As far back as she can remember, June Squibb knew she wanted to be an actor. "And it's funny," she says, "because it never occurred to me that I had to become one. I just thought, 'I am an actor.'"
Despite an early love of movies — her mother played piano accompaniment for silent films during the 1920s, and, as a young girl, Squibb remembers spending Saturday afternoons watching Westerns on television — "I always thought of myself as a stage actress," she says. So, she moved to New York City in the '50s and began her career in the original Broadway run of Gypsy.
Squibb was 61 years old when she made her film debut in Woody Allen's 1990 comedy, Alice. She's since had roles in several Oscar-nominated films such as In & Out (1997), About Schmidt (2002), and Far from Heaven (2002). In 2014, Squibb received her own Oscar nomination — for Best Actress in a Supporting Role — for her performance in Alexander Payne's Nebraska. ("I remember it all," she says of the ceremony. "I remember the car trip there, and the red carpet, and where we were seated. Everything.")
At the age of 94, Squibb finally landed her first leading role in Thelma. A charming riff on the action movie, she plays a grandma who falls victim to a phone scam and sets out to get her money back. "It's very exciting because I think it excites everybody else," Squibb says. "For me, it was a script that I wanted to do, and I would've wanted to do it if it had been one day of shooting." (As far as bit parts go, the actress also lends her voice to Nostalgia in Inside Out 2.)
So, what's next for Squibb? "Whenever I'm asked what genre I would like to do next, I say a Western, because I've never done one!"
Below, the actress shares with A.frame five of her favorite films, which range from a Japanese epic about 16th century warriors to Hollywood's most famous space opera.
Directed by: Akira Kurosawa | Written by: Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto and Hideo Oguni
My second husband was an acting teacher, and he and I were both 38 when we married. So, I already had things I liked, and he had things he liked. One thing he loved was Akira Kurosawa's films. I didn't know who that was; I truly did not. I'd never heard of him, never seen any of his films, and my husband couldn't believe this! He was like, "You don't know who Kurosawa is?!" "No, I don't." Now, I do.
At the time, there was a theater on 8th Street in New York, and they were having a Kurosawa retrospective, so he took me to see every one of them. Well, I loved it! I loved Seven Samurai, in particular. I just couldn't believe what I was seeing — the acting, the physicality of it, everything was stunning. He really made a believer out of me, and my son. We had a son, Harry, not long after that, and his father took him to Kurosawa films — at a very young age, I might add — and he had his own wooden Samurai sword.
Directed by: François Truffaut | Written by: François Truffaut and Jean-Louis Richard
The Bride Wore Black is this wonderful, old, French revenge film. And, in flashbacks, you see the wedding. And, as they're walking out of the church, somebody shoots her new husband. Well, the bride makes sure that she gets every one of them that was a part of the gang that killed her husband. That one is one of my favorites, of all films.
Directed by: Jack Smight | Written by: John Gay
Rod Steiger is phenomenal in that film. And that's an actor where I don't just love everything he does, but I thought there was something about his work in No Way to Treat a Lady. George Segal was great, too. I just loved the film.
Directed by: Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen | Written by: Betty Comden and Adolph Green
I've seen it so many times, that I don't remember the first time. I really don't. But I love that movie. Of course, there's his singing in the rain. I mean, how could you beat that? Donald O'Connor is also in that. I don't know how many people remember him, but he was a part of my filmgoing when I was a kid. He was very young himself, and he would do fantastic things with his body! As I remember, he danced up a wall in Singin' in the Rain.
I worked with Debbie Reynolds on In & Out, and she's such a hoot. I remember we were shooting in this church, and she got very upset, because the extras were all sitting there for hours and she thought they weren't enjoying themselves. So, she turned around and did her entire act for them! She really did. We were all like, "You're kidding, Debbie." No, she had to keep them happy, had to keep them up.
Written and Directed by: George Lucas
Oh, I just love Star Wars. I don't know if I would've seen it if it were not for my son, but he was seven and he wanted to go see it. Well, his father and I saw that thing five or six times at the theater. We would take different friends of his to see it. I loved it. I loved C-3PO and the little one — I thought they were the best — and the Ewoks were so funny. I've watched everything Star Wars now.
