Gerald Gardner - 80. From Ben Bradlee to Lena Horne to Carl Reiner, Our Most Famous Eighty Year Olds...

Gerald Gardner & Jim Bellows

Copyright 2007 by Gerald Gardner and Jim Bellows
Cover and internal design 2007 by Sourcebooks, Inc.
Sourcebooks and the colophon are registered trademarks of Sourcebooks, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systemsexcept in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviewswithout permission in writing from its publisher, Sourcebooks, Inc.

Published by Sourcebooks, Inc.
P.O. Box 4410, Naperville, Illinois 60567-4410 (630) 961-3900
Fax: (630) 961-2168
www.sourcebooks.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Gardner, Gerald C.

80 : eighty famous people in their eighties talk about how they got there and live there/by
Gerald Gardner and Jim Bellows.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Older peopleUnited StatesBiography. 2. United StatesBiography. 3. Biography20th century. 4. CelebritiesUnited StatesBiography. 5. EntertainersUnited StatesBiography. I. Bellows, Jim, 1917 - II.Title. III.Title: Eighty.

CT220.G37 2007
920.073dc22

2007020377

Printed and bound in the United States of America.

RRD 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

OTHER BOOKS BY GERALD GARDNER

Whos in Charge Here?

Robert Kennedy in New York

All the PresidentsWits

The Mocking of the President

The Watergate Follies

The Censorship Papers

The Quotable Mr. Kennedy

The Shining Moments

I Coulda Been a Contender

None of the Above

The Tara Treasury (with Harriet Modell Gardner)

The Way I Was (with Marvin Hamlisch)

OTHER BOOKS BY JIM BELLOWS

The Last Editor

EDITED BY JIM BELLOWS

The New York Herald Tribune

The Washington Star

The Los Angeles Herald Examiner

For my wife,
Pearl,
with love

* * *

For my wife,
Keven,
with whom Ive spent a treasured thirty-five years

Age, you sneak
you pilfer blossoms
swipe cookies from the jar when our backs are turned
look innocent when you change our handwriting and forge our names
youre the commonest of thief
yet like a magpie you leave something in exchange for what you steal
dollops of understanding
a shard or two of wisdom
remembrances of love
and now and then, for beauty taken
beauty given.
Norman Corwin

Old age is not for sissies.

Bette Davis

HOW DO YOU WRITE acknowledgments for a book in which everything is contributed by others? It is no easy task.

First among equals deserving acknowledgment is Keven Bellows, who contributed suggestions about whom to include, as well as creative ideas and editorial support. With humor and devotion, she undertook the immense logistical job of communicating with our far-flung company. The task of dealing with fourscore busy, talented, and inaccessible peoplea Whos Who of the media, entertainment, and literary worldsand doing so within a daunting time frame is difficult to imagine. Through it all, Keven supported the authors and contributors with unflagging good cheer and efficiency.

Pearl Morris Gardner, our resident lawyer, mixed admonitions with inventive suggestions and conceptual thinking, combining the best qualities of Clarence Darrow, Maxwell Perkins, and Sol Hurok.

In addition, our gratitude goes to the wonderful folks who served as conduits to our octogenarians by putting us in touch with friends and urging them to join our journey. They include Dick Wald, Saul Turtletaub, Norman Lear, Lennie and Debbie Green, Fred Hayman, Annie and Steve Arvin, Irv Zeiger, David Halberstam, Jimmy Breslin, Warren Cowan, Larry Gelbart, Judi Davidson, Ben Starr, Stewart Weiner, Art Stollnitz, Marcia Bullard, David Israel, Mitch Albom, Don Gregory, Sue Terry, Betty Goodwin, Mary Lou Luther, Edith Tolkin, Karl Fleming, Martin Bernheimer, Mary Anne Dolan, Greg and Sara Bernstein, Cokie Roberts, Leonard Maltin, and Lindsay Gardner.

The authors also offer their gratitude to Norman Zafman for his guidance in matters of consent and releases.

We also thank Stephanie Sills, who tracked down the often elusive folks behind the curtains that shield the world of the famous from the rest of us; Rachel Nelson, who kept her sanity while organizing a mailing program that would rival the operations of the Republican National Committee; Peter Bernstein, who was always there to provide succor and expertise when our computers threatened to crash; Sterling Lord, our eminent literary agent, who went beyond the call of duty in providing us access to some of his distinguished clients; and Hillel Black, our eminent editor at Sourcebooks, Inc., for his skill and guidance.

Most of all, however, we thank the Golden Eighty who interrupted their eventful lives to lend their thoughts, reflections, and anecdotes to this work. They recognized, sometimes more presciently than we ourselves, what a unique volume we were compiling. Through their participation, this project became something unique.

Our contributors have been on an incredible expedition, and as the enablers of their reflections, we have been on one, too. Touching their minds and hearts, however briefly, has provided us particular pleasure and our readers particular insight.

Life is, of course, a complex journey, with many side roads to be explored. There is no one route for the trip, as our variegated stories suggest. Nor is there a navigation device to map our path, or even pinpoint the destination. Every narrative on these pages glows with a love of life, and in sum they form a treasure. So we thank our contributors, most humbly, for sharing this journey with us.

SCOTT FITZGERALD FAMOUSLY wrote that there are no second acts in American lives. If Fitzgerald knew any of the eighty famous people in their eighties whose words brighten this book, he would have had second thoughts. These luminous folks have had at least three or four acts in their lives. Some are at work on a fifth.

Born in or before what Fitzgerald called the Jazz Age, these peoples lives have been passionate, resolute, and peripatetic. In these pages they share a road map to the landmarks along the way and a glimpse of the land in which they flourish today. Their personal accounts in their ninth decade are enriched by reflections and anecdotes about the past and paint an arresting picture of the present. We see some of the qualities that sustain their lengthy and productive lives. However, they are neither awed nor frightened nor sentimental about their age. In fact, a few of them are downright angry about getting old. Most, though, are witty, fascinating, and ultimately triumphant. Their words are personal, spirited, and unpretentious. And they inspire.

Im glad Im not young anymore. Alan Jay Lerner in Gigi

Many bookshelves groan under the weight of books on aging. But no man or woman knows a country until he or she has lived in it. Our awesome company knows the territory of the eighties because they have populated itvibrantly. Indeed, they are the pioneers.