>"Guy should have been allowed to live the rest of his life in dignity quietly, tending to his garden, not tap dancing for 40+ year old adults still obsessed with "The Time Warp"."

You dont become Tim Curry unless you live for the attention. I highly doubt it was against his will. Shatner is still out there doing the theater circuit right now at nearly 100. Those generations in general (Silents and GIs) just had the mindset of "I'll stop working when I'm dead". It was the later Boomers really that latched onto the concept of retirement.