Sam Waterston at 82: What I Know Now

Chris Buck Facebook Twitter LinkedIn

Sam Waterston, 82, stars in NBC’s Law & Order, which was rebooted in 2022 after a 12-year hiatus, and is a board member of Oceana, an oceans advocacy organization. AARP spoke to the actor

for the February/March issue of AARP The Magazine.

My parents were teachers. My mother was also a painter. My dad taught languages and directed school plays at a boys boarding school in rural Massachusetts. He put me in a play when I was 6.

It was magic­ — the boys treated me like their mascot, and I got to stay up late with my father for rehearsals and shows­. That planted the seed. 

I learned the most about acting from Katharine Hepburn. But, as far as what the profession is like, it was Robert Redford. When we were doing The Great Gatsby, he asked me if I was having a

good time. It was my first big break in a great big movie, and I was absolutely over the moon. I told him so, and he said, “That’s great. Enjoy it. Just don’t ever think it’s about you.” It

was a sobering thought. Because I thought my success was about me. But it’s a transactional affection that show business gives you. You’re making a mistake if you think your show business

success is because you deserve it.

The biggest piece of luck for me was meeting my wife, Lynn. It was a blind date. We’re both very suggestible. Somebody told us that we should like each other, and we obeyed. 

I think Lynn’s and my theory of parenting was to try to be the best people we could, and let our children see it. They see who you are and learn from that far more than anything you might

try to teach them.