"To Hell With Getting Older": Actress June Squibb on Longevity, Hollywood, and Never Dwelling on the Past

0:00Lemonada. Do you remember the moment where you said to yourself, I'm going to become an actress? I mean, it was like coming out of the womb. I have been able to deal with things in a different way. I don't dwell. If I start dwelling on something I know, I'm in trouble and I've made a mistake. To make it to be 96, to have really no interest in retiring, you're happy, you seem excited about life. What advice would you give me if I wanted to reach age 96 with that kind of vigor and vitality? June Squibb, is it okay to say your age? Yes, sure. 96 years. Up to 97 in November. I know that you've just finished another movie. I'm too more coming up. And no plans to slow down. I mean, I feel good. And as you saw, I use a cane.

1:01And people accept that. So I've been able to keep working. People keep asking me to do films. So that's if I had to like say, I'm going out and find work. I wouldn't do it. But the fact that people are still wanting me to work. Coming to you. Coming to you. Yeah. You know, I dated an actress for a while who told me, this was a few years ago, that for a female, by age 30, the jobs all dry up in Hollywood. And here you're more than three times that age. And they're coming to you. Has something changed in Hollywood? I think it has. Yeah, without a doubt. I mean, we have leading ladies now, 40s, 50s, 60s even, that are leading a film. And that never happened. And I just shot two films that were written for 90-year-olds. So I think people are really interested in AIDS. We were an aging society. And I think people really want to know what is going to happen to them.

2:02What is it like? And do you think it's just the audience getting older or do you think there might be a recognition that with age comes some wisdom? I don't know about this second part of the age with wisdom. I think our audience is getting older. I think our whole country is getting older. And now they're saying there's less birth rate. So I mean, it's going to be an older country without a doubt. So I just feel that people are very interested. I think they want to know about retirement homes. I think they want to know what you could still do, what you can't do. And people are just interested more than ever before. I found a quote by you. You were asked about ageism. Do you remember what you said? To hell with getting older? Yes, I do. Rules are meant to be broken. Yeah, I'm always going to go that with the old. That's a far cry. Remember Andy Rooney? Yes. He was once asked about what he felt about getting older.

3:02And he said, I don't recommend it. But it looks, I mean, just sitting across from you, but it's making me look forward to being 96. No, I'm fine. I really am. I'm going to have my health for the most part. I still have some problems. And I have doctors that are very eager to keep me going. And that's, you know, to my advantage, certainly. So let's talk a little bit about your latest project with Scarlett Johansson. Has that been released yet? Oh, yeah. It was released. It was very big on Netflix during last winter. Can you say the name of the... Oh, Ellen are the great. Ellen are the great. Yeah. And what did you play in it? Ellen, no. Of course. And just briefly, what's the story about? The story's about a woman who, because of the death of her closest friend, they were living together in Florida.

4:04And she is in a state of dyspondency. And that's quite no what to do with herself. So she moves back to New York to live with her daughter. And the daughter has a son. And she gets involved in a Holocaust survivors group by mistake. And she starts telling the story because her roommate that died was in the Holocaust and used to tell her stories about it. And was so afraid it would be forgotten. And so she tells these stories as if they're her own. And if she is the person who survived. And that's what it's all about. What was it like working with Scarlett Johansson? She was great. She was great. I loved it. No. She... It was so wonderful because she says, I don't say this, but she says that we work very much alike. And so it was so great because I could just sort of work.

5:05And she could tell what I needed and what I didn't need. Because sometimes you're given help that you don't really need. And she knew, she knew always where I was and what I was looking for, where I was going. So it's sort of the wisdom of a being having been an actress. And you know, I've seen those scripts. There's a lot to memorize. Is there? There is. How do you remember all that? I mean, I... I think my keys are all the time. I've been doing this for so many years. I do believe if you stop, if you take even a year or two off, then it's more difficult to do. Interesting. But I have never stopped since I didn't want to. I didn't want to. Yeah. So going to the Cleveland Playhouse, I've always had to memorize scripts. And so I have no trouble with it. It makes you wonder, you know, on this podcast, we like to give people takeaways.

