Top 25 Eldest Saturday Night Live Hosts
by HankW180 | created - 11 Apr 2015 | updated - 08 Nov 2015 | PublicThey are ranked by age when hosted and listed in descending order. For those who hosted more than once, each hosting is listed separately.
1. Betty White
Actress | The Proposal
Betty White was born in Oak Park, Illinois, to Christine Tess (Cachikis), a homemaker, and Horace Logan White, a lighting company executive for the Crouse-Hinds Electric Company. She was of Danish, Greek, English, and Welsh descent.
Although she was best known as the devious Sue Ann Nivens on the ...
#1: Betty White hosted SNL on the 8th of May 2010 at 88.30 years of age.
2. Miskel Spillman
Self | Saturday Night Live
Miskel Spillman was born on September 8, 1897 in Germany. She died on March 30, 1992 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.
#2: Miskel Spillman hosted SNL on the 17th of December 1977 at 80.27 years of age. She was one of only two SNL hosts who were born in the 19th century.
3. Ruth Gordon
Actress | Rosemary's Baby
When Ruth Gordon convinced her father, a sea captain, to let her pursue acting she came to New York and studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She acted in a few silents made at Fort Lee, New Jersey, in 1915. She made her Broadway debut in "Peter Pan" as Nibs the same year. The next 20 ...
#3: Ruth Gordon hosted SNL on the 22nd of January 1977 at 80.23 years of age. She was one of only two SNL hosts who were born in the 19th century.
4. Milton Berle
Actor | It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Milton Berle was an American comedian and actor.
Berle's career as an entertainer spanned over 80 years, first in silent films and on stage as a child actor, then in radio, movies and television. As the host of NBC's Texaco Star Theatre (1948-55), he was the first major American television star and ...
#4: Milton Berle hosted SNL on the 14th of April 1979 at 70.75 years of age.
5. Robert Mitchum
Actor | Out of the Past
Robert Mitchum was an underrated American leading man of enormous ability, who sublimated his talents beneath an air of disinterest. He was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, to Ann Harriet (Gunderson), a Norwegian immigrant, and James Thomas Mitchum, a shipyard/railroad worker. His father died in a ...
#5: Robert Mitchum hosted SNL on the 14th of November 1987 at 70.27 years of age.
6. Charlton Heston
Actor | Ben-Hur
With features chiseled in stone, and renowned for playing a long list of historical figures, particularly in Biblical epics, the tall, well-built and ruggedly handsome Charlton Heston was one of Hollywood's top leading men of his prime and remained active in front of movie cameras for over sixty ...
#6: Charlton Heston hosted SNL on the 4th of December 1993 at 70.17 years of age.
7. Donald Trump
Producer | The Apprentice
Donald John Trump was born on June 14, 1946 at the Jamaica Hospital Medical Center in Queens, New York City, New York. He is the son of Mary Trump (née Macleod) and Fred Trump, a real estate millionaire. His mother was a Scottish immigrant who initially worked as a maid. His father was born in New ...
#7: Donald Trump hosted SNL on the 7th of November 2015 at 69.40 years of age.
8. Mick Jagger
Soundtrack | Alfie
Michael Philip Jagger was born in Dartford, Kent on 26th July 1943. When he was 4 he met Keith Richards until they went into secondary schools and lost touch. But one day in 1960 they accidentally met on the Dartford train line and both realized that they had an interest in rock n roll combined ...
#8: Mick Jagger hosted SNL on the 19th of May 2012 at 68.82 years of age.
9. Robert De Niro
Actor | Cape Fear
One of the greatest actors of all time, Robert De Niro was born on August 17, 1943 in Manhattan, New York City, to artists Virginia (Admiral) and Robert De Niro Sr. His paternal grandfather was of Italian descent, and his other ancestry is Irish, English, Dutch, German, and French. He was trained ...
#9: Robert De Niro hosted SNL on the 4th of December 2010 at 67.30 years of age.
10. Howard Cosell
Self | Bananas
When you think of the words honesty, straight from the shoulder, and tell it like it is, you think of one man: Howard Cosell. Howard is best remembered as the greatest sportscaster in the history of sports. His way with words and ability of telling like it was, brought him fame not only in America,...
#10: Howard Cosell hosted SNL on the 13th of April 1985 at 67.05 years of age.
11. John McCain
Actor | Parks and Recreation
John McCain was born on August 29, 1936 in Canal Zone, Panama. He was an actor and writer, known for Parks and Recreation (2009), John McCain: For Whom the Bell Tolls (2018) and Saturday Night Live (1975). He was married to Cindy McCain and Carol Shepp. He died on August 25, 2018 in Phoenix, ...
#11: John McCain hosted SNL on the 19th of October 2002 at 66.14 years of age.
12. Helen Mirren
Actress | The Queen
Dame Helen Mirren was born in Queen Charlotte's Hospital in West London. Her mother, Kathleen Alexandrina Eva Matilda (Rogers), was from a working-class English family, and her father, Vasiliy Petrovich Mironov, was a Russian-born civil servant, from Kuryanovo, whose own father was a diplomat. ...
#12: Helen Mirren hosted SNL on the 9th of April 2011 at 65.70 years of age.
