History Main / CoolOldGuy

* Preston Whitmore from ''WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire''.

* ''Manga/TheLegendOfZeldaAkiraHimekawa'': In the adaptation of the ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask Majora's Mask]]'', Osun is the leading officer of a group of soldiers Link is asked to help train. While Link humiliates his men, Osun actually manages to fight him on equal terms while sparring and they acknowledge each other as a WorthyOpponent.

* ''Manga/TheLegendOfZeldaAkiraHimekawa'': Osun is the leading officer of a group of soldiers Link is asked to help train. While Link humiliates his men, Sun actually manages to fight him on equal terms while sparring and they acknowledge each other as a WorthyOpponent.

* ''Anime/HelloSandybell'': Edward Lawrence, despite being snarky and aloof, genuinely cares for little Sandybell. He acts as her secret protector in the dark, after she visited him in the hospital.

** Also Ultra Magnus, especially [[DropTheHammer when he's got his hammer with him.]]

* 'Literature/ExHeroes'': Jarvis has a graying beard and is one of the cooler members of the group. He shows UndyingLoyalty to his superhero saviors (along with Billie, Dr. Connolly, Father Andy, and Lady Bee, he's one of the people most comfortable with casually chatting with them), gets CasualDangerDialogue even when he feels certain he's going to die, and is one of the only people who both venture into the zombie-filled city for scavenging missions and takes guard shifts on the walls.

** G1 Ironhide was the franchise's original Cool Old Guy. His toy card specifically states how he's the oldest Autobot[[note]]Though this statement was made before Kup came around[[/note]], the most likely to break down from outdated parts, but too stubborn and ornery to give up and quit fighting. The show just made it better by giving him a Southern grandpa accent to match.

** The ''[[Literature/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineRelaunch Deep Space Nine Relaunch]]'' novels introduce readers to the character of Elias Vaughn. Already 102 years old in 2376, he had spent the past eight decades working in Starfleet Intelligence. He had retained the rank of Commander in order to maintain a lower profile but was on a first name basis with many Admirals and even had a higher security clearance than some of them. Vaughn also worked in a cabal formed by Captain James T. Kirk dedicated to stopping and bringing down [[NoSuchAgency Section 31]]. A chance encounter with a Bajoran orb gave him a vision that encouraged him to transfer to command and take over the vacant first officer position on [=DS9=]. This is a guy who fought a Jem'Hadar to a standstill. Eventually promoted to Captain, Vaughn commanded [=DS9=] and another starship all while being over 100 years old before being injured in combat against the Borg and dying of his injuries at 109. [[note]]Vaughn was introduced in the relaunch novels to show a human hitting the century mark while still being in excellent physical and mental health with ideally another 50 or 60 years of life left. Former Pocket Books editor Marco Palmieri once commented that having such a character "would add something new and interesting to Star Trek's exploration of the human condition."
** The ''The Left Hand of Destiny'' novels expand further upon the character of Darok, who takes Martok's Ferengi friend Pharh under his wing. Darok inherited being a cool old guy from his father, who died in what Darok termed an "interesting place." Namely, a brothel that a starship crashed in to, crushing Darok's father. Darok goes on to mention that despite being crushed rescuerers were still able to make out a smile on the old man's face.

** G1 Ironhide was the franchise's original Cool Old Guy. His toy card specifically states how he's the oldest Autobot, the most likely to break down from outdated parts, but too stubborn and ornery to give up and quit fighting. The show just made it better by giving him a Southern grandpa accent to match.

%%* The Principal in ''Manga/HidamariSketch''.

** Played straighter in the third campaign. While Bertrand's showed his age since the last time the viewers saw him adventuring (which is reflected in his drastically lowered level), he's still a capable Fighter. Chetney is at least a couple hundred years old and one of Hell's Bells' fiercest attackers.

* Most "old" characters in ''WesternAnimation/{{Transformers}}'' tend to be cool old guys. Since they don't age like humans, the most common cause of death is war-related and anyone who survives to be really really old probably did so by being really really badass.

