Sally Struthers: ‘The Brain Needs to be Used, and I Push Mine All the Time’

To still be a working actor at 77 —  what does that mean to you?

Well, it seems trite, but the word that comes to mind, if I just would put it all in one word, would be grateful. Because I'm a woman, and I'm an older woman, and pretty much show business in general tosses we females out around age 40. 

What is the challenge in doing a play at 77?

It’s not my stamina. It's now becoming a mental thing. I'm having more and more difficulty memorizing so many lines. It's easier to memorize lyrics in a musical because they go with music. And somehow or other, that makes it easier. When you're the character driving the dialogue and your particular line isn't an answer to the previous person's line, it's exponentially more difficult to learn. 

What do you credit your career longevity to?

I happen to have the good fortune of landing the role of Gloria on a groundbreaking television series that changed the face of television. And that made me known around the world. And that has kept people giving me jobs, because they believe that my name puts human beings in their theater seats. There's an older crowd that remembers me from All in the Family. There's a younger crowd that knows me from Gilmore Girls. And then other people who've seen me on Broadway or in movies, and they all are curious. “What does she look like now? Can she still … ? We got to go see her.” I know how lucky I am.

Sally Stuthers, right, shares a laugh with Margaret Avery in Netflix's "A Man on the Inside."

Courtesy Netflix

We have to talk about Gilmore Girls. My 17-year-old daughter and my 62-year-old sister watch that series over and over. What was that experience like?

Oh, that was seven joyful years with my dear friend Liz Torres, who 30 years earlier had played a nursing student for a year on All in the Family. She and I had become close at that time and have remained close, and then there we were, back together again. By Wednesday [of filming week], the [week’s] director would separate [Liz] from me because we were laughing too much and interrupting the shots.

How do you feel about turning 80?

I'm not there yet. When I am, it won't make any difference to me because I just find every year to be a gift, and I always am learning something new every day and I'm always meeting new people and I'm always getting a new job, and I really think that that's what keeps me going. I lost my mom to Alzheimer's. Hers was a nine-year journey, and it was so painful for all of us to lose her a little bit every day. I do a lot of reading about Alzheimer's, and one of the things we are told is that female offspring of Alzheimer's patients are the most likely to have it. So if you can't find your car keys and that's how you lost your mom, you say, here it is. You forget that everybody can't find their car keys. 

How do you spend your non-working time?

I read everything. I read books. I read novels. I read the newspaper. I read on my phone. I love to find out new things, and I'm always sharing them with other people. I'm always sending an article off to this friend and to my nephew. I walk my dog. I call my friends. 

Any dream roles you still want to conquer on the stage?

I've done every role that I could possibly be cast in in musicals and loved all of them. Two of my favorites are playing Dolly Levi in Hello, Dolly!, which I've done a lot of, and playing Miss Hannigan in Annie. I've done that more than anything, and they're both delicious to play. 

Any actor you haven't worked with that you still want to work with?

Oh, man, oh man. If he were still alive, I would love to work with Gregory Peck, because I was in love with him as a girl. I fell in love with him when I saw To Kill a Mockingbird. And then I did get to meet him one evening in a restaurant. I'd love to work with Robert De Niro. He just keeps chugging along, too. I would love to make a film with [my best friend] Brenda Vaccaro. I would love [Tony Award-winning playwright] Joe DiPietro to write a movie for Brenda and me.