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My first experience with Rita Moreno, being a child of the '70s, was her performance in the PBS children's television show, "The Electric Company." Moreno played many different recurring characters, including a brash movie director and a little girl with blonde sausage curls in a frilly pink dress, but what I remember her for most is her shrill catchphrase that kicked off the opening credits: "Heeeey, yooooouuuu guuuuuuuuyssssss!!!!" I later came to appreciate her vocal talents when she appeared on the Muppet Show to sing the sultry "Fever" with help - er, "help" - from Animal. And finally, when I discovered musical theatre, I also discovered her amazing triple-threat skills in her Academy Award-winning performance in the movie of "West Side Story." Moreno later became a member of the exclusive EGOT club, having won an Emmy (actually, two; one for her performance on "The Muppet Show" and another for a guest appearance on "The Rockford Files"), a Grammy (for an "Electric Company" album), the aforementioned Oscar, and a Tony (for her performance in "The Ritz"). She also has a pile of other awards and nominations, including BAFTAs, daytime Emmys, Golden Globes, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild.
With all these awards, you might think that at age 86 she'd be ready to sit back and relax. But not this spitfire. Not only does she still perform regularly, she's currently co-starring in the remake of the sitcom "One Day at a Time." And she looks - and sounds - great doing it.
Gorgeous then, gorgeous now
Yes, nearly 60 years ago. And Moreno still has the vocals and the dance skills to hold her own against a performer 50+ years her junior. AND she still looks fabulous doing it.
But Moreno is far from the only stage, movie, or television performer in her 80s who is still going strong and looking fabulous. Let's check out some other performers that we can all aspire to be in a few more years.
Betty White
White is commonly credited as having the longest television career of any female performer, starting out with a bit part on a local variety show in 1939, just after graduating high school, and continuing to the present day. Her most well-known roles include Sue Ann Nivens on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and Rose Nyland on "The Golden Girls," but she had recurring and guest roles on a number of other shows from the 1940s on. In addition, she performed on a number of radio shows, even hosting her own show, had small roles in a number of films, and was the first woman to produce a sitcom. She has won eight Emmy Awards, a Grammy Award, and multiple other awards.
Then (1965) and now (2017)
White is now 96 and is experiencing a surge in popularity. She shows no sign of slowing down!
Perhaps most famous for his role as Hannibal Lechter in "The Silence of the Lambs," for which he won an Academy Award, Hopkins has also won several Emmy Awards. His first television appearance was in 1960 and he has been working steadily in film, television, and stage roles ever since, with his most recent role being Pope Benedict in the Netflix movie, "The Pope".
Just as dashing and elegant in the '70s as he is today
Hopkins has over 30 films to his credit just since 2000. At age 80, he's working just as hard as he ever was.
Carol Burnett
Most well known for her long-running variety show in the '60s and '70s, "The Carol Burnett Show," Burnett had a varied career on stage and in films as well as on television. Her first big break was as the star of "Once Upon a Mattress" on Broadway, for which she received a Tony Award nomination, followed quickly by winning an Emmy Award for her work on "The Garry Moore Show." Her career continued with many different stage, television, and film appearances, including being the first celebrity to appear on the children's show, "Sesame Street."
Opting for goofy more often than glamour, Burnett can still work both looks
At age 85, Burnett is currently hosting a television series called "A Little Help with Carol Burnett," an unscripted show in which children offer advice to both celebrities and average people.
Dick Van Dyke
Van Dyke is known for so many iconic roles that it's difficult to pick out which one he's most famous for: Rob Petrie in "The Dick Van Dyke Show," Bert in "Mary Poppins," Albert Peterson in "Bye Bye Birdie" (both on Broadway and in the film version), or as Dr. Mark Sloan in "Diagnosis Murder". His major awards include a Tony for "Birdie," multiple Emmy Awards, and a Grammy Award for the "Mary Poppins" soundtrack. Van Dyke has also authored five books.
Still dapper, and still singing and dancing
Now 92, Van Dyke's most recent film appearance is a cameo in the soon-to-be-released sequel to "Mary Poppins," "Mary Poppins Returns." Plus, he's still performing live, as in this February 2018 performance at the Catalina Bar & Grille in Hollywood.
Much like Betty White, Smith has been steadily working since her youth, but experienced a recent resurgence in her career. Her most well-known roles of late are the quick-witted and sharp-tongued Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess, on "Downton Abbey," and the equally (albeit more subtly) snarky Professor McGonagall in the Harry Potter movies. No one delivers a elegantly snide barb quite like Maggie Smith. Smith has been delivering lines brilliantly on stage and screen since her Broadway debut in 1956. With two Academy Award nominations (for "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" and "California Suite"), four Emmy Awards (three for "Downton" and one for "My House in Umbria"), a Tony Award (for "Lettice and Lovage"), and five BAFTA Awards (the British equivalent of the Oscar), Smith continues to deliver brilliant performances.
Her ability to speak volumes without saying a word hasn't changed
Now 83, Dame Maggie's most recent work is as the voice of Lady Bluebury in the 2018 animated film, "Sherlock Gnomes," the sequel to "Gnomeo and Juliet," as well as the film "Nothing Like a Dame."