The effectiveness of a cast member is often determined by his distance from [[CompetenceZone the median age of the cast]]. Deviations up or down will always be coupled with a lack of effectiveness. The Cool Old Guy is an exception to this. At some point, if one character is much older he swings the meter ''[[CrossesTheLineTwice back]]'' to 'totally awesome'. In a lot of anime and video games, this makes him somewhere around middle age and the only non-[[{{Bishonen}} clean shaven guy]]. Expect him to be greying, a loud voice, but in peak physical condition and unafraid of anything.

* ''Fanfic/AbraxasHrodvitnon'': [[Characters/AbraxasHrodvitnonTitansAndOtherCreatures Godzilla]]'s personality evokes the mental image of this. He's something of an OldSoldier who's truly ancient and world-weary, though not without a sense of humor. It's also indicated that Godzilla used to be less mellow in his youth long ago than he is now in his ancient age, adding further to the trope.

* Master Oogway in ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'' was quite old when he beat one of the most dangerous known martial artists. Master Shifu probably could have replicated the success 20 years later if not for his sentimental attachment to said artist.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{The Lion King|1994}}'', Rafiki's age is never given, but he acts like a wise old master, and he's clearly old enough to have been Pride Rock's resident WitchDoctor and CourtMage since before Mufasa was born.