6:05And I just wonder if the practice of having to memorize scripts has kept your brain so extraordinarily sharp. I think it has. And I read through anxiously. Really. Oh, I could go through a book in a day or two. Oh, I love that. Yeah. If I keep at it, yeah. What books would you recommend to people? Well, right now, I'm loving all of the Norris mysteries. And it's like a whole genre on its own. And they're great. The writers are great. You're learning about the Norris countries more than you've ever known about them. And I just love reading though. And I also, I just read Kee of Carthrin who had written scripts, play scripts that I had done in New York. And she started writing novels in, I think, 2016-70. And I'm reading her stuff. You know, I'm in the book racket. I'm an author. Oh, you are. And blue zones.

7:05And I've recently read that the book readership is not dropping off a cliff, but it's certainly going down a bird right now. Oh, yeah. I think that's been happening though. Yeah. I mean, with all the videos and now all of the audio and the. Yeah, it was surprisingly durable for a while, but not just this past year, especially. I think it's AI, actually. I'm a big believer that reading a book is a great cognitive exercise. It is, I think so. You have to imagine things. You have to focus. You have to pay attention. It's not just a 141 character tweet. It's, you have to sustain a story arc. And what's been your favorite book over time of all time? I think the Raj for, I think it was his name to God. It's been a long time since I read them, but I've never forgotten them. The Raj for. They're for books that's called the Raj. And I think these were in the 80s, probably 70s or 80s.

8:06That's great. So there's a star. You want to live longer, start with the Raj for. And get three dozen of June's old scripts and start reading. Well, I also do the L.A. times and the New York Times every morning. Prosper. It's paper. Wow. A paper. They're delivered to my door. Nothing else. They keep your vocabulary. Yeah. Doesn't it? Yes. Yes. So let's take people back a little bit. So you got started 75 years ago, 1951, if my method were 226. So what took you from the prairies of Illinois to the stage? Well, as a kid, I loved it. I did everything I could in high school. We all the plays. I danced my whole life. So I always knew this is what I was. It never occurred to me that I would do anything different than this. And. Wow. So you knew. I knew.

9:06Yeah. I didn't do my whole life. It never occurred to me that I was going to stay there. I always knew I was leaving. And I had to go somewhere else, you know. So what did your parents do? My father managed a clothing store. And then he went into the Navy during the Second World War. And when he came back, he became a very great insurance salesman. He was very successful at it. And my mother was a housewife, but she also worked as a secretary. When he was in the Navy, she worked for other people. And when he opened the insurance office, she worked for him as a secretary. So you're living in a fairly small town in southern Illinois. Very, very small. I mean, you know, the daughter of an insurance salesman and a housekeeper, do you remember the moment where you said to yourself, I'm going to become an actress? I mean, it was like coming out of the womb. I'm serious.

10:06No, I mean, I do not remember a tie. Wow. What I did not know, this is what I am. And it was never I'm going to be. It was always I am. I had a very queer epiphany. I remember sitting in church at age 13 looking around at all these people with polyester suits on it. Specifically, the insurance salesman of our community, he was kind of a big shot, you know, rotary club. Yeah. He wore a powder blue suit and he had JFK haircut and he had four kids sons that had the exact same haircut. And then a sort of a steadford wifey type mom. I'm the very nice people. I didn't mind it to mean them, but I remember looking at them and saying to myself, that's not going to be me. From that moment on, you know, I went on to said three world records and bicycling around the world across Africa. And I've been explored at National Geographic and now these blue zones. Yeah. But it all started that day in church realizing that I was different.

11:08And not better, but different. Oh, you don't think of it as being better, but you know, this is not where I belong. Yes, yes, that's exactly as that. And tell us about the move out. I actually had looked into the Pasadena playhouse, but it was at the time very expensive. And my parents said, no, that they couldn't do this. And this would be to go take after lessons. Yeah, because they at the time were teaching. They had a school along with the theater. They don't anymore. I don't think it. I don't know when it stopped, but then it was very big. And then someone told me about the Cleveland playhouse and said that you don't have to pay anything. The first year, as an apprentice, you have to have your own room and you have to have your own food. But you don't pay them anything and you work at the theater. And so I applied to the Cleveland playhouse and I thought,

12:10and I went there in 51 and stayed for five years and I was married. My first marriage was there. And I did some wonderful things. I also started doing musicals there. And they brought a young man in who was to do all the musicals and he and I became very close. And so he was determined. I'd always dance. So that was not a problem. But he was determined. I was going to sing. So he made sure that I started singing. And I ended up doing the comedian in two or three musicals through the rest of my period there. And then when I went to New York, I only did musicals for the first 20 years. My networking was all musical theater and everything I auditioned for was. I started doing some acting, but not that much. And then later in life, I was in my 30s. I met this gentleman who taught acting and he became my second husband.

