I went into the family business. To me, it was the norm and not the exception.

I'm interested in playing old ladies because I am becoming one. And I want to become a very good one!

When you look at me you don't immediately imagine a very very glamorous icon, so it's only in the theater that I get to do these experiments. I've been an actor about 51 years now. I've played everything from an 8-year-old black boy to a 72-year-old French matriarch, and they hardly hire you to do that on TV.

I don't take part in texting and those other things myself, so I don't really know if people put as much thought into messaging as they used to into writing letters.

You know, my hair is very upsetting to people, but it's upsetting on purpose. It is important to look old so that the young will not be afraid of dying. People don't like old women. We don't honor age in our society, and we certainly don't honor it in Hollywood.

Both my parents were actors. I was schooled to think that acting was an important social service, that it was something that human beings need.

I went into the family business. To me, it was the norm and not the exception.