[[folder:Music]]
* Many musical artists from the 1960s and 1970s such as Music/FleetwoodMac; Music/{{Chicago|Band}}; Music/CrosbyStillsNashAndYoung; Music/AliceCooper, Music/{{Aerosmith}}, and Music/JamesTaylor are still going strong today. As are both of the surviving Beatles – Music/PaulMcCartney and Music/RingoStarr. (Music/NeilYoung is ''definitely'' considered a Cool Old Guy by the very young artists he's mentored, among them Music/{{Jewel}}, Music/PearlJam, and most recently Promise of the Real, led by Music/WillieNelson's son Lukas, who are young enough to be his grandchildren.
* Music/ChuckBerry's music dates from the '50s and he was still going strong by the time he died.
* Ditto for Music/StevieWonder; Music/EarthWindAndFire; and Music/LionelRichie.
* Music/FrankSinatra was like this in the second half of his career. (In fact, he was probably even cooler than he was when he was younger.)
* Same goes for countless country artists, with Music/GeorgeStrait being the most successful of the lot (currently, at least from a radio and album sales standpoint). Others are way too numerous to mention, although guys like Music/MerleHaggard, Music/WillieNelson, Music/DollyParton, Music/KennyRogers, and Music/HankWilliamsJr immediately come to mind.
** Late in his life, Music/JohnnyCash very much fit this trope. So did Music/GeorgeJones.
** Thanks to his collaborations with Music/AlanJackson and the Music/ZacBrownBand, Music/JimmyBuffett (now in his mid-60s) can be considered cool in his elderly life.
* ''And'' for 1970s and early-1980s hard rock and metal musicians, who are past 60 (some of them even pushing 70) by now, like Music/{{ACDC}}, Music/BlackSabbath, Music/DeepPurple, and the aforementioned Aerosmith.
* Music/{{The Rolling Stones|Band}}. Both Music/MickJagger and Music/KeithRichards are in their seventies, and the band's been touring for more than 50 of those years. Do they seem like they're gonna stop any time soon? Very probably not.
* Music/BruceSpringsteen is still playing concerts that run anywhere from two to four hours at 73.
* Jazz singer Music/TonyBennett. After his career tanked in TheSixties, he staged an amazing comeback, keeping light bouncy jazz alive and kickin' beginning 1994 (and, until publicly announcing his diagnosis of Alzheimer's in 2021, had no intention of retiring, according to Website/TheOtherWiki).
* Little Jimmy Dickens continued to perform well into his 90s until he died in January 2015 at age 94, but that didn't stop him from making humorous cameos around Music/BradPaisley. At one time, he was brought out during an awards show to make a joke pertaining to Music/KanyeWest's interruption of Music/TaylorSwift.
* Music/LeonardBernstein introduced kids in TheFifties and TheSixties to ClassicalMusic through his TV specials, and also did a special on pop music in 1967.
* Nomeansno singer and bassist, Rob Wright, was pushing 30 when they put out their first album, which meant he was older than most punk musicians at the time and he turned middle-aged shortly after they developed their cult following. In fact, the cover art to their compilation album, ''The People's Choice'', depicts graffiti on a restroom stall that reads, "How fucken [sic] old are Nomeansno? Give it up, granddads." Drummer John Wright added and signed his own graffiti beneath this: "That's 'great granddads' to you, fucker!"
* Ed Cassidy, drummer for 1960s LA rock group Spirit. The guy was about 20 years older than the others and was the stepfather of guitarist Randy California, yet managed to take a genuine liking to the band's music. Plus, he was no slouch when he came to drumming.
* Music/BrianMay and Roger Taylor of {{Music/Queen}}. Their dedication to their fans is legendary.
* Music/CarlosSantana, in his 70s, still plays guitar just as amazing as ever, creates some of the best rock albums in mainstream music, is dedicated to his beliefs and his fans, and still remains just as awesome as he did 40 years ago.
* Although he was never a legitimate example of one, Music/FrankZappa by age 50 was still recording, remastering and composing, despite suffering from cancer, which he died from at age 52.
* Music/JohnLeeHooker was still performing on stage in his eighties and released a best-selling album ''Music/TheHealer'' when he was about 82 years old.
* Music/BuenaVistaSocialClub: When they released their 1997 global best-selling album most musicians were veterans who were already in their seventies, eighties, and nineties. The oldest was Compay Segundo (1907-2003), who was 89 at time of recording the album. Special notice goes out to Rubén González, who suffered from arthritis, yet still managed to give away amazing performances!
* Michael [=McDonald=]. (02/12/1952 - present); 5-time Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter who has worked with Music/SteelyDan and Music/TheDoobieBrothers, as well as a successful solo career.
* French singer Henri Salvador, from the 1930s until his death in 2008 he was still performing and releasing new albums.
* Operette and cabaret singer Johannes Heesters (1903-2011) was over 100 years old and still sang and performed at the stage! Not only that but he only gave up smoking a half year before he died.
* Robert Pollard is 57, and he still puts out at least four albums every year.
* Jet Black, the drummer for Music/TheStranglers, was nearly 40 when the band came to fame, making him far older than most of his contemporaries (and the rest of the band). He's still playing with them at the age of 76, despite serious health issues which mean he can't play a full set any more or tour outside of the UK.
* Music/WeirdAlYankovic: He's been making parody songs since 1976 and shows no signs of slowing down.
* Music/TheSpecials' trombonist Rico Rodriguez was a good twenty years older than the rest of the band when they started out and acted as a direct link to the Jamaican ska that they revived.
* Music/{{Devo}} have been together since the early '70s, only broke up in the early '90s then reformed in the mid-to-late-90s, and have tried their best to prevent signs of slowing down.
* Lonnie Lynn, the father of acclaimed rapper Music/{{Common}}. In addition to his history as a basketball player, he regularly did guest raps (actually, spoken-word poetry rather than straight-up rapping) at the end of Common's studio albums, dispensing not just wisdom and street knowledge but also praise for his family and for hip hop culture. His "raps" became one of the defining aspects of Common's studio recordings before his unfortunate passing in 2014.
* ''Rockin' And Rollin' With Granmaw'' by Carson Robison is about old people rocking and rolling at a time when it was the hip thing. This is even more so emphasized considering Robison himself was 67 at the time (and sadly passed away less than a year later).
* Most members of Arrested Development were in their 20s at the peak of the group's popularity...and then there was Baba Oje, the group's "spiritual leader" who was in his late 50s-early 60s.
* Music/TomLehrer wrote and performed most of his music as a young man, but at the age of 92, he decided to release all of his music into the public domain. Also, his response when Music/TwoChainz asked permisson to sample one of his songs cements his cool status:
-->"As sole copyright owner of 'The Old Dope Peddler', I grant you [[PrecisionFStrike motherfuckers]] permission to do this. Please give my regards to Mr. Chainz, or may I call him 2?"
* [=DJ Sumirock=] is a grandmother in her 80s who still works in her family's restaurant, but at night she's a dj in the Shibuya electronica scene where the vast majority of her fellow performers are in their 20s or early 30s.
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