Who's still alive from 'Vertigo,' 'Psycho' and more iconic films?
Vera Miles reprised her role from Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" in the 1983 sequel. Credit: Everett Collection / Paramount Pictures
June marks the 65th anniversary of Alfred Hitchcock's thriller "Psycho" hitting theaters, and we haven't stopped recovering from the ripple effects of that shower scene.
Not only has the movie endured, but so has one of its cast members, Vera Miles, who is the last surviving actor from the film. She's part of an elite group of performers from some memorable movies of the 1950s and '60s still with us. Here she is along with five others.
"Singin' in the Rain" (1952)
THE SURVIVOR Rita Moreno, 93
HER ROLE Flapper starlet Zelda Zanders
BEHIND THE SCENES Though the future Valley Stream-raised Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony winner had minimal screen time, "Singin' in the Rain" marked the first time Moreno wasn't typecast as an ethnic sexpot. In a 2013 interview with Newsday, she recalled being on the set and around the film's star and co-director Gene Kelly.
"Just think of it, this little Puerto Rican girl in the same movie with one of her idols," Moreno said. "It was insane. I was on that set every single day watching. People would say, 'I see you are absorbing and taking lessons.' Hell, no, I was just watching."
"On the Waterfront" (1954)

Marlon Brando and Eva Marie Saint both won Oscars for the 1954 drama "On the Waterfont." Credit: Everett Collection / Columbia Pictures
THE SURVIVOR Eva Marie Saint, 100
THE ROLE Edie Doyle, the girlfriend of longshoreman Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando)
BEHIND THE SCENES Oscar winner Saint shot the movie by day in Hoboken, New Jersey, and appeared in "The Trip to Bountiful" on Broadway at night. Though nervous about making her first film, Elia Kazan's direction for her rooftop scene with Brando tending to his pigeons put her at ease. He said “Now, Eva Marie, you’re a Catholic girl who hasn’t had much experience with the opposite sex, so this is terrifying for you,” Saint told The Santa Barbara Independent in 2010. To get that fear, he told her to imagine that a ferocious animal was behind every pigeon coop.
"The Ten Commandments" (1956)
THE SURVIVOR Debra Paget, 91
THE ROLE Lilia, the Hebrew slave who becomes a concubine of Dathan (Edward G. Robinson).
BEHIND THE SCENES Paget told the nostalgia publication Western Clippings that she had hoped to go to Egypt for some of the filming, but all of her scenes were shot in Hollywood. The most difficult part of filming was wearing one particular costume for four months and never having it cleaned because director Cecil B. DeMille wanted it to look as dirty as possible.
While under contract to 20th Century Fox, where she co-starred with Elvis Presley in "Love Me Tender" (also in 1956), Paget's fan mail was second only to that of Marilyn Monroe.
"Vertigo" (1958)

Kim Novak played a dual role in Alfred Hitchcock's "Vertigo" with James Stewart. Credit: Everett Collection / Paramount Pictures
THE SURVIVOR Kim Novak, 92
THE ROLE She played Madeleine and Judy, two women involved in a twisted romance with detective John "Scottie" Ferguson (James Stewart).
BEHIND THE SCENES In a 2012 interview with Turner Classic Movies host Robert Osborne, Novak said she hated wearing Madeleine's iconic gray suit but Hitchcock was adamant. She then admitted he was right, and that wearing the suit enabled her to feel the character's discomfort in her own skin.
"Psycho" (1960)
THE SURVIVOR Vera Miles, 95
THE ROLE Lila Crane, sister of the doomed Marion Crane (Janet Leigh)
BEHIND THE SCENES Miles had been a Hitchcock regular who worked with him on "Revenge," the 1955 premiere episode of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," and his 1956 movie "The Wrong Man." He had planned to star her in "Vertigo," but her pregnancy led to Novak taking her place.
Miles reprised her role as Lila in the 1983 sequel "Psycho II."
"El Cid" (1961)

Sophia Loren starred as the wife of the title character in the 1961 epic "El Cid." Credit: Everett Collection / Allied Artists
THE SURVIVOR Sophia Loren, 90
THE ROLE Doña Jimena, the wife of the titular 11th century Spanish hero played by Charlton Heston
BEHIND THE SCENES Loren and Heston played lovers in the film, but their off-screen relationship was less adoring. Heston disapproved of Loren insisting on script rewrites to play up the film's romantic angle, and her other demands, including a $1 million paycheck.
Watch the movie and you'll notice that Heston almost never looks directly at Loren.
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