What actor had the longest career?

Estelle Winwood had a long career, too

Betty White first appeared on a radio play in 1930, and was still doing voice work in 2019.

The winner has to be Norman Lloyd. Born in 1914 he began in theater in 1932 at age 18. He was only 23 when he appeared in Orson Welles 1937 Mercury Theater production of Julius Ceasar on Broadway. His final acting role was in 2015 at age 101. That is an 83 year acting span. He died in 2021 at age 106.

Sylvia Sidney's credits ran from 1926 to 1999, for 73 years.

Wow r3, never heard of him, that is incredible. I don't know how much of what he did was Shakespeare, but that does seem the ideal type of actor for longevity. You can just go on and on and on with Shakespeare from Romeo to King Lear it seems.

I think Norman Lloyd is probably the right answer! He was a really talented guy - he also produced and directed.

Charles Lane deserves mention - film career spanned 1930 to 2006

He was in everything

Those character actors and actresses, yeah I can see why they would have the staying power. Thelma Ritter died in 1969. I could totally see her going on and on through the decades after that if she'd lived to be 100. Who wouldn't want Thelma Ritter in your movie if you could possibly make it work?

Rose Marie -- started as a child around 1930 and was still doing some guest appearances in the 2000's.

Rose Marie is a great choice. She had a hell of a run. She told some story on some talk show about being one of the first people to perform in Las Vegas, when it was just starting to be its own little mobbed up entertainment capital. She yelled at Bugsy Siegel for not paying her her whole paycheck, mainly because she didn't know who Bugsy was, or what he was. Turns out they very fairly deducted a certain amount for putting her up in a hotel one night, but she was sure she was being cheated at first, and yelled at a mobster before somebody sat her down and said, you don't want to do that. Apparently, he was very nice about the whole thing.

Lillian Gish 1893 – 1993). Her film acting career spanned 75 years, from 1912, in silent film shorts, to The Whales of August in 1987. And she “invented” the close-up.

Mickey Rooney is up there: First film appearance in 1926, last appearance in 2014. A span of 88 years.

She ain't done, but I will say Maggie Smith started in 1952, in Twelfth Night, again with the Shakespeare.

Max von Sydow is a stealth candidate. He was in movies for a long time (1949-2020) without any breaks to speak of, and he stayed highly visible and was wide-ranging in his choices: Scandinavian art films, classic horror movies, sci-fi blockbusters, sophisticated critics' darlings, an entry in the James Bond series. He accumulated quite a list of important directors: Bergman, Friedkin, Pollack, Huston, Lynch, Allen, August, Wenders, Scott, Spielberg, Schnabel, Scorsese, Daldry, Vinterberg.

Vivian Vance