AGING IN THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY “I think we are in another great upswing
with age inclusion. With shows like ‘The Cool Kids’ on Fox and everyone asking for the next Golden Girls, it means that we have a yearning to watch and tell sto- ries from all perspectives,” Milliner said. “And, every year I want to create my next ‘Hot In Cleveland’ because I just miss that show, those stories and those ladies so damn much.” Of working with White, Milliner doesn’t hold back on superlatives. “Best experience of my life. She’s hilarious and nicer than you’d even expect her to be. She’s also a terrifi c actor and human being. I think the things that I loved most, and there was a lot to love, is that Betty treated everyone with kindness and humor and respect,” he says. “It didn’t matter if you were the director, a stagehand, or a co-star or even a mediocre producer like myself. Everyone that was lucky enough to have her touch their life felt, in that moment, like the most impor- tant person in the world to Betty.”
The Golden Years
Back at the Gold- en Globes, it was notable that two stalwart actors in their 70s took home trophies. Even more nota- ble was the fact that this is the fi rst time Close, 71, has ever won a
major fi lm award in her entire 45-year career. It came for her role in feature fi lm “The Wife,” in which she plays a woman refl ecting back on the voluminous shades of compromise she’s lived as the wife of a renowned author. Backstage after she received the award,
she remarked on whether the landscape is changing in terms of good roles for women
over 40. “I think it is changing. The advan- tage of all the places where these wonder- ful stories are being told now, it’s a whole diff erent landscape and there’s so much content,” Close told Senior Living Executive. “And we’re getting to a point where women are taking control and developing produc- tion companies and nurturing stories that will give them good roles themselves and good roles for women.”
Michael Douglas, 74, was awarded for his role in “The Kominsky Method,” the Netflix series in which he por- trays a formerly successful actor turned acting coach who, with
his agent and best friend—portrayed by Alan Arkin—attempt to navigate their lives in an increasingly unforgiving world. Douglas told reporters after the awards
ceremony he was attracted to the project because its creator Chuck Lorre, known primarily for half-hour sitcoms, had a sense of humor about getting older, even though the portrait of aging and friendship isn’t all breezy. “When Chuck Lorre sent me his script, I
wasn’t thinking about streaming or getting involved, but it was such a good script and anybody who says ‘I fi nd getting old funny,’ I want to drink that Kool-Aid,” Douglas said. Patricia Arquette, also a Globes win-
ner for her portrayal of a former prison employee inShowtime drama “Escape at Dannemora,” is on the young end of the spectrum of older actors. But even at 50, she told reporters how grateful she was the show avoided both age and gender bias. “I felt so free. I never thought I would get a part like this at 50. Playing a woman
Now that the doors have been fl ung open by cable giants and indie movies and racial inclusion and the vastly diff erent audiences, there are, perhaps, a few more opportunities for the older actor to fi nd something a bit less pigeon-holing… but that's just one of my new-born hopes.
8 SENIOR LIVING EXECUTIVE JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2019
without a typical body type in Hollywood who is unapologetically sexual,” she said. “I have friends who do not have the typi- cal body type. One of them said, I want to thank you for this project.”
New Content, New Opportunities Venerable screen and stage actor Judd Hirsch, 83, echoes Close’s op- timism for more authentic roles in the new age of content creation and distribution. Hirsch shared his views on roles for
aging adults with Senior Living Executive. “Film and television have always been
about producers' limited vision of what con- stitutes a hit or a miss; a star or lesser actor; a safe bet or a chancy choice,” he said. “But now that the doors have been fl ung open by cable giants and indie movies and racial inclusion and the vastly diff erent audiences, there are, perhaps, a few more opportunities for the older actor to fi nd something a bit less pigeon-holing… but that's just one of my new-born hopes!” Hirsch most recently was seen on TV’s
“Superior Donuts” as donut shop owner Arthur Przybyszewski, who had to navi- gate changing times, the shop’s changing neighborhood, and changing perspectives courtesy of his new young employee, Franco Wicks, played by Jermaine Fowler. He said he was “lured by the idea [the se-
ries] was based on a somewhat serious play by Tracey Letts and the character was one of absolute importance to the show, which I thought had great possibilities for my input and could even rise to the stature of mean- ingful comedy… I liked the idea that Arthur was a guy with a defi nite past, a struggling present and a puzzling future. There was a promise in that part.” “It was always a tempting trap to make
jokes about Arthur being super old, close to dying, falling apart—and as a staff , we needed to be stewards of this,” said Betsy Thomas, a writer/director on “Superior Donuts.”
“It was never intentional age-
ism, but like so often happens in comedy, you fall for the joke and don't think through what the ramifi cations might be.” Thomas says writers would feel “a general
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