13:14No, we don't create your teacher. Yes. And he told me what he said, you could be a really fine actress. You only knew what you were doing. And he was right. And he taught me a way of working, which I did not have before, but Cleveland Playhouse did not teach actors how to work. They taught you how to build a set. They taught you how to make a cost to that. So if you were giving me, for example, and those three little almost nothing about acting, what are some tips to learn how to do the work, how to actually act? He used to always say less is more. Actors, not very good actors, tend to overdo. They give you too much. They want to make sure you see what they're doing. And once you start working in the right way, it all comes through here, through your mind. And so you're not even dealing with what it looks like.

14:15You have no concept of what you're doing or what it looks like. You have only the concept that someone has said or done something and you're reacting to it. What percentage of being a good actor is skill, in other words, practice, practice, practice. And what percentage is just God-given talent? I think it's both. I think you have to have a certain talent for it. They used to say some of our finest actors were not very good, but they were young, but I think they had something. They had a talent, and they kept going for it. And then you do learn a lot by just doing. I mean, you learn a tremendous amount. Do you think you're getting better as an actor at 96? I think I am. Yeah. Just because you keep doing it. Because I keep doing it. And my mind is looking at things differently now. Interesting. Yeah. What do you see at 96 that you didn't see at 66, Rick?

15:15Oh, God, you see what a person is really doing. You in the room with you, you know? You don't deal with what anyone else thinks. It's as simple as that. You get to my age and you can care less what anyone thinks. I've always been that. But this, you know, I think you should get older and becomes, you know, really strong. And I think that helps you. You're not looking over your shoulder all the time. We had another actor on the show, Matthew McConaughey, who said, as soon as you start acting, you're no longer acting. Yeah. In other words, I don't know. He so metabolizes the script and that he's just being a version of himself. That's what you did. Yeah. And to me, this script is my Bible. That's what I think. I mean, I will listen to a director. I don't mean that I don't do that. But boy, I study that script and study that script.

16:17And I learned that way by going over and over and over the script. So I know that script so well when I start working. So for a typical day of shooting, how many pages of a script is that? I don't know if that's a great script. Maybe five to seven. It's a chronic TV's quicker that film can take that long to do that much in one day. And how long will you practice for that one day of how many hours does it take to get ready for that five pages of script? Well, if I'm working on a script, I usually work two or three hours for day after day after day. So I'm doing all of it sort of before. Interesting. And then the night before you will concentrate on what you know, you're shooting the next day. But you basically know it. You're just concentrating again on it. That's how I work. June, how long before you start shooting, are you starting to study that script months?

17:20Months. Months. Wow. Do you sit in a room by yourself or stand before a mirror or how do you not a mirror? You don't want to look at yourself. That's the worst thing you can do is look at yourself. No, I have a desk chair that rolls all over the floor. And I sit at the table. That's where I work. Rita, and do you stay at or do you just commit it? No, you're just you're putting it all up here. That's so interesting. I don't think people realize that what it takes to be a good actor. To do it. Yeah. Oh, we spend hours. Are you nervous when you're shooting? No. No, it's a more. I think what I was younger I used to be, but not now. I suppose it goes along with not really caring that much what other people think. Yeah. And the fact that I feel what I think is fine enough. Yeah. And again, that comes with age. That comes with the constant doing of it. How do you get to the point of not getting too fostered about what other people think about you?

18:24Because I think that's something that dogs a lot of us throughout our lives. I think it's the worst thing that could happen to a performer of any kind. I actually grew up sort of feeling that way. But I think that then as I got older, it's become more solidified. Was there a moment where you just said, I don't keep a crap anymore? No, I think it just started happening. I think that without even realizing it, I really did not care what it would say. I just love that. But as I said, I've always had that. So it was not so unusual. I think that as you get older, I think you begin to put things together, put things that you maybe hadn't before. But what do you say to somebody who's just too worried about what other people think? The only thing you do is tell them not. It's better on the other side. I don't know what you can say because it's their own fears. It's causing them to care what anybody else thinks.

