NEED TO KNOW<\/h3>\n\n- \n\n
Alan Hamel and Suzanne Somers enjoyed 55 years together before the actress’ death at 76 in 2023<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
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Hamel has spent many recent months pouring through his family’s personal archive of film and video, dating back to the 1960s<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
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The former talk show host, 89, tells PEOPLE about the emotional work of revisiting the past<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Alan Hamel<\/a> has bittersweet feelings as he goes through his personal photo and video archive.<\/p>\nThe 89-year-old has been combing through memories of days past as he prepares for several projects honoring his late wife Suzanne Somers<\/a>‘ legacy. With a documentary, a movie based on their love story, and an AI clone <\/a>that brings the experience of chatting with Suzanne to friends, family and fans, Hamel explains that he’s always been a fan of documenting life as it unfolds.<\/p>\n“I have been filming my family since the ’60s, and this is before video. Video started in 1960, but only for television. There was no video for home movies. And I started shooting Super eight film in the ’60s, and I have thousands of tapes of only the family that I have never seen, because once I shot the tape, I put it in a box,” he tells PEOPLE.<\/p>\n
“And what I’ve been doing, and this will all go into the documentary, what I’m doing is I’m playing all these tapes and digitizing them at the same time. And one day, after they’re all digitized, they will spend forever in a digital box. And the only people allowed to go in there would be the immediate family. There will only be two ways of going in. One will be facial technology and fingerprints and whatever happens down the road.”<\/p>\n
Never miss a story \u2014 sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter<\/a> to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer\u200b\u200b, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n
Alan Hamel and Suzanne Somers enjoyed 55 years together before the actress’ death at 76 in 2023<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
Hamel has spent many recent months pouring through his family’s personal archive of film and video, dating back to the 1960s<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
The former talk show host, 89, tells PEOPLE about the emotional work of revisiting the past<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Alan Hamel<\/a> has bittersweet feelings as he goes through his personal photo and video archive.<\/p>\n The 89-year-old has been combing through memories of days past as he prepares for several projects honoring his late wife Suzanne Somers<\/a>‘ legacy. With a documentary, a movie based on their love story, and an AI clone <\/a>that brings the experience of chatting with Suzanne to friends, family and fans, Hamel explains that he’s always been a fan of documenting life as it unfolds.<\/p>\n “I have been filming my family since the ’60s, and this is before video. Video started in 1960, but only for television. There was no video for home movies. And I started shooting Super eight film in the ’60s, and I have thousands of tapes of only the family that I have never seen, because once I shot the tape, I put it in a box,” he tells PEOPLE.<\/p>\n “And what I’ve been doing, and this will all go into the documentary, what I’m doing is I’m playing all these tapes and digitizing them at the same time. And one day, after they’re all digitized, they will spend forever in a digital box. And the only people allowed to go in there would be the immediate family. There will only be two ways of going in. One will be facial technology and fingerprints and whatever happens down the road.”<\/p>\n Never miss a story \u2014 sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter<\/a> to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer\u200b\u200b, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. <\/strong><\/p>\n