UPFRONT/THE A LIST
7 Surprising Things About Wendie Malick
1. She started modeling late
I was in a discount ticket booth in Times Square, and a modeling agent came up and said I’d be good for the Wilhelmina agency. At Wilhelmina, a woman asked, “How old are you?” I said, “25.” She said, “Two things: Never tell anybody you’re that old. And practice smiling in the mirror because you have a crooked smile.” I didn’t change my smile, and I didn’t lie about my age. But she took me on anyway.
2. She ‘loves, loves, loves animals’
My best friends have always been dogs. My older sister, Bonnie, was a collie. She was by my side all the time. My parents could leave me in a playpen with the dog nearby and just ignore me. I’m also pretty good with horses and miniature donkeys, but dog is my first language.
3. She met her husband, Richard, on a church trip
After my first marriage ended, a friend suggested I join this group from Brentwood to build houses for poor people in Mexico. I got down there, and the guy who was the foreman was this interesting, tall, blond guy. By the end of that weekend, he’d asked me if I wanted to learn how to ride a motorcycle and go to Africa with him the following summer.
4. She became a parent at 55
My daughter is technically my niece. We adopted her. She has lived with us since she was 5. When I did things at her school, I realized I could be the mother of every mother there! I don’t think any of us realize how selfish we are until children come into our lives. It’s suddenly like, My God, this creature is expecting to be fed three times a day.
“I was a late bloomer.”
—Wendie Malick, 75
5. She brought her daughter to school on horseback
I did that for four years right here in Topanga. I said to her, “Someday you’re going to look back on this time in your life and realize it was pretty OK.”
6. She voiced Beatrice, a character with dementia on BoJack Horseman
To let her go into her dementia was so interesting because I had older people in my life who were starting to experience that. How all the walls came down and she was like a little girl again. It was one of the most heartbreaking characters I’ve ever played.
7. Betty White inspired her onward
The best thing about starring in Hot in Cleveland with Betty was when she turned 90 as I turned 61. I looked at her career and thought, I could have a third act ahead. My parents lived to 94 and 101; I could have 30 more years. I want to do this until I can’t do it anymore. —As told to Joel Stein
Emmy-nominated actor Wendie Malick appears in the streaming series Shrinking, now in its third season on Apple TV.