Retirement NOT on
Birdie M. Hale’s Horizon
At 95 years young, this star of stage, screen
and film is an inspiration to those who might
think retirement is “mandatory”
BY FREYA PRUITT & MARY LYNN FRANCIS
“Well, for my part, that’s one thing I like about
being an actress, you never retire,” says Birdie M.
Hale who, on October 21, 2007, turned 95 years
young, and is a well-known actress. “I was a
young actress and now I am an old (actress). Retiring means that you worked for 20 years at a job
that you really didn’t like but you that had to keep
in order to earn a living. So, you save your money
and you work and you retire to do something that
you have always wanted to do. Okay, I have been
doing what I wanted to do all my life, so what
would I retire to?”
Birdie goes on to say, “I have never ‘worked.’ I
have always made a good living and I love what I
am doing. So, I am not working. I am living and
loving what I do.” Birdie’s life-long career in acting allows her to use her God-given talents. This
keeps her going, keeps her happy and energized.
She has always pursued the acting career that she
has loved and has no current plans to “retire.”
She gives the following advice to the “so-called”
older person that has had a regular job their whole
life who is making plans to retire: “Prepare your
finances so you can finally do what you have
dreamed of doing all your working life.” She
views her age as a blessing now and doesn’t have
to worry about how her rent is going to be paid or
where her next meal is coming from. She says the
“older person like herself’ has it made.”
However, Birdie will be quick to tell you, “These
offers from different retirement homes with activities that don’t attract me at all. First of all, I don’t
swim and I don’t ride horses and I don’t do any of
the things they have in these ‘so-called’ assisted
living places. I don’t need that, I don’t need somebody to tell me to go for a walk or a swim. And,
for sure, I don’t want anybody fawning over me.
And, to me, that’s what these places amount to.”
So, instead, Birdie enjoys the New York apartment
that she has lived in for the past 31 years and still
goes out on auditions to continue plying the trade
she has worked at since she was a young girl.
Many of our readers may remember Birdie from a
well-known Campbell’s Chunky Soup commercial
where she plays Reggie White’s mother.
Or, you may recognize her from the Eddie Murphy smash hit, “Coming to America.” In this
well-known film, Birdie played the passenger on
the train to whom Eddie Murphy’s character gives
a pair of diamond earrings when he had been
rejected by his on-screen love and Birdie’s character tells him, “Well, if you really are a prince,
I’ll marry you!” Birdie says, “Working with Eddie
Murphy was just absolutely wonderful. He is so
funny. When we were filming this scene, I had
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no idea that those earrings were real. So, when he
put them in my hand and I realized they WERE
real, I almost fell on the track. He was saying to
me, ‘now wouldn’t it be funny if somebody came
and mugged you?’ We were laughing but we were
trying not to show it because the camera was on
us. They had security standing off camera to take
those earrings when we were through with the
scene.”
“The earrings were real and everything in that
movie was real. Even the rose petals that the king
stepped out on were real. All the locations were
real; they were really in Africa, really in the Waldorf Astoria and really in Queens. I think they
spent about $38 million dollars making it. It was
a big hit and this role brought attention to me in
movies.”
When asked how many movies and television
shows she had been in she says, “Oy, I don’t think
I can remember them all!” The distinguished list
includes: “Law And Order: SVU,” “A Lot Like
Love,” “Pieces of April,” “Blind Faith,” “Die Hard:
With A Vengeance,” “Juice,” “A Rage in Harlem,”
“The Cosby Show,” “Loving,” “Magic Sticks,”
“Fire with Fire” (aka Captive Hearts), “Death
Wish 3,” “Neil Simon’s Only When I Laugh” and
“Eddie Murphy Raw.”
Her acting career has lasted, Birdie believes,
because, “I am very versatile. One has to be able
to do more than one thing. I was a dancer and a
singer and an actress and a musician and I also
sew. I am a professional dressmaker. I make all
of my clothes by hand, with needle and thread…
not by machine. So, I can go backstage and be in
wardrobe. However, I would rather be on stage for
$500 than backstage for $5000 because I have an
insatiable need to be seen and heard. I must….
it is so paradoxical because I know I am good but
I want to always be told. I never get enough of
‘showing off.’ I would never want to be a director because I don’t want to teach somebody to
do what I do. I always try to do a character in
my own way. You know, you always take a part
of yourself into a character and I always made a
point of doing my own little original thing that
no one else could do. I think that ‘super-ego’ has
really helped me especially since getting into this
business can be very hard.”
“As performers, we consider ourselves superior,
if I may. After all, I do some things that, say,
the little secretary that works all week, saves her
money and buys a ticket to come and see me do
something she can’t do. And, I know that. Her
approval is important to me. And, I love being
recognized when I am walking on the streets of
New York!”
“I am not like those ‘stars’ who don’t want to be
recognized and who put on a red coat and a yellow
hat and a pink dress and boots up to their knees
and a skirt so short they can’t sit down and have
a cat in a wagon and dark glasses. Now, that is
stupid, they purposely want the attention! When
I am recognized, I am so happy! Little children,
seven years old recognize me. I did Coming to
America, 19 or 20 years ago, and these young
children still know who I am. They have seen the
movie and they even know what I said. That is a
great compliment. I was 75 years old when I did
Coming to America. As you know, I am 95 now.”
When asked about the outrageous attention today’s “superstars” get from the paparazzi, Birdie
has a ready answer, “Why it is ridiculous! What’s
so super about them? What are they doing? All
due respect, I don’t see any real talent. First of all,
their hair is in their eyes and they come on and
they brush the hair out of their eyes and you can’t
understand a word they say. That’s not talent.
But if you aren’t that type today, you can’t get
hired. But, they are really not hiring ‘talent.’”
Before her film credits began to roll, Birdie was
trained for the stage. “I graduated from the New
York Academy of the Performing Arts. My love is
the theatre. I would give anything to have a job
in the theatre. I have an insatiable need for that
live audience. Nothing takes the place of a live
audience because you know instantly whether or
not they like you and whether or not they continue to like you. So, when working on stage, you
have an opportunity to build on your performance
each time. I did 13 productions of ‘Showboat’
as Queenie and every one of them was different.
You work with different people, perform in different places and you can always improve on your
performance. This is not so, if you do a movie or
television or a commercial. That’s it. When they
put it together, it’s always the same. You don’t
have a chance to grow. As time went on, there
were no parts for my type so the commercials and
films evolved from my on-stage training.”
But where, one wonders, did Birdie come by her
versatile talent? Once again, Birdie is more than
willing to tell you her story. And for Birdie, the
story begins with her family, “They were all musi-