19:27Which I imagine is amplified by social media. Yeah. When people are seen on your digital version of yourself. One of the most powerful predictors of a long, healthy life is the strength of your social bonds. In the Blue Zones, neighbors show up for one another. This idea of community is exactly how Thrive and Began 120 years ago, when neighbors came together to ensure each other. Today, Thrive and is a financial services company that helps you make the impact on the communities you love. They don't just help you plan your finances. They empower generosity. In 2025, a loan Thrive and helped its clients mobilize 17 million volunteer hours. That's the kind of action-oriented generosity that can build stronger social ties and lead to better health outcomes. If you believe your money can mean more for your community, thrive it as the advice and the solutions to help.

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22:34I don't know if that's what you're talking about. I know that came with Jack Nicholson. Yeah. So I just read in your bio that your first movie was in age 60. Oh, my first film. Yeah, it was Alice with Woody. Woody Allen. Yes. And did you try to get that or did the. Well, yes. I had done stage my whole life. And we were getting it was the 70s. And we were getting film in New York. And a lot of people I knew were doing film that were stage actors. We're getting not large roles, but nice little things to do. So I went to my agent and I said, I know that there's a lot of film work in New York. And I think I should be doing some of it. He said, OK. And was simple as that. And in a week's time, he had an audition for me with Woody Allen. And the people that cast Alice were casting a set of a woman.

23:34And so they brought me up for that. And I got that. And that was a larger role. That was sort of a nice role. And then the same casting people were casting Scorsese, these age of innocence. And I went into that. So my first three films were because my agent sent me up for Alice. It was the same casting people. And what was it that they liked? What was it? I have no idea. I have no idea. Because I played the housekeeper in Alice. I think they all liked me. So I'm sure that had something to do with it. And I think I did good work. And what was it like working for Scorsese? He was kind of wonderful because I was playing a very small role. And we were shooting at a mansion upstate New York. And he was directing it. And he had paintings behind every actor almost.

24:37And there was a painting behind me. And he said, I don't like that painting. And so he said, we're going to stop shooting. And I will put you in a studio. So we stopped shooting. And I knew I was going to be in the next few weeks going into a studio to do this. And I thought, oh, he'll never direct me. It'll be a deep, I mean, somebody else will be there direct me. He was there. I mean, and I had such a small role. But he was there in the studio. I just think that's wonderful. The care that he gave to them. Yeah, yeah, everybody. And you acted across from Jack Nicholson in a bouchman. You were Jack's wife, right? What was the like working with him? He was great. I sound like Paul Iana, Don't I? Oh, they're great. But I've had such wonderful times with some of these people that people don't know.

25:40I mean, I think Jack is a real gentleman. I'm sure not many people would see that in him. But he was lovely to me. He never made me feel like I was anything less than a pair of his. Which some people would never have done that. And he was always that way with me. And we didn't Nebraska and Bruce Dernan. He were good friends. And when both Bruce and I were together, he was Dernan. He were good friends. Uh-huh. And when both Bruce and I were nominated for the Academy Award, Jack sent both of us champagne. Oh, I won't know. And he sent me as well. He's thoughtful. He really is. He's a great guy. And they made a big mistake. Why not giving it to you? Don't let LaBeta here. You said that. I spoke with Alexander Payne, and he was the director of writer, I think, in Nebraska. For a while, we worked on a project. I found in an island in Greece called Iqadiyah,

26:43where the longest lived people in the world was. And I met a guy who came to America when he was 21. Got a job as a painter. Got married. Developed lung cancer at age 66. And went back to Iqadiyah. He was supposed to be dead in six months. He lived to 103. So it was such a quirky story. The guy walked around in like brown plaid pants and a bright blue pad shirt, and he was funny. And we talked for a while about perhaps doing a movie. We worked on it for about three months, and then he ended up doing something else. But he's one of the great producers. Brilliant, brilliant guy. I did two films with him. Oh, you do. Well, about Schmidt and then Nebraska. Oh, yeah, yeah. Both of them were really turning points in my career. Because I felt with about Schmidt that the industry, all at what saw who I was as a whole,

