MASH star Alan Alda isn't scared to face his mortality at 90. The TV icon recently revealed that he regularly talks with his wife Arlene about his eventual passing. Appearing in Conversation: More Rules for Aging event at 92NY in New York City, Alda got candid about things.
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"One time, we picked Carl Reiner up to take him someplace to dinner and as we were driving, Carl's wife had just died and we told him how Arlene and I talk all the time about what we'd do [about] who died first," Alda said.
"If I died first, what would her life be like? If she died first, what would I do? And just around then, I drove over to the divider of Sunset Boulevard. A little bit of sidewalk," he also added. "Just bounced away. And Carl said, 'You know the way you drive, you don't have to worry.'"
Just because he's 90, though, doesn't mean he's dead. Alda reflected on an awkward exchange that he had at a restaurant.
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"I was just thinking of the day, the actual day that I was 90 this year," he said. "We went out to dinner and the waiter came by at the end of the meal with a cupcake with a candle in it and led the restaurant in singing, saying, 'Happy birthday, older gentleman.' Then I blew out the candle, and they said, 'You did it yourself. I didn't help you.' They kind of let you know."
Aldan and Arlene have been together since they met at a party when he was 21. The two have three daughters and grandchildren together.
In more recent years, Alda has been battling some health issues. In 2015, doctors diagnosed him with Parkinson's disease. "My life hasn't changed much," he said. "I just applied my curiosity to it. I'm constantly reading and trying to figure out the best approaches."
Despite the diagnosis, one thing that hasn't changed is his love for his wife.
"We still experience a kind of puppy love," he said. "I really have never made plans for the future. My life is more of an improvisation. I just try to make the best of what's in front of me."
