Consider Gloria Stuart, the 87-year old actress who was heralded for her role in the 1998 blockbuster film, Titanic. Ms. Stuart was a popular screen actress in the 1930s, making dozens of films and helping to organize the Screen Actors Guild. Her last film appearance was in 1946. Then she "retired," to devote time to her family, to travel, and to cook. She came out of "retirement" when the wonderful role in Titanic was offered to her.
So it is with most actors. They talk of retiring, may even do it for a while, but if the right role comes along, all thoughts of retirement are forgotten.
The late actor-comedian Hiram Sherman once pondered at length over the question, "How do you retire from the theatre?" He pondered, perhaps, for two reasons: he did not intend to retire; and he didn't know how. Possibly, he was thinking of the several renowned actresses who annually (and sincerely) would announce their retirement and then bounce back again as soon as a suitable part was found. It became quite a joke in the profession. Finally, Mr. Sherman concluded the following:
As there is no official "in" to the theatre, there is no official "out." I think-I'm not sure--but I think, that when you start tossing away the Sunday Times drama section unread, when you no longer feel an urge to see this or an overwhelming desire to study that, when you stop talking shop, when you cease to argue the merits of a production or a performance, when in short, you're dead--you're retired.
To help with retirement, however, there are the Actors' Fund or the Motion Picture Relief Fund, both of which are splendid organizations that provide care for deserving actors who are in need. Each maintains a guest home, and they are dignified and handsome. But the waiting lists are long.
The Actors' Fund also maintains a social services department through its offices in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Counseling in areas such as financial, medical, housing and utilities, alcohol and drug abuse, part-time employment, money management and mental health is available. In addition, the problems facing pensioners and pre-pensioners in the entertainment industry have been addressed. Representatives from the Social Security Administration, State Unemployment offices, Pension and Welfare Fund Administrators from the entertainment unions and actuarial consultants have been invited to meet with performers to discuss what benefits pensioners are entitled to, and how and where to obtain them.
There is also an organization called Theatre Authority, which acts for the unions as a clearinghouse for benefits and which disperses its funds through the respective actors' unions to aid members who may need assistance. In addition, there are special hospitals for actors. But these are not precisely what one has in mind when mapping out a future.
For years, there was no provision for financial benefits upon retirement, and numerous and tragic stories of elderly and indigent actors forced to accept charity after a full life of dedication to their profession have been widely publicized.
AFTRA was the first union to win a pension and health insurance plan for actors; then SAG followed; and last, Equity, but only after the turmoil of a Broadway theatre blackout in 1960. All these plans are financed by employer contributions, ranging up to more than 12 percent. Each pension fund is jointly administered by management and labor.
Although the funds are relatively young, many members have retired under their provisions, and thousands have benefited through the health and retirement medical provisions of the plans. Eligibility for pension and the amount received depends in all cases on the amount of work the actor has performed in each union's jurisdiction and the amount of money he or she earned. Those who have worked in films, television, and on the stage may be eligible to receive a pension from each of these three pension funds. What is desirable, of course, is a merger of all the pension funds so that all resources could be pooled, and the actor's earnings and work credit in all media could be considered together. But this is still in the future.
There are Social Security benefits, of course, but these are available in almost all professions. Other benefits negotiated by the unions provide for life insurance coverage, hospitalization, dental and vision programs, accident insurance, and similar safeguards.
Retirement for dancers can come a lot earlier than for other performers. Most dancers reach the end of their careers at mid-life, approximately 35 years of age.
With the assistance of several foundations, including the National Endowment for the Arts, the AFL-CIO's Labor Institute for Human Enrichment and Actors' Equity, funding was provided in 1982 for the development and presentation of a conference on Career Transition for Dancers.
The purpose of the conference was to recognize the trauma facing professional dancers at the end of their careers and to begin to consider ways and means of assisting them into other professions where they could utilize their unique backgrounds and skills.
Participants in the conference particularly noted a lack of academic support for dancers in universities and contemporary training centers. The two traditional after-dance careers of choreography and dance instruction are rarely taught to students, and few schools offer career counseling in such dance related fields as arts administration, dance notation, and costuming.
As a direct result of this conference, Career Transition for Dancers, a nonprofit organization was established in 1985 to help dancers choose, prepare for, and enter new fields. CTD helps by providing vocational testing and assessment, individual counseling and psychotherapy, financial planning, internships, survival job guidance, assistance in obtaining permanent employment, support groups, career development workshops, special interest seminars and workshops, and financial grants for education, retraining, and new business. Participants in the program have launched successful second careers in fields as diverse as real estate, interior design, psychology, advertising, publishing, arts management, and forestry.
Things are improving in this area too, because the leaders and the members of the actors' unions have lately placed increasing stress on pension and health plans. Virtually no contract is negotiated that does not require some payment by employers to these funds. In the past, retirement was strictly at the risk of the retired. If you hadn't saved some money, or invested it, you either placed yourself in the hands of one of the theatre's many charitable institutions, you lived off your family, or you simply starved to death. Today, the acting profession has developed a sophisticated program of benefits which provides for its members' health care and retirement in a modern, viable system.