Clint Eastwood
With his rugged good looks and outdoorsy masculinity, it's no surprise that Eastwood first made his name acting in the television series "Rawhide" and as the title role in the Dirty Harry movie series. Eastwood has worked steadily as a film and television actor since the 1950s, and also as a director, starting with "Play Misty for Me" in 1971. He won Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture for both "Unforgiven" and "Million Dollar Baby," also receiving a Best Actor nomination for each.
Still ruggedly handsome at age 88, Eastwood has no plans to slow down, commenting, "Everybody wonders why I continue working at this stage. I keep working because there's always new stories. ... And as long as people want me to tell them, I'll be there doing them."
Julie Andrews
Best known for her roles in stage and screen musicals including "The Sound of Music," "Mary Poppins," "Camelot," "My Fair Lady," "Cinderella" and countless others, Dame Julie surprisingly does not have a Tony Award to her credit (although she was nominated for both "My Fair Lady" and "Camelot", as well as for "Victor/Victoria," although she declined the latter because she felt the rest of the company had been overlooked), but she does have an Oscar (for "Mary Poppins"), several Grammys (one for "Poppins," one for a spoken-word recording of stories and poems, and a Lifetime Achievement Award), and two Emmy Awards (one for her variety show and one for a series called "Broadway: The American Musical"). Sadly, in 1997 she underwent a botched surgery for vocal cord nodules and never really recovered her singing voice. She was, however, able to recover her speaking voice, and continued to perform in movies, including "The Princess Diaries" and its sequel, and television movies based on the "Eloise" book series. She has also performed voice work in numerous movies, including the Shrek and Despicable Me series. In addition, she has written more than 20 children's books, and in 2016 created a children's television show with her daughter called "Julie's Greenroom."
She's still loverly
Andrews is still busily working at 82.
James Earl Jones
Probably one of the most recognizable voices in the movies (thanks in great part to voicing Darth Vader in the Star Wars movies), Jones has had a long career on stage as well as in film and television. His Broadway career is heavily weighted towards Shakespeare, but he holds two Tony Awards for his roles in "The Great White Hope" and "Fences." He was also nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for the film version of "The Great White Hope" (the second African-American actor to do so), and is the only actor ever to to win to Emmy Awards in the same year, when he won Best Actor for his role in "Gabriel's Fire" and Best Supporting Actor for his role in "Heat Wave" in 1991. He also has a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album. Although he never won a competitive Oscar, he was awarded an Honorary Academy Award in 2011.
I'd let either version read me the phone book - wouldn't you?
Jones is revisiting his voice role as Mufasa in the live-action remake of Disney's "The Lion King" in 2019. Jones will be 88 years old when the movie is released.
Judi Dench
Another steadily working performer on stage, screen, and television who really came into her own in her later years, Dench's career began with extensive stage work and several long-running television series, with only infrequent (and usually supporting) film roles. In the mid-1990s, her film career took off as she took on the role of M in the James Bond films. Now a remarkable seven-time Academy Award nominee, she won the award for her role in "Shakespeare in Love." She has won ten BAFTA awards (6 for film and 4 for television), and a Tony Award for her role in "Amy's View."
She's been rocking her signature pixie cut since the 1960s
Notable films in recent years include "Philomena," "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" and its sequel, "The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel," "Victoria and Abdul," the 2017 remake of "Murder on the Orient Express," and the recently-released "Nothing Like a Dame."
Donald Sutherland
Sutherland's film credits actually begin with a "non-credit" - an uncredited role in a 1963 film called "The World Ten Times Over" listed as simply "Tall Man in Nightclub." Sutherland's film and television career has been incredibly busy throughout his lifetime, with notable roles in "M*A*S*H" (the film), "Ordinary People," "A Dry White Season," "Six Degrees of Separation," Invasion of the Body Snatchers," "The Dirty Dozen," and "Klute," among others. More recently, he has portrayed the insidious President Snow in the Hunger Games trilogy.
With 2004 the last year Sutherland didn't have at least one film on his resume (and often 2 or 3) and 2003 the last year he didn't have any television credits, there's no reason to expect Sutherland's career to slow down any time soon.
Chita Rivera
Any list that starts with Rita Moreno has to include Chita Rivera, Moreno's longtime friendly rival. Rivera originated the role of Anita in "West Side Story" on Broadway, the role which won Moreno an Oscar for the film version. (Despite the change in casting and many ongoing Chita/Rita jokes, both women admit to being great fans of each other. When asked about the "rivalry," Moreno responded, "Oh God, no...it's all in fun. We always go to see each other perform. She's a fabulous talent and a wonderful person." Rivera spent less time on the screen than she did on stage, with minor roles in the film musicals of "Chicago" and "Sweet Charity," plus a handful of TV movies and a guest spot or two on a television series. But on Broadway, Rivera originated many now-iconic theatrical roles, including Velma Kelly in "Chicago," Rose Alvarez in "Bye Bye Birdie" (another role for which Rivera was passed over for in the film version, this time to Janet Leigh), Liliane La Fleur in "Nine," and the title role in "Kiss of the Spider Woman" (which won her a Tony Award; her second, following her previous win for "The Rink"). Despite a serious car accident in 1986 which broke her leg in 12 places, requiring 18 screws, 2 braces, and months of rehab and physical therapy, Rivera continued to perform.
Rivera as Anita in 1957 and the Chita-Rita duo in 2015
At age 85, Rivera is still going strong. Her most recent Broadway role was Kander and Ebb's final musical, "The Rink," for which she received a 2015 Tony nomination.
Kinda gives you something to aspire to, doesn't it?
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