June Squibb: The 94-year-old actress lands first leading role – and why she won’t succumb to stereotypes | Ents & Arts News

Even as the age of retirement continues to creep up for many, most people would assume they will have long finished work by the time they turn 94 – indeed think themselves lucky to even reach 94.

But for actress June Squibb, 94 is the age that her first film in which she plays the lead role hits cinemas.

Thelma is a brilliantly creative take on the comedy-action genre, with Squibb playing a woman who after falling for a phone scam, heads out on a mobility scooter to track down those who have wronged her.

It’s fun but there is a serious message about how society treats its older members – with Thelma something of an inspiration for those who might feel sidelined.

“For me, it’s what you don’t do – you don’t listen to all those people who say you can’t do things,” Squibb said.

“But I’ve always been that way. It just is a part of age, you know, ‘oh to hell with it, I’ll do what I want to’.”

It’s perhaps no surprise that the actor found some common ground with her character.

She said: “I think in reading the script, I found that this woman was someone that I understood completely, and I loved her grit, her determination.

“And I think I would do the same thing if somebody got money from me, you know, I would say, ‘I’m going to go get that back’. I would try, so I really related to her.”

Just like Thelma, Squibb isn’t going to give in to the stereotypes of old age.

She says continuing to take on roles is about much more than just work.

“I just always thought of myself as an actor,” she explained.

“Even when I wasn’t one, the early, early years, this is just who I was.

“I feel I learn with each job, I learn something about acting, but I also learn about myself, and so it’s like a trip or it’s like finding out something very special each time I work.”

Thelma might be Squibb’s first leading role but she’s in no way new to showbusiness.

Her career began on Broadway in 1959, with her first film role in 1990’s Woody Allen rom-com Alice.

Other movie credits include 2013’s Nebraska, which saw her earning an Oscar nomination, and animated films including Toy Story 4 and more recently the box office smash Inside Out 2.

During those decades of work she has of course seen plenty of change.

“I do think that the attitude towards women has changed, and I think the attitude towards age has changed,” she said.

“We now have some wonderful leading ladies in their 40s, 50s, 60s, probably, and it’s not so strange.

“I mean, I think it’s accepted, and I don’t think even 20 years ago that that was something that was accepted.

“So, I think that we are seeing a difference, and I think perhaps with a movie like Thelma, we’re showing that the audience wants to see something different, something that they haven’t seen before.”

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And after achieving a landmark career moment in her first leading role, Squibb shows no sign of slowing down.

Testament, she thinks, to a new appetite for films about the elderly.

She said: “I think we’re getting a different attitude towards ageing.

“I think everybody wants to know more about it just because the population is ageing and so I think it’s something that interests people, even younger people, and so I think I’m lucky that I am working still at this time of life.

“And I just finished another one. We started in January and ended in April, and that is a leading lady in her 90s.

“So, I don’t know, maybe something’s happening with the whole industry, that age is really something that people are really interested in.”

So, at 94 with leading roles now under her belt, is there anything left on Squibb’s acting bucket list?

“I would love to do a Western, I’ve never done one, and I just think it would be great, great fun to do.

“The whole thing of the Western landscape would be great fun to work in.”

Riding off into the sunset a mere work ambition then – as at the age of 94, Squibb’s career continues to blossom.

Thelma is out now in UK cinemas.