Joke here: An elderly woman is having her debut on a news channel. She is nervous. Before appearing on Fake News, she says her name is Grandma Gertrude. After meeting her, the host, a man named John Insanity, says, "Ladies and gentlemen, please say hello to Gertie the Dinosaur".

For me to give you an answer like that (this is not sarcasm or a rude tone), what do you suggest I Google?

She must be the only one left from silent pictures who is still with us? Wikipedia's "List of surviving silent film actors" entry mentions 14 confirmed silent film actors and actresses that are still alive. However, eventually the windows to the silent era will close. Silent film child star Don Mar...

An actor that started in silent shorts that had a much-longer career in sounds was Mickey Rooney. Including titles released after his death, his career lasted from 1927-2015.

From an academic standpoint, it might be hard to give a general answer why many silent film stars didn't transition well into the sound era. Thus, you have to look at individual figures. A good resource is Columbia University's Women Film Pioneers Project site. They have many a brief biography (kind...