NEW YORK − Age is just a number for June Squibb.
The “Thelma” actress, 95, has been nothing short of prolific since her Oscar-nominated turn in Alexander Payne’s “Nebraska” in 2013. Of her 102 screen credits, 54 of those are from the last decade, with scene-stealing roles in “Hubie Halloween,” “Inside Out 2” and ABC’s “Modern Family.”
Squibb stars in the new movie “Eleanor the Great” (in theaters now), which marks the directorial debut of Scarlett Johansson. And later this year, she’ll return to Broadway alongside Cynthia Nixon in “Marjorie Prime,” a family drama that grapples with artificial intelligence and Alzheimer’s disease. In the play, she’ll portray an ailing woman who spends her final days with a holographic version of her late husband.
‘The two of us, forever 35!’: Scarlett Johansson has a ‘lovely’ new friend in June Squibb
“Marjorie” starts performances at the Hayes Theater on Nov. 20, just two weeks after Squibb’s 96th birthday. She intends to celebrate with a few friends over dinner, probably at one of her favorite restaurants in the New York theater district.
“I’m mad about Joe Allen,” Squibb says in a joint interview with Johansson. “I’ve spent a lot of my life going there.”
“And all of her money! A rager at Joe Allen!” quips Johansson, 40, who won a Tony Award in 2010 for her Broadway debut in “A View from the Bridge.”
Squibb made her Broadway debut in 1960 as the stripper Electra in the original production of “Gypsy,” and she last appeared in the Sara Bareilles musical “Waitress” in late 2018. She was drawn to Jordan Harrison’s script for “Marjorie Prime,” which like “Eleanor the Great,” explores mortality and memory.
“Being offered a Broadway show is pretty hard to turn down, period,” Squibb says. “I really just felt this is something I could do onstage. And even physically, (my character is) sitting in a chair talking the whole time. So I just felt yes, I can do this.”
On days when she’ll have both matinee and evening performances, she’ll likely just stay at the theater and order in delivery for dinner. Although back when she was doing “The Happy Time” on Broadway in 1968, “my husband would meet me and I’d have one martini, and then go do the show,” Squibb says with a smile.
With both her new movie and stage play, Squibb is pleased to be telling stories that show the realities of aging for women. In “Eleanor,” her spunky, sharp-tongued character is struggling to move forward after losing her best friend.
“I don’t think you see women like Eleanor on screen all that often,” Squibb says. “Having empathy for each other is important, because I don’t think we’re doing that enough now. But somebody might change by seeing this film – they truly might.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: June Squibb opens up about Broadway return in ‘Marjorie Prime’
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source ca.news.yahoo.com ’