13. Bob Newhart
Actor | Elf
Bob Newhart is an American actor and stand-up comedian. His comedic style involves deadpan delivery of dialogue, a slight stammer when talking, and comedic monologues. He has cited earlier comedians George Gobel (1919-1991), Ray Goulding (1922-1990), and Bob Elliott (1923-2016) as his main ...
#13: Bob Newhart hosted SNL on the 11th of February 1995 at 65.43 years of age.
14. Edwin Newman
Self | The Pelican Brief
Edwin Newman was born on January 25, 1919 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for The Pelican Brief (1993), My Fellow Americans (1996) and Spies Like Us (1985). He was married to Rigel Grell. He died on August 13, 2010 in Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, UK.
#14: Edwin Newman hosted SNL on the 12th of May 1984 at 65.30 years of age.
15. Broderick Crawford
Actor | All the King's Men
Broderick Crawford is best remembered for two roles: his Oscar-winning turn as Willie Stark in All the King's Men (1949) and as Chief Dan Mathews on the syndicated TV series Highway Patrol (1955). He was also memorable as Judy Holliday's vulgar partner in Born Yesterday (1950), roles both actors ...
#15: Broderick Crawford hosted SNL on the 19th of March 1977 at 65.28 years of age.
16. Edwin Newman
Self | The Pelican Brief
Edwin Newman was born on January 25, 1919 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for The Pelican Brief (1993), My Fellow Americans (1996) and Spies Like Us (1985). He was married to Rigel Grell. He died on August 13, 2010 in Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, UK.
#16: Edwin Newman hosted SNL on the 25th of February 1984 at 65.08 years of age.
17. Christopher Walken
Actor | The Deer Hunter
Lead and supporting actor of the American stage and films, with sandy colored hair, and pale complexion. He won an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Deer Hunter (1978), and has been seen in mostly character roles, often portraying psychologically unstable individuals, though...
#17: Christopher Walken hosted SNL on the 5th of April 2008 at 65.02 years of age.
18. Elton John
Soundtrack | Kingsman: The Golden Circle
Sir Elton John is one of pop music's great survivors. Born 25 March, 1947, as Reginald Kenneth Dwight, he started to play the piano at the early age of four. At the age of 11, he won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music. His first band was called Bluesology. He later auditioned (...
#18: Elton John hosted SNL on the 2nd of April 2011 at 64.02 years of age.
19. Michael Keaton
Actor | Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Quirky, inventive and handsome American actor Michael Keaton first achieved major fame with his door-busting performance as fast-talking ideas man Bill Blazejowski, alongside a nerdish morgue attendant (Henry Winkler), in Night Shift (1982). He played further comedic roles in Mr. Mom (1983), Johnny...
#19: Michael Keaton hosted SNL on the 4th of April 2015 at 63.58 years of age.
20. Charlton Heston
Actor | Ben-Hur
With features chiseled in stone, and renowned for playing a long list of historical figures, particularly in Biblical epics, the tall, well-built and ruggedly handsome Charlton Heston was one of Hollywood's top leading men of his prime and remained active in front of movie cameras for over sixty ...
#20: Charlton Heston hosted SNL on the 28th of March 1987 at 63.48 years of age.
21. Steve Martin
Writer | Roxanne
Steve Martin was born on August 14, 1945 in Waco, Texas, USA as Stephen Glenn Martin to Mary Lee (née Stewart; 1913-2002) and Glenn Vernon Martin (1914-1997), a real estate salesman and aspiring actor. He was raised in Inglewood and Garden Grove in California. In 1960, he got a job at the Magic ...
#21: Steve Martin hosted SNL on the 31st of January 2009 at 63.47 years of age.
22. Kirk Douglas
Actor | The Final Countdown
Cleft-chinned, steely-eyed and virile star of international cinema who rose from being "the ragman's son" (the name of his best-selling 1988 autobiography) to become a bona fide superstar, Kirk Douglas, also known as Issur Danielovitch Demsky, was born on December 9, 1916 in Amsterdam, New York. ...
#22: Kirk Douglas hosted SNL on the 23rd of February 1980 at 63.21 years of age.
23. Leslie Nielsen
Actor | Airplane!
Leslie William Nielsen was born in Regina, Saskatchewan, and raised in Tulita (formerly Fort Norman), Northwest Territories. His mother, Mabel Elizabeth (Davies), was Welsh. His father, Ingvard Eversen Nielsen, was a Danish-born Mountie and a strict disciplinarian. Leslie studied at the Academy of ...
#23: Leslie Nielsen hosted SNL on the 18th of February 1989 at 63.02 years of age.
24. Ian McKellen
Actor | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Widely regarded as one of greatest stage and screen actors both in his native Great Britain and internationally, twice nominated for the Oscar and recipient of every major theatrical award in the UK and US, Ian Murray McKellen was born on May 25, 1939 in Burnley, Lancashire, England, to Margery ...
#24: Ian McKellen hosted SNL on the 16th of March 2002 at 62.81 years of age.
25. Martin Short
Actor | Innerspace
Martin Hayter Short OC is a Canadian-American actor, comedian, singer, and writer. He has received various awards including two Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Tony Award. In 2019 Short became an Officer of the Order of Canada, and has received Medals from Queen Elizabeth II, including in 2002 the ...
#25: Martin Short hosted SNL on the 15th of December 2012 at 62.72 years of age.
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