The Age-Defying Stars Who Are Making it Cool to Be 80

Not only have Mick Jagger and The Rolling Stones formed the soundtrack of my life, but they let me know that 80 is more than cool. In 1990, I was filming 21 Jump Street in Vancouver when a Stones’ roadie showed up on set with VIP box seats to The Steel Wheels tour concert that night at B.C. Place Stadium. Of course, young Johnny Depp, Holly Robinson Peete, Lela Rochon and Richard Grieco leaped for tickets ... and I said, “Wait, me too!”

I joined the gang for a magical night, knocked out by Mick prancing and strutting through 25 songs, including "Brown Sugar,” "Satisfaction,” “Honky Tonk Women” and “You Can't Always Get What You Want.”

Sold-out audiences marveled at Mick’s phenomenal energy and stamina, but he was still dogged by the press asking if this would be his last tour— at the ripe old age of 47! Mick and I are the same age. At the time, I was holding my own with a cast of actors in their early 20s and had no intention of packing it in. Now, at age 80, Mick is still going strong, no retirement in sight — and so am I.

Mick isn’t the only octogenarian still rocking audiences and filling stadiums. Paul McCartney, 81, is continuing his global Got Back tour in 2024, with dates in Australia and South America. Joni Mitchell, 80; Joan Baez, 82; Ringo Starr and Smokey Robinson, both 83; and Judy Collins, 84, among others, are still performing.

This past year, Blondie front singer and “80-adjacent” rocker, Debbie Harry, 78, played both Coachella and Glastonbury, starred in a fashion campaign for Marc Jacobs, wrapped a feature film and is said to be planning a worldwide tour. Even Cher, 77, has confirmed that she is working on two new albums and a tour.

As Bob Dylan, 82, wrote, “The Times They Are A-Changin'”

Dame Judi Dench, 88, applauds the evolution of age acceptance. “It’s the rudest word in my dictionary, ‘retire’ — and ‘old’ is another one. I don’t allow that in my house. And being called ‘vintage’ — I don’t want any of those ‘old’ words,” she says with scorn.

Ageism affects both men and women, but for women, 40 has long been viewed as a “sunset” year for actresses, while actors are still considered in their prime. According to an analysis of IMDB statistics by Robert Fleck and Andrew Hanssen, reported in The Washington Post, when an actress reaches 40, she loses access to about three-quarters of the leading film roles for women.

In an interview with WSJ Magazine, Meryl Streep addressed the age barriers for women in Hollywood that once seemed more impenetrable than they are now. “I remember as I was hovering around 40, I thought each movie would be my last, really.” Incidentally, Streep has received 13 of her 21 Academy Award nominations since she turned 40 — and, at age 74, shows no sign of retiring.