94 Years Old Females

Joanne Woodward is best remembered for her Academy Award-winning performance as three characters in The Three Faces of Eve, and for her multiple award-winning TV projects. The first entertainer to get a Hollywood Walk of Fame “star,” she was also in the news for her marriage to Paul Newman.

Gena Rowlands had an expansive screen and stage career spanning over six-decades. Her remarkable performances won her several accolades including four Emmy and two Golden Globe awards and an Honorary Academy Award. Two of her memorable performances includes in films A Woman Under the Influence and Gloria, both written-directed by her late-husband John Cassavetes and earned her Academy Award nominations.   

Chinese phytochemist and malariologist Tu Youyou is best remembered for her Nobel Prize-winning discovery of the anti-malarial drug qinghaosu, or artemisinin. She is the first Chinese female Nobel laureate. A tuberculosis infection in her younger days had inspired her to step into medicine. She later studied traditional Chinese medicine, too.

Caterina Valente is an Italian-French guitarist, multilingual singer, actress, and dancer. Valente, who sings in 11 languages, has worked with artists around the world. She has worked with international stars like Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Buddy Rich, and Chet Baker. One of her songs titled Bongo cha cha cha was used in the 2019 American film Spider-Man: Far From Home.

Omara Portuondo is a Cuban dancer and singer best known as one of the founding members of a vocal group called Cuarteto d'Aida. Renowned for her versatality, Portuondo has experimented with various styles from boleros to jazz. In 2009, she received the prestigious Latin Grammy Award. In 2019, Omara Portuondo was honored with a Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Luce Irigaray is a Belgian-born French philosopher, feminist, linguist, psychoanalyst, psycholinguist, and cultural theorist. She is best known for her research that examined the role of language in relation to women. Luce Irigaray's 1974 book Speculum of the Other Woman analyzes the texts of Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Freud, Descartes, and Hegel through the lens of phallocentrism.

Marie Bashir created history when she became the first female governor of New South Wales. A doctor, too, she was initially associated with children’s hospitals and later focused on psychiatry. She also worked for the mentally ill and homeless people from the Aboriginal community of Australia.

Born in the Dutch East Indies, Tonke Dragt was 12 when she was interned at a Japanese prisoners’ camp, where she began writing using a pseudonym. She later moved to the Netherlands and emerged as one of the best authors of children's books, including The Letter for the King.         

Irish novelist Edna O'Brien is known for dealing with themes related to women’s issues, such as sexual repression of women in a male-dominated society. While she initially studied pharmacy, she later soared to fame with novels such as The Country Girls trilogy, some of which were banned in Ireland for their sexual openness.

Retired American opera singer Mary Costa is best known for voicing Princess Aurora in the Disney animated musical fantasy Sleeping Beauty. Named a Disney Legend later, she has also appeared in iconic operas such as Verdi's in La Traviata. Post-retirement, she has turned into a motivational speaker and fights against child abuse, too.

Biljana Plavšić is a Bosnian Serb retired politician. She is best known for her service as the President of Republika Srpska from 1996 to 1998. She played an important role during the Bosnian War and was later indicted for crimes against humanity during the war. Prior to entering politics, Biljana Plavšić worked as a professor at the University of Sarajevo.