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Bardot’s Death Leaves Only Three ‘We Didn’t Start the Fire’ Names Still Alive

A viral lifespan chart updated after the actress’s death highlights how Billy Joel’s 1989 roll call has aged.

Overview

  • The Brigitte Bardot Foundation confirmed the French star died on December 28 at age 91.
  • A Reddit visualization by u/cavedave was refreshed to reflect her passing, then widely shared by data analyst Simon Kuestenmacher on X.
  • Only three of the song’s 59 named people remain alive: Bob Dylan, Chubby Checker, and Bernhard Goetz.
  • The chart maps each figure’s birth and death with a marker for the moment referenced in the lyrics, grouping them by field.
  • Bardot was the last living woman mentioned in the track, following a career that shifted to animal-welfare activism and later brought convictions under France’s hate-speech laws.