Grandmother-rapper, "NYC fashion queen" and 3 other celebrities who lived to be 100 years old and older. Photo

It is not only in youth and adulthood that you can enjoy life and fill it with pleasant moments. Old age is also a great time to do this. How about mastering interesting drawing techniques or learning how to rap (no matter what skeptics say)? In addition, no one forbids you to stand out from the "gray mass". For example, to create fashionable looks in acid colors and complement them with massive jewelry...

The heroines of this material break stereotypes about what life should be like at 70, 80, or even over 90. They have a lot to learn from! Read more in the OBOZ.UA article.

1. Ellen Albertini Dow

Since her youth, American actress Ellen Albertini Dow has been dancing, miming and acting in New York theaters. She made her screen debut in 1985 (at the age of 72!). Since then, the newly-minted star has appeared in fifty TV series and more than twenty movies. If you've seen the movie The Wedding Singer (1998), you probably remember the old lady rapping in it. It was Ellen...

In 1998, in an interview with Los Angeles, Dow said that she didn't want her age to be her calling card, "I don't want to be considered an actress who is good for her age, I want to be known as a good actress... It turned out that the cinema loved me, and they (the directors - Ed.) didn't care that I was small. You only get one chance on the theater stage, and I like to transfer this work ethic to the movies." Unfortunately, the star died at the age of 101 on May 4, 2015. Her life was taken by pneumonia.

2. Iris Apfel

Designer Iris Apfel unexpectedly became the New York fashion queen" (as she was nicknamed by the local media) at the age of 84! How did she do it? In 2005, the Metropolitan Museum of Art held an exhibition called Rara Avis: Selections from the Iris Apfel Collection. The show featured Iris's jewelry, bright extraordinary clothes and her signature massive glasses... Since then, she has started creating clothes for VIP clients, including celebrities.

"I like to improvise and live as if I were playing jazz... I see a thing and just try it on: I'm completely immersed in the process and I like it even more than wearing things. My mom always told me to buy a simple little black dress because you can always decorate it," Iris recalled in a 2015 documentary about herself.

On March 1, 2024, the designer died at her home in Palm Beach, Florida. Her heart stopped at the age of 102.

3. Luise Rainer

The German theater, film, and television actress Luise Rainer became the first person to win an Oscar two years in a row. Despite this success, she quickly became disillusioned with the film industry and the roles she was offered. So, at the age of 33, she left Hollywood and focused on theater in Europe.

In parallel with acting, Rainer developed her artistic talent: in her paintings, she reflected her inner state using numerous painting techniques... Being engaged in various types of creativity helped her to keep her interest in life in her mature and elderly years! "Happiness lies in the moment. While you have it, you don't even realize it. Only later do you realize that you were happy," she said.

The movie star lived for 104 years. Her condition deteriorated sharply due to pneumonia.

4. Connie Sawyer

American actress Connie Sawyer did not stop acting until she was 102 years old! You might have seen her in the legendary TV series The Andy Griffith Show, How I Met Your Mother, The Office, as well as in the films Starsky and Hutch and When Harry Met Sally. In total, Connie's filmography includes more than 100 works. So, she wrote a book about her experience in Hollywood and beyond, which she modestly titled I Never Wanted To Be A Star - And I Wasn't.

In 2018, the movie star suffered a heart attack and died at the age of 105. Shortly before her death, she gave an interview to People magazine. "There are not many people around who are 105. I always say that you need to move a lot, get off the couch... I used to swim, play golf, tap dance. I was always moving and it made me happy," she said. Connie also attributed her longevity to the great genes she inherited from her parents, "My parents lived a long time. My dad died at 91, and my mom was 89, so I have good genes too."

5. Anna Mary Robertson Moses

The American artist Anna Mary Robertson Moses, better known as Grandma Moses, was a domestic worker from the age of 12. In her free time, she often knitted blankets and embroidered paintings with colorful scenes of farm life... And at the age of 78, when she couldn't continue doing needlework because of arthritis, her friends suggested she try painting. That's how Moses began to study painting, and she sold her finished works along with her preserves at village fairs.

In 1939, a collector saw Grandma Moses's colorful canvases in the window of a local pharmacy and bought them all. Shortly afterwards, Hallmark acquired the rights to reproduce these paintings on greeting cards, after which the newly-minted artist became famous in the United States. She worked until her death, at the age of 101. During that time she has done more than 150 paintings.

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