27:43they knew who I was then after that. And how do people treat you differently after that? Well, in the casting of things, they would, you know, there was a change in how they cast me, what they thought of me. I mean, Hollywood is known for its warm fuzzy character. And you seem to be unfazed by all you have or good things to say about everybody. Well, that's not true. But I'll go with to the other bear. At the very least, you don't seem to be tainted by it. Or maybe you are and I just don't see it. No, I don't think I am. I came into it so late in life. I mean, I think that, you know, all my years on stage, I had gone through so many different phases, so many different things and had probably faced almost everything and the actor could face. So I think by the time I really started working out

28:46and I started film in New York. So I wasn't even out here at the beginning of my film career. But the time I came out here, I think I was very sure of myself. I knew who I was. And I think that's probably what you're talking about, you know. Because I don't think anything out here has changed me. Yeah. Well, you do possess a certain congeniality that's infectious. And maybe I caught you on a good day. No, no. But what do you say to people, you know, life expectancy in America for women is about 80, healthy life expectancy for women in America is about 66. So you're already about 30 years beyond the health span. And imagine a 66 year old woman from your town in Wisconsin, in Illinois, who's not sure what to do with herself.

29:48What advice would you give to people who are stuck? I guess find things that interest you. I mean, even in Vandalia, you could read, you know, you could go out to dinner. Mm-hmm. Now, the golf course, a lot of people played golf. There was tennis courts in the city. And there was a beautiful swimming pool. So I mean, there are things that, you know, you could do that will bring you out. I don't know. I think you have to do it. Well, there might be people coming to you say, I want you to do this, but that doesn't always happen. But have you ever hit a snake in your career in the 75 years where there was a dry spell and you said yourself, well, I'll make it get my next job. Yes, there was. And I turned to riding. And I wrote for about two years. I was still working occasionally. But it was slow. And I was introduced to a women's group that wrote.

30:52And I started riding. And I actually had a play produced also Broadway. What was it called? Mama and baby. Mama and baby. Yeah. And a lot of it was my background. But a lot of it was, you know, not. People weren't telling me it's funny. I say this now. People said to me, give up acting, Jude. Just keep riding. But I got a job at a regional theater. And I stopped riding basically. And I've never gone back to it. It's a very lonely riding. It's a very lonely thing. Yes. I think it's a version of torture to have a deadline. Not sure what the next paragraph is going to be. It's going to come out. I actually hit it. I met Kurt Vonnegut once. Oh, you did? Oh, my God. We had to talk about riding. He told me, yeah, yeah, if somebody tells me they loved to ride, I can be pretty sure they're not a writer. Yes. I'm just doing it because it's all right.

31:53No, but I have to say I have to salute you that you hit a speed bump. Yeah. And you tried something else. I mean, it was, it wasn't a 90 degree turn, but it was, okay. The next lane over. I'm going to try that. I wrote plays. Yeah. And do you think that's just, you know, you're lucky. You were born in a family that gave you that that positive outlook? Or is it something that you consciously? I think I'm realizing that I had to take care of myself. And this is not negative to my mother and father. But I think I always kind of did that. And so when I made a decision, fine, that's what I'm going to do. And that's how I've lived my life. So this sense of self-reliance? Yeah. You've been married a couple times, right?

32:53Yes. Twice. But alone most of your? Uh, yeah. And the second marriage was like 39 years. That was a long one, I feel. I would have lasted, but he didn't. He, he, I'm sorry. But he was the one that taught me how to act. Lucky to have a 39 year coach. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Every bold journey starts with a decision to go. And if you're ready, the defender is to this is a vehicle built for more. Whether you're heading off the grid or just getting out of town for the weekend. Defender is a true icon, reimagined for a new generation. The rugged exterior is built from durable materials and tested in the toughest conditions. Inside its modern, functional and refined, with smart storage and premium touches that keep you comfortable wherever the road leads. It's packed with tech like 3D surround cameras, clear sight ground and rear views, driver assist features, and an intuitive infotainment system.

