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https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/may/26/my-mother-didnt-try-to-stab-my-father-until-i-was-six-alan-alda-on-childhood-marriage-and-60-years-of-stardom>
"Alan Alda never expected this. The 89-year-old is back topping the charts with
an update of his film
The Four Seasons. In 1981, Alda wrote, directed and
starred in the movie about three inseparable couples who holiday together every
quarter until divorce, envy and angst intervene.
Now the film has been turned into a TV series by Tina Fey, with Alda as a
producer and, at the time of writing, it is the fourth most watched show on
Netflix. “It’s really interesting to have my work appeal to a new generation of
very smart writers,” he tells me on a video call from New York. What gave him
even more pleasure was watching a screening of the original movie a couple of
weeks ago. “The people were laughing at the same things they were 44 years ago.
And just as heartily. It was so good to see that the point of view wasn’t
outdated.”
Alda makes a cameo appearance at the start of the TV series as Don, an elderly
man with Parkinson’s disease. “At the moment, I can play anyone with
Parkinson’s,” he says. He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2015 and went
public about it in 2018. His shakes are now pronounced, the gorgeous jet-black
hair is long gone, and he looks his age. But as soon as his face breaks out
into that familiar cheek-to-cheek grin, he becomes boyish again. Not quite the
Hawkeye of yesteryear, but a venerable facsimile."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics