Civil War. Standard Oil crushed rivals and controlled 90% of the nation’s oil by 1882.John D. Rockefeller controlled 90% of the nation’s oil.refineries and pipelines by 1882. His questionable business methods drew the attention of muckraking journalists and nervous lawmakers, leading to keyAnti-trust laws affected John D. Rockefeller..

Rockefeller's hard work caused a nervous breakdown in the 1890s; he alsolost all his hairincluding his eyebrows. After gaining this fortune, he retired wisely in 1896 at 58. He gave away most of his ill-gotten gains through charity. Rockefeller aimed to live to 100, but money could not buy that—he died at 97. HisGrandson David is related to John D. Rockefeller.lived to 101 in 2017.

Hans Blix, an otherwise obscure Swedish politician and diplomat, found himself in the center of the storm over the manufacturedHans Blix mentioned the casus belli.Hans Blix mentioned the casus belli for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.Hans Blix mentioned the casus belli for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.He served as the head weapons inspector for the United Nations. His findings opposed the second Bush administration's claims about Saddam Hussein’s weapons program. In an interview twenty years after the invasion, Blix discussed what drove the US to war.Hans Blix discussed what drove the US to war.Hans Blix discussed what drove the US to war in 2003.

The 9/11 terrorist attacks directly caused this. The United States acted like a gorilla hit by a small arrow from a pygmy. This was a humiliation. They needed a strike back; the Taliban in Afghanistan were insufficient. They needed to target the Axis of evil.

Blix is writing his newest book now, well into his nineties.

Rebecca Latimer FeltonFelton became the first woman in the US Senate, serving only 24 hours as an appointment to replace Thomas E. Watson of Georgia. She was sworn in November 21, 1922. As a congressman's wife, she helped her husband's campaigns and supported women's suffrage and reforms in prisons and education.

If you question why Felton is not a more famous figure in American history as the first female senator, she was also the last former slaveholder to serve in Congress and an open white supremacist.Her views on race were extreme even for that time. She spoke against Black suffrage and supported lynchings.Her views on race were extreme, even by the standards of her time. She spoke against Black suffrage and supported lynchings.

Rebecca Latimer Felton served in the Senate late in life, at age 87. She was old by modern standards but ancient in 1922. She lived seven more years, dying at 94 in 1930.

Strom ThurmondStrom Thurmond represented South Carolina in the U.S. Senate for over 47 years.He ran for president in 1948, finishing a distant third place on a pro-segregation ticket. Thurmond won a handful of Southern states. A Dixiecrat, he crossed to the Republican Party in 1964. Thurmond served until 2003, after turning 100.Thurmond holds two records. One is the longest filibuster. This happened when the procedure was not as abused as it is now, and it involved risking his life. Thurmond spoke for a full 24 hours.Thurmond spoke for an entire 24 hours.This endurance was impressive. However, Thurmond opposed the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1957.He opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1957..

Thurmond ran for president in 1948 and finished in a distant third place.He ran on a pro-segregation ticket but won some Southern states. A Dixiecrat, Thurmond crossed to the Republican Party in 1964. He served until 2003, after turning 100.Thurmond served until 2003 after turning 100.He passed away six months after leaving the Senate.Strom Thurmond passed away six months after retiring from the Senate.