33:53With three models, the defender 90, 110, and 130, there's a defender for every kind of adventure. The city streets to remote trails. This is a vehicle that, like you, is capable of great things. Explore the full defender lineup at Land Rover USA dot com. And when you think of your life, what's been the happiest chapter? Oh gosh, I don't think I ever thought of that. I'm pretty happy right now. I do think of when I was a kid in Vendelia. I was walking in the woods, swimming in the pool, you know, roll skating on the sidewalk and sledding down teeny little hills. So things like that I still think about. And that was pretty grand. It's interesting. You said right now and when you were a little girl. Happiness is a you shape curve.

34:54I wrote an article for National Geographic on it. I was happy when we were young. And then, you know, we get married and we realize, well, maybe all of our dreams don't come true. We're never going to become president. We struggle through certain relationship issues often. Kids grow up, they leave. And the statistically unhappiest time of our lives is right around age 55. A sort of trough between 45 and 55. And then as long as you can keep your health happiness grows 60, 70, 80s. And actually the happiest cohort are the people over 100. Well, I hope I hit that. I'll let you know. I have no doubt you'll make it. But what makes you happy now? You said this might be the happiest time in your life. What what? What makes me happy because people want me to work with them and want me to do things.

35:54I have wonderful friends. Do you hang around with the movie star set or do you hang out with normal people? Both. What am I closest friend is Chris Coford from Glee. And we met on Glee. I was, he wrote the episode and I appeared in it. And we've been close friends ever since. He's one of my closest friends. And I, we see him and his part. They're all the time. Do you have intentional times during the week where you gather with friends? Is it a daily thing and weekly thing? No. No, it's what happens kind of. Yeah. Do you do dinner parties and that sort of thing? Yes. I have a fairly good size apartment. And we do parties there. I usually try to do Christmas. If we're here, we do Christmas with usually about 25 people. Wow. Mostly friends. Yeah. Very close friends. Yeah. And birthdays. I sometimes do it at my apartment.

36:55But sometimes I do it at a restaurant and I invite maybe 20 to 30 people. And you don't have to do the dishes. And no riots. And you don't have paper plays. I am lucky. There. I have friends of all ages and some very old old friends. One friend, she and I did showboat together. I think it is 70s, 60s or 70s. And we've been friends. Oh, 100s. And another, I was a good friend with a guy in New York. This woman married him and I met her then. And she lives out here now. So I see her all the time. So let's go back a long, long time at summer, do. So you rarely feel lonely? Very. No. I love you. Oh, you are. I really do. I really do. Because I think that working or with friends or you know, I love having time where I don't

37:56have to think about doing something. There's a big difference between being alone and feeling lonely. Oh, I don't feel lonely. And the loneliness, the feeling lonely is what kills you. Not I need my alone time, which is probably regenerative. Yeah. How about purpose? You know, I went to these blue zones and found five areas where people are living the longest. And one of the through threads where there was vocabulary for purpose. People knew why they woke up in the morning. If you had to sum up your purpose, the Okinawa is called Ikigai. Ikigai? Yeah. Ikigai. I think of it like that creepy guy at the end of the bar. What would you say your Ikigai is, your sense of purpose? This sounds silly, but to have my friends and to have them a part of my life, I think there's a purpose there. How do you do? Because sometimes you could get upset with somebody, but if you still keep seeing them or still have them in your circle, then that will go away and you'll go into a next phase with them.

39:02I've gone through so many phases with my friends, but I think that would be. If I didn't interest you, you didn't say working. You said friends, which is really telling. Yeah. How about diet, you know, for 96 year and fabulous shape? What do my doctors say to me? Why would I be telling you what to eat? Tell me. I eat fairly well. I eat too much candy, too much sweets, ice cream. But as far as food goes, I think I eat very well. I'm eating less. I think you should age. I've read that that you do eat less. And I just took about 20 pounds off. Wow. And I didn't diet. It was just too work and too eating and what I ate and what I didn't eat. Have you intentionally dieted through your life or you just ate what you have? And what's worked for you?

