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Kurt Russell on Grief, Goldie and Why He Loves Getting Older
The 74-year-old star of ‘The Madison’ opens up about losing his sister, finding strength in wisdom and why ‘staying around’ still feels worth it
“Age is a reality, but it’s not something that ever ruled my life,” says Kurt Russell.
Kate Green/Getty Images
“Last year, my sister Jody died. [She] was a huge person in my life,” Kurt Russell says quietly. “But they say we’re all going to [die someday]. I don’t know if I’ve figured that out for myself yet. I don’t quite believe that. Maybe they’ll come up with something a couple of months before I’m supposed to fade out.”
He pauses: “It’s like, ‘Guess what we just discovered?’ ”
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At 74, Russell is starring in The Madison and is still drawn to work that lets him explore what matters most: family, loss, love and what it means to keep going. In the new Paramount+ drama, premiering March 14, he plays Preston Clyburn, a Manhattan finance man whose family is navigating a devastating loss while he remains pulled toward the life and sense of self he finds in Montana.
For an actor long associated with harder-edged roles, the part offered something different — playing a man more emotionally connected in a way his earlier characters were not.
That familiarity is not abstract. He and his partner, Goldie Hawn, have built a blended family over more than four decades, with four children and eight grandchildren. So when he talks with AARP’s Movies for Grownups about grief, longevity and how age changes a person, he is not speaking in platitudes. He is speaking as a man who has lived long enough to know that strength is not always about force, that family is the center of things and that staying interested in life matters.
(This interview has been edited for length and clarity.)
[Yellowstone creator] Taylor Sheridan’s world is usually pretty brutal. This show feels much more emotional and family-driven. Is that what pulled you in?
We were talking about the possibility of doing something with Taylor for a number of years. I was doing this big, epic adventure show for Apple Plus, which is the Monarch show. And we were trying to work out a schedule … but then finally I was able to read four episodes. I just loved everything about it. And I just wanted to take advantage of the opportunity ....
This sort of Taylor-Sheridan-female-gaze-thing was very different. I liked the way he writes the women in the show. I liked the way he writes about the men in the show.
Kurt Russell stars as Preston Clyburn in the new Paramount+ drama, ‘The Madison.’
Emerson Miller/Paramount+
The show deals a lot with loss and the impact it has on a family. What about this felt honest to you?
Well, we’ve all had experiences with people who were very close to us who died. Last year, my sister, Jody Russell, died. And I know what it meant to her family. I know what it meant to me. The way [grief] is presented [in The Madison] was very realistic. There was nothing forced about it. I think it hits men very differently than women, but they both respond the same way.
It’s really nice to see a softer and gentler Kurt Russell.
As an actor, you hopefully will get the opportunity to play all different kinds of characters. And this was the first time I was ever going to get the opportunity to play someone that was written in a way that was not only close to me but was so familiar in so many ways that I thought, Well, this is actually brand-new. [With] 65 years of doing this business, I’ve never done that.
I’m the right guy for this. I understand everything about that guy. He’s a man of finance living in the city primarily, but his heart is in Montana, where he experiences self-reflection with his brother. And it’s just a magical time that he wishes he could bring his family to experience, in particular his wife, whom he loves dearly.
You’ve played quite a few badass strong men. Has getting older changed what strength looks like to you?
It hasn’t changed what I’ve always thought it looked like. As you get older, as a male, it’s wisdom. As they get older, hopefully they gain wisdom, and wisdom becomes more their power.
Has age made you more selective as an actor?
No, it’s maybe less selective. I did a lot of selecting throughout my life. Now I had an opportunity to work with my son Wyatt to play the same character [on Monarch: Legacy of Monsters]. He plays him young; I played him old. In a big, epic scope thing, a fun kind of monsterverse world. The opportunity to be the same character and play it with Wyatt was one that presented itself to me, and I didn’t want to pass that up. I’m still doing it, so I like it. I still have fun doing it.
Do you find yourself imparting wisdom on Wyatt and your other kids?
No. God, no. I don’t intentionally, and whatever I impart, I don’t know if it’s wisdom-oriented. I do know that after having done this for so long, you keep your mouth shut and your ears open, and you’re going to have learned some things. I can help us get to where we’re supposed to be going because of a lot of the experience that I’ve had. So I do lean on that.
What has aging made easier for you?
Aging is just a part of life. I don’t look at age as just a number — I don’t buy that phrase. Age is a reality, but it’s not something that ever ruled my life. It’s kind of like when you’re an actor, your hair color is never the same, the length is never the same, your face isn’t the same, your body language isn’t the same, your age isn’t even the same .…
I still don’t feel any different in terms of what I’m doing, in terms of the interest in it, the fun of it. Ours is an interesting industry in that regard.
You and Goldie have been together since 1983. What have you learned about relationships and longevity that you didn’t know when you were starting out?
Well, it doesn’t feel like a long time. She’s not the type of person that wears on you. She’s just a blast. I mean, she’s completely unique. She’s a one-off, and I just feel incredibly lucky to have had the years and times that I’ve had with Goldie. We’ve shared a wonderful life.
We have eight grandchildren. We have four wonderful kids that are in our lives still. That’s by far the most important thing in our world, in our familial world. They’re all fun to talk to, all fun to be around. They’ve got really good attitudes toward life, very positive people. And whatever we had to do with it, good, so be it.
Russell is proud of the family he shares with partner Goldie Hawn, including ‘fabulous’ Kate Hudson.
Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
Your daughter, Kate Hudson, is up for an Oscar. What does a moment like that mean to you now, at this stage of life?
She’s up for her second Oscar. Goldie won one and was nominated twice. If Kate were to win, she and Goldie would share that, which would be a wonderful thing. [I] didn’t think I was going to be able to make it to the Academy Awards because I was going to be out of town, but now it looks like I am ….
[Kate’s] a great, fabulous person with a lot of talent. We all pretty much realize how fortunate we are. Because you’re going to have a lot of things happen to you in life that are not good, not fun. There are down times. There are tragedies. But I like staying around for as long as I can because I like it.
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