Opera singer Luciano Pavarotti did it at the age of 67. Media mogul Rupert Murdoch pulled it off at 72. And Julio Iglesias, at 89, was possibly the oldest of them all.
They join the likes of Mick Jagger, Tony Blair, Jack Nicholson, Michael Douglas and Rod Stewart, who were lauded when they became "golden age" daddies, taking on fatherhood after the age of 50.
But when British citizen Elizabeth Adeney decided it was time to become a mother at the age of 66, she made headlines as she was widely criticised for her "selfish" decision.
Adeney, a wealthy businesswoman who lives in Suffolk, England, will become the third and latest woman over 50 to have had a child in recent years. Until now, British citizen Patricia Hashbrook held the UK title, being 62 when she conceived her son, Jude, in 2006.
In the US, 60-year-old Frieda Birnbaum has held the title since 2007 when she became a mother of twins after receiving in vitro fertilisation in Cape Town.
Adeney, a divorcee for 10 years, has no children. Apart from her home in Suffolk, she has a flat in a retirement village in Rondebosch in Cape Town. She is in the final term of her pregnancy and will give birth next month.
British newspapers report Adeney is "almost alone in the world", with only one relative in the US.
Dr Antonio Rodrigues, a fertility specialist at Medfem Clinic in Bryanston, criticises Adeney's pregnancy, saying conception at 66 is wrong in general principle as there is more to pregnancy than just having a child.
"Having children is about nurturing, and understanding that you need to look after them. You have to realise when your child is 20 years old you will be 80 years old and won't be around for much longer."
He says that, in South Africa, the procedure in women above 50 was fortunately quite rare.
While many women in their early to mid-40s come to the Bryanston clinic, only a handful of women are older than 50.
Their oldest patient was a 51-year-old British woman married to a Botswanan.
Rodrigues justifies helping this couple as their case had not been properly managed in the 10 years they had been trying to have a child.
He says this case shows why it is important to look at the whole picture.
"We have to take the couple, look at their history, where they have been and what the negatives are.
"In this couple's case, the wife looked fit and healthy."
Rodrigues says a team sits down and examines the cases involving women over 50.
Dr Lawrence Gobetz, another fertility specialist, agrees with Rodrigues.
He says while it is not legislated, there is a recommendation women over 50 should not receive egg donations.
"It is not recommended to protect the health of the patient. At that age you have latent tendencies to develop medical problems, like high blood pressure and diabetes, as a result of the wear and tear on the body. When you load the body with a pregnancy, you unmask these tendencies."
But Rodrigues says if a woman is physically fit and able to carry a child, there are no physical prohibitions.
"If they have a medical problem, it needs to be controllable. They must have the basic health to nurture a baby. Most who come here are physically fit."
Physical issues aside, it's the moral issue around having a child at Adeney's age that has boggled Rodrigues.
"As doctors, we need to look after the interests of the child and the ramifications of the pregnancy. We have a moral obligation as fertility specialists. We have the ability to facilitate the creation of a baby, but we need to moralise and be ethical about this.
"You have to believe you are doing something for a child. If I have a lady that has a zero prognosis of being alive in a year, will I perform the procedure? If she has a younger husband and the support structure to look after the baby, then, yes. If she is single with no infrastructure, I have a problem with that."
He said it was common for women in their 40s to worry about the long-term problem of looking after a child.
"For all of us, it is not nice losing a parent. You want to lose a parent at an age when it's reasonable," Rodrigues adds.
Megan Briede, senior manager for national programmes at Child Welfare, agrees.
"There are moral issues and long-term care issues to consider. Motherhood at such a late age would raise concern, especially when there is no support system."