40:03Just less food. It's as simple as that. And I could do it fast. I've always been that way. I could lose very fast. You just have to pay attention. Yeah. Yeah, I joke I'm on a seafood diet. What? I eat the food I see. Oh, I was thinking, oh, what seafood does he know? The longest of people in the world. So one of the exercises we did was found the dietary surveys of what people ate in all five of the boozones over the last 100 years. Because if you want to know what 100-year-old ate to live to be 100, you have to know what you was eating as a little girl and middle age and lately. And on average, it's about 90% whole plant-based food. Meat on average is about five times a month, so a little bit more than once a week. But the five foods have been grains, corn, wheat, and rice, garden vegetables, especially greens.

41:04Green, there seems to be kind of a superpower in greens, tubers, like sweet potatoes, in Okinawa, Japan, until about 1975, over 70% of all their calories came from purple sweet potatoes. Not because they loved them, but that was because it was available. And it turns out luckily it's a very healthy food, high in protein. Overwhelmingly, the main snack was nuts, on a handful of nuts a day. And the cornerstone of every longevity diet in the world, you want to guess what it was? All right. Beans. A couple of beans a day is worth about four extra years of life expectancy over time. I got it. So that was what they ate most of the time. So I'm a big believer that those five pillars are. Yeah. How well does that match up to with what you would have? Not just fairly. I love, like last night I had barley soup. Barley, I don't. Aren't a choke soup. I didn't have macaroni and cheese after that.

42:04But I ate the barley first. And I certainly eat less meat. Now I grew up in a family that had steak almost every night. My father, that's what he loved. I mean, it wasn't every night, but we had steak and meat, ham a lot. As I got older and found other foods in that lesson. So I would say that probably since I moved to Cleveland in my 20s, that that lesson. Yeah. Well, if it didn't show up in your table every night, it's easier to put it on. No. And when we were eating Chinese, we were eating food that I certainly didn't know in Band-A-Lia. How about alcohol? I cut for a family that has drunk too much. And I've always drank alcohol. I'm drinking less and less. And I sometimes have atto-fib relation. And they now think that alcohol might cause that.

43:07So I'm trying to really stop the alcohol. We don't know for sure. But no, we don't. They made you a brilliant actor. All of those different. Because they used to say it was caffeine. And now they say you can have all the caffeine. They were thinking all the time. Yeah. They used to say caffeine was associated with cancer. Now they're saying that coffee is one of the best longevity beverages. And tell a guess. Yes. 10 years ago, wine lowered your chances of cardiovascular disease. Now they say it's bad for everything. But now tell you one thing in the blue zones, 90% of people make it 100 drink every day. Not a lot. Glass or two, mostly red wine. I don't think it's settled. Or whether or not alcohols or death. No, because the other doctor said it's stress. And then another doctor said, take those pills away from it. We think that might cause. I mean, I've had like three different doctors telling me. Yeah. But I still wouldn't. And we were just in New York.

44:08And I cannot drink in New York. I cannot drink here. The glass of wine with dinner and martini, everyone. I don't think there's anything wrong with it. The Greek guy I told you about. The guy who got lung cancer and moved back to Cady and met him at 103. I asked him. I said, did you ever figure out how you got rid of lung cancer? That's very rare. And he goes, yeah, yeah, I thought a lot about that. In fact, about 15 years ago, I went back to the United States to get some tests. I said, would you discover? He said nothing. I got back to the States and all my doctors were dead. Oh, he didn't have his test done. He all lived as doctors. I don't know. It's sort of like your doctor telling you, well, what? You tell him, you what he was so funny with it. He said, why should I try to tell you what they want? Exactly. I mean, part of the reason, June, I really wanted to talk to you is because I'm a big believer

45:08that people who've actually achieved the outcomes we want, which is, you know, you've outlived the vast majority of your cohort, people your age, your attractive, your sharp, your working people want you. So even though you might not think about what you have is what most of us want. And I'm so interested in like any sort of pearls of wisdom that, I don't know. I have no idea. I really don't. I think as I got older, I have been able to deal with things in a different way. And I do find if something rises, I deal with it, and it's over with. But I think that helps because I don't dwell. If I start dwelling on something I know I'm in trouble and I've made a mistake because to me, you take care of it right away. And then you don't have it anymore. And if that's just the sort of will of your mind, like, I'm okay.

