2015 is here, the world keeps spinning, and people who were once young are gettin’ older. Here are some celebrities who turn 75 this year.
» Gary Burghoff. The diminutive and unfingered star of M*A*S*H was born in Bristol, Connecticut (not Ottumwa, Iowa).
» Patrick Stewart. Wait, Captain Picard is the same age as Radar O’Reilly? Yes. Yes he is.
» Alex Trebek. The erudite host just marked 30 years behind the Jeopardy! podium in 2014.
» Bugs Bunny. The erudite joker from Warner Brothers animation made his debut as a star in the 1940 short A Wild Hare.
» The Joker. Perhaps the most famous of all superhero villains, he appeared in Batman #1 in 1940. (Batman himself had appeared as a side character in another Detective Comic in 1939.)
» Roberta Flack. She was 33 when “Killing Me Softly” became her biggest hit in 1973.
» Jim Bakker. He’s only 75? The disgraced televangelist is back from prison, he’s bearded, and he’s still begging for money.
» Sadaharu Oh. Still the worldwide home run king, with 868 (steroid-free!) homers in 31 years in Japan’s major league.
» Nancy Pelosi. The first woman ever to become Speaker of the House was born in Baltimore in 1940.
» Chuck Norris. Now that he’s 75, perhaps we can finally cross him.
» John Lennon. He was only 40 when he was shot to death in New York City in 1980.
» Bruce Lee. Still a martial arts icon even though he died of a brain edema in 1973.
» Wangari Maathai. The tree-planting activist won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004, then died of cancer in 2011.
» Frank Zappa. He somehow seemed older in his heyday, but he would only turn 75 this year.
» Wilma Rudolph. She sprinted to fame at age 20 in the 1960 Summer Olympics, and died one year after Zappa, in 1994.
» Mary Jo Kopechne. A life cut short at 29. She died in the Chappaquiddick car crash with Senator Ted Kennedy behind the wheel.
» Richard Pryor. A heart attack got the groundbreaking comedian in 2005, but his star is still rising.