Alan Alda just turned 90, and he's handling it with the wit that made him a legend.
The M*A*S*H icon opened up about his milestone birthday at a "Conversation: More Rules for Aging" event in New York City on May 21. He recounted the moment he realised he'd joined the 90 club: dinner out, a cupcake with a candle, the waiter leading the singing—except the restaurant staff told him they didn't help him blow it out, just to make the point.
"They kind of let you know," Alda deadpanned.
The legendary actor doesn't count his age in years. "I don't count how old I am by the number of years I've lived," he explained. "I counted by how many times a day somebody says, 'Can I help you?'" His three daughters are all now on Medicare.
Alda has been battling Parkinson's disease, diagnosed over a decade ago. Rather than let it define him, he has reframed the neurological condition as a "really interesting puzzle" to solve.
Through it all, Alda has had his wife Arlene, whom he married nearly 70 years ago when he was 21. The couple met at a 1957 party where they bonded over eating rum cake that had fallen on the floor. They still regularly discuss what their lives would look like if one of them went first. He crashed a car into a divider while having this exact conversation with Carl Reiner, who later roasted him for it.
At 90, Alda proves that getting older is less about the number and more about the stories you collect along the way.
