Ted Danson, 76, Says He Finds ‘Same Joy’ Acting Now as His 20s: 'Makes Me So Happy' (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Ted Danson at ‘A Man on the Inside’ premiere in Los Angeles on Nov. 10, 2024.Photo:Amanda Edwards/Getty

Amanda Edwards/Getty

Ted Dansonis still in love with acting.

“I feel the same joy I did in my late twenties when I drove through studio gate,” the actor, 76, says about his decades-long career at the Los Angeles premiere ofA Man on the Insideon Sunday, Nov. 10.

“It makes me very happy, which is why I think I work a lot,” he adds to PEOPLE about seeing “the guards and the crew members and the actors.”

“I’m not sure how good I am; it doesn’t matter. It makes me so happy to be doing this,“ he continues.

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From Left: D’Arcy Carden, Ted Danson, and Kristen Bell at Netflix’s ‘A Man on the Inside’ on Nov. 10, 2024.Charley Gallay/Getty

Charley Gallay/Getty

Speaking to PEOPLE about using his age while acting, Danson adds, “One of my joys, and I’ve been able to do it in life several times, is to use my age and what I’m going through in life and explore that.”

“What is it like to be 76 and be funny, trying to be funny?” he says. “What does that feel like? Oh my God, my greatest joy is to be funny possibly in every possible way I can.”

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Danson went on to explain that he believes he has an opportunity to show others that older people can still be creative and that productivity doesn’t decline with age.

“You can still do anything even at our age, and one of the things you have to teach them is how to die, and how to live right up until you do,” he says. “Don’t call it quits, don’t wind down, keep going. The world needs you.”

From Left: Mary Elizabeth Ellis, Ted Danson, Lilah Richcreek Estrada, and Stephanie Beatriz at Netflix’s ‘A Man on the Inside’ on Nov. 10, 2024.Charley Gallay/Getty

“So that to me is one of the great messages of this piece,” he adds aboutA Man on the Inside. “It’s something that I hope for myself. That’s what I want for myself.”

Based on Maite Alberdi’s 2020 documentaryThe Mole Agent, A Man on the Insidefollows the life of Charles (Danson), a former retired person turned amateur private investigator.

source: people.com