46:09I spend three days worrying about that. Yeah. No more. Yeah. That's a powerful skill, I would say. And as I said, I learned very young that I had to be self-reliant. And I think it was a mixture of all kinds of things, you know. And I realized that where I was living was not conducive to me, to my ethos. Constitution, yeah. So I just think that that's always kind of been with me, you know. I've always sort of done that. I mean, you know, something comes up, you deal with it and you solve it. Do you date anymore? No. Done with that. When did you decide you're done with that? I dated when I first came out to California. I guess I just got bored, to be honest with you. And I'm sure it was who I was dating or who I was seeing or whatever. But I just felt it wasn't worth it. Do you think men in Hollywood are different than men elsewhere?

47:11No. No. No. And this is not anti-man. I don't mean it that way. As I said, if I had found somewhat of been with someone that was more, I don't know what I needed or what I wanted, you know, that I think I would still have, you know, felt differently about it. I think that's what happens so much though. You don't find someone and so you find ways of dealing with it yourself. Which is probably easier than settling. Yeah. For me, certainly it is. And mirroreds not positive, do you think? Yeah. I think it's very positive. I think that you have to be prepared to listen and to try to understand. And if things are negative, you have to try to understand why they're negative. You have to understand your mate.

48:11It's as simple as that. It takes work. So if you could sum it up and people love this, you're married 39 years to the very end. And it sounds like it was a good marriage. It was. Yeah. So what are three big lessons you learned about making, yeah, making a marriage work? Well, I listened a lot. He was an acting teacher and he was brilliant at it. And he talked about it over time. And we had friends that were there and they taught, I mean, you know, it was something that was in my years all the time. And I think it was important to him. And so maybe rather than say, I don't want to hear that anymore, I listen. It's a good lesson for all of us. You know, you have to help. You have to be ready to give to help your mate. He certainly helped me. So my helping him was in a very different way.

49:14But I think I did help him. He was a wonderful cook. And he used to say that I was so embarrassed by him cooking all the time. The minute he started cooking, I came out to the kitchen. And he had to run me off all the time. It wasn't growing crazy. But I think that's true. I think I was like, oh, I should be doing that. And it's not that I wanted to. It was like the old, this is what the wife should be doing. Yeah, yeah. He could so outcook me. It was ridiculous. Well, you could probably outact him. Well, yes, he was an actor too, but he ended director, but he was also a teacher. And that's where he really shown to sort of being closing, to make it to be 96, to have really no interest in retiring. Great friends. You're happy. You seem excited about life. If I were your son or your grandson, what advice would you give me if I wanted to reach age 96 with that kind of vigor and vitality and joy of life?

50:20Just what we've been talking about, I think. I think you forget what somebody might say to you. If it's not to your advantage, I mean, if you have a mentor, listen to them. I assume if it's a mentor, you believe in them. But just to have people say, don't do this, don't do this, do this, do this. That's destructive in anybody's life, I think. But I have a son who is 55 now and his father died of a stroke because his whole family had the high blood pressure, the strokes, the heart attacks it. So he knows half of his genes are from this gentleman who died fairly young. So he eats beautifully. He eats so much better than I do, even. But I think he feels he has to go against this side that his father, genes, were.

51:22Do you have another life goal? Do you have something you're really looking forward to? Something you have an accomplished step, but you want to accomplish? I enjoyed. We were in New York doing a mercury prime on stage and I hadn't done stage for years. I hadn't done waitress. I'd gone into that. I think it was 1917. And before that, it was even a longer time. And I hate to think that was the last time I would appear on stage. Not that that's, you know, I love doing film and it's easier to do film than it is to do a stage. But I just hate to think that might be the end of my stage career. Well, the good news is you have three films coming up. A lot of films. Yeah. Well, you're so incredibly inspirational and thank you for opening up and sharing with us and giving us some wisdom and inspiration.

52:23I've spoken to over 450 people over 90 as part of my work and you're one of the top. So I'm very, very grateful. Thank you. Thank you for sharing. It's really, really makes a difference. I hope it does. I just hope that people aren't afraid of age. We all know what happens to our bodies and it gets less easy to handle. But there are ways of dealing with that as well. You adapt, I suppose. Yes. I think you do surround yourself with the right people and get a good script and a martini every now and again. You've got it right there. Maybe that's the key. Thank you, June. Thank you.