Happy New Year to these stars of the 1950s who are still going strong.
Rita Moreno
Rita Moreno became one of the stars of the 1950s with appearances in the classics Singin’ in the Rain (above) and The King and I before becoming best known for her role in 1961’s West Side Story.
She’s gone on to rarefied EGOT prestige by winning an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony, one of many accomplishments in a career that also includes receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Kennedy Center Honor, and a Peabody Award. Her long list of credits includes 1969’s Popi, 1981’s The Four Seasons, 1998’s The Slums of Beverly Hills, and Steven Spielberg’s 2021 remake of West Side Story.
Last year, she earned laughs in 80 for Brady — and turned up in Fast X. She never slows down.
Warren Beatty
Warren Beatty broke out as one of the most crushed on TV stars of the 1950s with appearances on the endearing sitcom The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (above), and quickly became a matinee idol with 1960’s Splendor in the Grass, opposite Natalie Wood, which made them both huge stars of the 1960s.
In the next decades he went on a legendary run that includes Bonnie and Clyde (1967), McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971), The Parallax View (1974), and Shampoo (1975), then turned to directing and starring with Heaven Can Wait (1978), Reds (1981) and the fabulously weird Bulworth (1998). He won the Best Director Oscar for Reds. He co-starred with Annette Bening in 1991’s Bugsy, and the two have been married for more than three decades.
Warren Beatty hasn’t done much since directing and starring in 2016’s Rules Don’t Apply, but he’s still going strong: He was in charming form when he surprisingly popped up last year in the TCM special Tracy Zooms In, in which he fielded questions, in character as a comic-strip legend.
His family has good genes, because also on this list is his big sister…
Shirley MacLaine
Shirley MacLaine was one of the Broadway stars of the 1950s before she made her film debut in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1955 The Trouble With Harry. She also starred that year in Artists and Models (above), and later in Around the World in 80 Days (1956), Some Came Running (1958) and Ask Any Girl, above (1959).
She kicked off the 1960s by delivering a heartbreaking, unforgettable performance in the knowing comedy The Apartment (above), opposite Jack Lemmon.
She further established herself as one of the greatest stars of the 1960s with roles in The Children’s Hour (1961), Irma la Douce (1963) and Sweet Charity (1969). She would go one to win the Academy Award for Best Actress for 1983’s Terms of Endearment, and to earn endless accolades for films like Steel Magnolias (1989), Postcards From the Edge (1990), and Bernie (2011).
Most recently, the 90-year-old was a standout in the second season of Only Murders in the Building.
And in 1970, she starred in Two Mules for Sister Sara with the next star on our list…
Clint Eastwood
By far the most prolific of the enduring stars of the 1950s, Clint Eastwood broke out in 1950s films including Francis in the Navy, The First Traveling Saleslady and Ambush at Cimarron Pass (above) while also popping up on TV shows from Alfred Hitchcock Presents to Highway Patrol.
The 1960s brought a steady role on the TV show Rawhide, and he became one of the most iconic stars of the 1960s in Sergio Leone’s “Man With No Name” trilogy: A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965) and The Good, The Bad and the Ugly (1966).
He loomed large over the next two decades with his Dirty Harry franchise, but his greatest contribution to cinema may be his work as a director: He has four Oscars, two each for directing and producing The Unforgiven (1993) and Million Dollar Baby (2005). His other outstanding films include Mystic River (2003), Letters From Iwo Jima (2006) and American Sniper (2014).
He continues to direct films — his latest, Juror #2, is now streaming on Max. He turned 94 in May.
Mel Brooks
The 98-year-old mastermind of Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, Spaceballs and many more beloved comedies got his start on Your Show of Shows way back in the early 1950s.
He continued working with Your Show of Shows host Sid Caesar throughout the decade, making his directing debut with The Producers in 1967.
Just recently, the 98-year-old followed up his 1981 classic History of the World: Part I with the Hulu series The History of the World: Part II, also providing the narration.
Judd Apatow, who recently interviewed him, observed that he remains “still riotously funny.” Here are 12 Stories From His Young Frankenstein — released 50 years ago, in 1974.
Liked These Stars of the 1950s? How About the 1980s?
If you liked our list of stars of the 1960s who are still going strong, here’s out list of 1980s stars who are still shining bright.
Main image: A promotional image for Shirley MacLaine in Artists and Models. Paramount Pictures.