The Only Main Actors Still Alive From 1974's The Towering Inferno

With the pop of a fuse and the roar of a flame, "The Towering Inferno" brought in a monster take at the box office, becoming one of the defining films of the disaster movie boom of the mid-1970s. It wasn't just a technical wonder in its time; it managed to land a whole lot of Oscar nominations, one less than fellow Irwin Allen-produced disaster hit "The Poseidon Adventure." It's definitely a disaster film you need to see before you die.

The movie, like many of Allen's disaster stories, is a sprawling panorama of humanity packed into one location. Most of the characters live, work, or are involved in the construction of the Glass Tower, an enormous new 138-story San Francisco high-rise that stands 1,688 feet tall. It comes equipped with every modern convenience, including a fancy restaurant on the top floor. Architect Doug Roberts (Paul Newman) thinks the building will be his magnum opus. He doesn't realize that builder James Duncan's (William Holden) shiftless son-in-law Roger Simmons (Richard Chamberlain) has reduced costs by cutting corners with safety regulations and construction materials used in the building's electrical system. 

All it takes is a little extra weight on the wiring for a fire to break out and spread throughout the structure. No-nonsense fire chief Michael O'Hallorhan (movie legend Steve McQueen) arrives to stem the death toll, but a whole lot of destruction and tragedy ensue before the flames are put out.

"The Towering Inferno" will turn 50 on December 14, so it's unsurprising that many of its stars have passed on. But a number of them continue to actively perform in the entertainment industry. Here's a roll call of the film's surviving cast members at the time of writing.

Faye Dunaway had already established herself as a leading lady a good decade before "The Towering Inferno" was conceived. Launched to fame after playing a stylish Bonnie Parker in the iconic "Bonnie and Clyde," she was fresh off the triumph of "Chinatown" when she took on the role of Susan Franklin, Doug Roberts' fiancée. Poor Susan has to endure a whole lot when the building's dedication party attendees find themselves as sitting ducks during the fire. She's one of a handful of people who manage to make it to solid ground via a helicopter after the building's scenic elevator is blown off its tracks.

This was the role that cemented Dunaway's comeback after a series of box-office disappointments. Her career would soon crest, resulting in her winning an Oscar for best actress for 1977's "Network."  Since then, Dunaway has appeared in movies both memorable ("The Eyes of Laura Mars") and notorious (camp classic "Mommie Dearest"). She ended up taking an eight-year vacation from moviemaking after a series of further film flops — one of the longest gaps between movies taken by an actor.

She took on the world of television with the short-lived sitcom "It Had to Be You," and has since guest starred in series as varied as "Touched by an Angel" and "Alias."  She also picked up an Emmy in 1994 for outstanding guest actress in a drama series for the TV movie "Columbo: It's All In the Game." On top of all of that, Dunaway has maintained a successful theatrical career, appearing in a production of "A Man for All Seasons." She's still a working actress, with the film "Fate" in the pipeline as of press time. Even more interesting, her career and life were captured in the 2024 Max documentary "Faye." 

Susan Blakely's Patty Duncan Simmons gets stuck with the fuzzy end of the lollipop. Her husband, Roger, decides to shortchange her father's building plans and puts their entire family in danger. She plays witness as everything shreds to bits and people burn to death, and she even witnesses her father, James, duke it out with her husband. Patty makes a memorable exit from the fire via a breeches buoy strung up to a neighboring building — hoisted into a chair, she's pulled across the gap and into the air to safety. While Roger dies, her father does ultimately make it out alive.

After "The Towering Inferno," Blakely made a name for herself acting in several television movies and miniseries. She was Julie Prescott in the ratings blockbuster "Rich Man, Poor Man," and attorney Leslie Abramson in "Honor thy Mother and Father: The True Story of the Menendez Murders." She also added one more disaster film to her resume: "Concorde: Airport '79." Recently, she was in 2022's "Emily or Oscar."

Still a working actress, Blakely has a cameo in the film "Mr. Christmas," alongside Tom McLaren. She's on the convention circuit and still making personal appearances. Fans can keep up with her through her Instagram.

Richard Chamberlain gives "The Towering Inferno" its wormiest villain in the form of Roger Simmons. It's not enough that the fire happens because of his corner-cutting greed; it's not enough that he denies his guilt and deflects his father-in-law when push comes to shove. No, Roger's last act is to bully his way onto the breeches buoy in a desperate attempt at saving his own life once the fire reaches the Promenade Room at the top of the Glass Tower. He ends up clinging to the seat along with a number of other men and falls to his death when an explosion takes the chair out.

The role is an enormous change of pace for Chamberlain, best known for his parts as iron-jawed good guys in miniseries like the original "Shogun" and "The Thorn Birds." As a young actor, he made a name for himself as the title character in the beloved television drama "Dr. Kildare." From there, he branched out into big screen in featured roles in big historical epics like "The Music Lovers" and played Aramis in 1973's adaptation of "The Three Musketeers," which spawned two sequels. He appeared in another disaster epic — "The Swarm" — before turning his attention to TV epics. In recent years, he appeared in "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry," "Desperate Housewives," and "Brothers and Sisters." His last role was in 2019's "Finding Julia."

Chamberlain has semi-retired from the acting game and was, for multiple decades, in a domestic relationship with Martin Rabbett, having spent a lot of time in the spotlight as a closeted gay man.

Robert Wagner's Dan Bigelow might not have the biggest role in the film, but he does die one of the movie's most memorable deaths. The married Dan and his secretary Lorrie (Susan Flannery) delay their arrival at the dedication party to have a secret hookup in the Duncan Industries office. Unfortunately for the star-crossed couple, they find themselves surrounded by flames as the fire reaches Dan's office. Dan, knowing they're doomed, shares his real feelings with Lorrie. Then he decides to sprint through the flames in the hope of reaching a door leading outside to get Lorrie rescued. Instead, he catches fire and then plunges to his doom through an already broken window, leaving Lorrie to meet her fate alone.

Wagner may be best known these days as Number Two from the "Austin Powers" series, as Tony DiNozzo Sr. on "NCIS," or as handsome sleuth Jonathan Hart in the long-running mystery procedural "Hart to Hart," but back in the day he was known as quite the matinee idol. Appearing in musical comedies and war dramas toward the end of the studio system, Wagner became involved in the television world once the New Hollywood era swept in, and continued to appear in film and television over the years. His last appearance was as DiNozzo Sr. in 2019. Wagner keeps in regular touch with his fans via his Instagram and continues to make public appearances.

Susan Flannery's Lorrie thinks her happy assignation with her lover, Dan Bigelow, is just one more stepping stone toward joy and upward mobility. Unfortunately, Lorrie finds herself confronting flames wearing little more than a purple shirt. After Dan meets his unfortunate end, the room she'd been staying in reaches a flashover. To escape the fire, Lorrie breaks one of the windows. Unfortunately, she immediately catches fire and plunges to her death, her flaming shirt memorably flickering out halfway through the drop.

After helping Lorrie take her final swan dive, Flannery became a big deal in the world of daytime drama. First, she played heroine Dr. Laura Horton on "Days of Our Lives"; then she became soap opera royalty by originating the part of matriarch Stephanie Forster on "The Bold and the Beautiful." The former role won Flannery a Daytime Emmy for best actress, while the latter got her three more such awards. When Flannery retired from acting in 2018, Stephanie was killed off onscreen, dying of lung cancer. A much more sedate death, but another memorable passing nonetheless.