19,795 posts
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Feb 12, 2019 16:17:48 GMT
I was just remarking in the Calendar Girls thread that Ruth Madoc still on a lengthy tour at 75 is impressive. And of course Ian McKellan at 79 in his gruelling tour is a marvel (I can’t decide whether one night in a hotel then moving on is easier or harder than a week in digs).
Who else is still touring into their seventies, are there any performers in their eighties or even nineties who are still going out on the road?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2019 16:56:33 GMT
Roy Hudd, at 82, gets around a bit, as does Brian Blessed (or should that be BRIAN BLESSED) at the same age. Seeing them both together in the flop musical Hard Times some time back it was a wonder there was any scenery left by the end, given the amount of competitive chewing going on.
Not particularly touring but Oliver Ford Davies turns 80 this year and Sian Phillips, Julian Glover, Vanessa Redgrave, Glenda Jackson, Diana Rigg and Eileen Atkins could still be seen treading the boards recently in their eighties. For many, their last show might already have been though as, like many of their compatriots like Maggie Smith, they might have now decided to jack it in.
EDIT: one actor in their nineties that I remember doing a stage run was Cathleen Nesbitt in the 1981 Broadway My Fair Lady revival. She was born in 1888 and had played the same part, Mrs Higgins, in the original Broadway production in 1956. By 1981 she was probably one of the only performers who could credibly have been the mother of the then 73 year old Rex Harrison!
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Post by TallPaul on Feb 12, 2019 17:03:12 GMT
Lesley Joseph is 73, and will celebrate her 74th birthday on the opening night of Annie in Canterbury. FrontrowverPaul will probably be sitting on the front row, with a card. 🙂 |
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Post by couldileaveyou on Feb 12, 2019 18:18:22 GMT
Berry Buckley is almost 72 and she's heading the US tour of Hello Dolly!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2019 1:05:43 GMT
Anita Dobson turns 70 this year and is sharing role with Lesley Joseph in Annie.
Ian McKellen doing Lear at 79 was very impressive.
In the upcoming/current The Lady Vanishes tour there is 77 year old Juliet Mills and 82 year old Philip Lowrie.
There are lots of well known actors who are over 70 even over 80. But how many are currently on tour would be hard to say.
If we are including Brian Blessed doing his one man show/ An Evening With then Des O'Connor is still doing some theatre shows this year and he is 87 now.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2019 1:55:53 GMT
Ken Dodd was 90 when he did his last show. Tommy Steele also still getting around at 82.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2019 10:47:20 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2019 14:21:14 GMT
Nicholas Parsons doing some one man show dates this year and he is 95 years old.
Doddy would have literally carried on until he dropped.
Might be the last time to see Dame Maggie perform on stage so tickets will be precious.
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2,024 posts
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Post by distantcousin on Feb 13, 2019 18:21:03 GMT
Age cannot wither their stale and infinite variety!!!!  I was wondering with people living longer and whatnot, that having lines fed via an earpiece (a la Angela Lansbury in Blithe Spirit) might become more of an accepted practice? To help out our beloved actors who still want to tread the boards but struggle with the memory retention needed for scripts?... |
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5,707 posts
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Post by lynette on Feb 13, 2019 21:42:20 GMT
Maggie is doing a five week run and I’ve had to book towards the end of the run so I’m sending her energy vibes!
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