What a Bunch of Older Actors Managed to Create

In our 80s, we're proving that we're still in the game.

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Published December 24, 2025
Paul Spella (Getty Images, Courtesy Kathryn Leigh Scott)

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“Let’s call it The Old and the Restless!” Susan Sullivan, my pal of 60-plus years, laughed, “because that’s who we are!” Indeed, at age 82, we’re both still working actresses, game for whatever comes next.

Susan and I agreed that we should add that subtitle to the video series, What Friends Do, before launching our fourth season. The series, a humorous take on older adults navigating life after the pandemic, was our response as actors to the isolation caused by COVID-19. With social distancing imposing limitations on our work and daily lives, we needed to find ways to remain active and creatively engaged.

We turned to our pal, Todd Felderstein, a director member of the Actor’s Studio, who had launched Smartphone Theatre, a livestream digital performance platform, to host our series.

What Friends Do: The Old and the Restless is an apt description of who we are — actors in our 80s who have worked together and remained close friends throughout the course of our decades-long careers. The title also reflects the series' premise: four old actor friends reconnect in a senior living community. And, with humor and frank reality checks, help each other cope with aging — and staying in the game.

Even at this stage of life, as working actors, it’s hard for us to imagine not being just a phone call away from the next acting gig.

Susan Sullivan and her partner, writer Connell Cowen, a psychologist and author of The New York Times bestseller Smart Women/Foolish Choices, explore the importance of staying active and connected later in life, both in professional and personal relationships. Other actual longtime actor friends play actor friends who find themselves facing the realities of aging, loneliness, mortality and the comfort of having each other to turn to. Besides Susan (Falcon Crest, Castle) and me (Dark Shadows, Star Trek), our cast includes David Selby (Dark Shadows, Falcon Crest) and Granville “Sonny” Van Dusen (Soap, The West Wing).

“I see our cast of characters as playful and vital despite the inevitable dents along the way, “ Connell says. “They may be old in clock years, but they are still very much young at heart. While they each deal with the obstacles of aging in their own ways, old rivalries, ambitions and never-forgotten romantic attractions lead to some amusing and dangerous corners.”

Inevitably, there’s a crossover between our own experiences and those of the characters we play. We dealt with the death of a close friend when original cast member Mitch Ryan (Dark Shadows, Dharma & Greg) passed away. When an actor in our series was diagnosed with cancer, one of the characters underwent cancer treatment. Another character dealt with widowhood through the actor’s real-life experience of losing a spouse.

All the vagaries of aging — aches/pains/falls/memory lapses/loss of libido and quests to satisfy a bucket list of now-or-never aspirations and experiences — figure into the world of our characters, and in our own lives. One example is our personal struggles with adapting to new technology.

For some of us, who began our careers in the 1960s era of “live” TV, mastering the technical intricacies of recording scenes together from three different time zones gives a whole new meaning to “staying connected.” As challenging as learning new digital skills can be, Connell points out the importance of keeping our brains flexible by doing things we aren’t accustomed to doing.

“Neuroplasticity is stimulated by novelty and challenge, and getting neurons to fire together that usually have no communication with one another,” he says.

When our own aging neurons miscommunicate during recording sessions and we suddenly find ourselves facing a blank screen (as too often happens!), we turn to Todd Felderstein, our technical director, to get us back online. Not only are we developing new skills at this stage of life, but we’re also reinforcing memory, expanding emotional range, sharpening analytical thinking and engaging in teamwork, all attributes that carry over into our daily lives and slow down the aging process.

“Creative pursuits, whatever they are, stimulate all aspects of our lives,” Sullivan says. “I think sometimes we miss the fact that making a good cup of coffee can feel creative. To me, staying creative, connected and having fun are vital components of aging well.”

Sonny Van Dusen discusses how reconnecting with old actor pals and our director, Asaad Kelada (Family Ties, Who’s the Boss?), is a joyful and uplifting experience. “I play an aging ex-leading man who was a famous womanizer and still believes he's romantically viable. Now THAT'S acting!”

For me, there is immense joy and comfort in staying close to friends I’ve known since “way back when.” Sonny and I were students in the same college theatre department, and David, Susan and I were all in the cast of Dark Shadows, a show celebrating its 60th anniversary.

Reuniting from distant parts of the country to work in a medium not imagined when we began our careers is stimulating and fun, keeping us relevant and reminding us of why we got into this crazy profession in the first place.

Each new script is as unexpected and enriching as life itself, invigorating my imagination, teaching me something new about myself and rejuvenating my wonder in the world around me. Please join us for new episodes of What Friends Do: The Old and the Restless.

What do YOU do to stay connected and feel relevant as you age? Let us know in the comments below.

Kathryn Leigh Scott is an author and actress who has written a trilogy of books on caregiving: Now With You, Now Without, The Happy Hours and A Welcome Respite, and the novels September Girl, Jinxed, Down and Out in Beverly Heels and Dark Passages. Other nonfiction includes the Lobby Card books on film art, Last Dance at the Savoy and The Bunny Years. She began her acting career playing Maggie Evans/Josette DuPres in the original Dark Shadows, and is still a working actress. Follow her on facebook.com/kathrynleighscott and kathrynleighscott.com.