Going Out on a High Note: Great final performances

Watched the Night at the Museum trilogy with my family recently, and was struck by how good a job Robin Williams did in what turned out to be the final on-screen performance of his career (it was also Mickey Rooney’s last hurrah, but his was little more than a cameo).

Hence the topic: what do you consider the best final acting jobs of now-departed movie and TV actors? It has to be a significant role, occurring in their last professional appearance (“final performance” can refer to either the last role they acted before their death, or the latest released, which are not always the same).

Here’s my personal favorite: Burgess Meredith capping his six-decade career with one of his greatest roles as Grampa Gustafson in Grumpier Old Men, wherein he sings a lullaby, gets laid, has a great death, has his ashes scattered in the place he loves - and on the way, delivers quite possibly the greatest farewell speech in cinematic history.