Bernadette Peters chooses path of ‘love and gratefulness’
“Life is always a choice,” Bernadette Peters says.
At age 75, the star of stage and screen says she savors the joys of getting older: “You’re smarter. Hopefully, you have more information. You can choose to either go down a path of regret — if you want anger or bitterness, go down that path — or you could choose a path of openness, love and gratefulness.”
“I write down what I’m grateful for every single day,” she adds, in an interview conducted before the Screen Actors Guild strike.
There is a lot to be grateful for these days for the two-time Tony winner whose six-decade career includes her new Apple TV+ series, “High Desert,” about the small desert community of Yucca Valley, California, and the eccentrics who live there, including Peggy (Patricia Arquette), her ex Denny (Matt Dillon) and Rosalyn (Peters), Peggy’s complicated mother. The series also stars Brad Garrett and Rupert Friend.
Peters also has an upcoming stage gig in Stephen Sondheim’s “Old Friends,” premiering in London’s West End in mid-September.
She has enjoyed a varied career with film roles including “The Jerk,” “Pennies From Heaven” and “It Runs in the Family,” and on TV she recently starred in “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist.”
Peters, who also co-founded Broadway Barks, benefiting homeless animals, lives in New York City with two dogs adopted from shelters.
Her good life tips:
Follow your passion
There was no Plan B for Peters. “I started acting at age 5,” she recalls. “I fell in love with music, and the acting evolved as I went on.”
She says that all that emoting helped her deal with her emotions. “Especially, as a young person, you feel all of these feelings,” Peters says. “Acting was a great outlet because you can leave the emotions on stage.”
Do what you love
Going back to the stage was an easy choice for Peters. “I’m so excited to open on the West End and perform the music I love,” she says. “I love singing Stephen Sondheim’s words. There is nothing like it — and, if given the choice, why not do what you love?”
Fortunate feeling
She had similar reasons for choosing “High Desert.” “The writing was so brilliant and original, plus Patricia Arquette was starring in it. I was thrilled just to be there,” Peters says. “I try to find ways to say, ‘How fortunate am I?’ ”
Time is currency
“I choose carefully what I do in life now,” Peters says. “Where you invest your time, you invest your life and soul. Time is so precious, and you want to connect to how you spend your time.”
Find places that inspire you
Peters filmed “High Desert” in remote areas of California. “We had a great location in the desert where you just felt so good. It was a dry and arid location and also quite beautiful,” she says. “And the sunsets were just so inspiring. You would be out there bathed in this beautiful light, and suddenly there would be a prickly cactus in your eyesight growing a new flower. It was quite majestic.”
Keep growing
“Life is a journey. When there are ups or downs, I just say, ‘It’s just my journey of growth,’ ” Peters shares. “My whole life is about growing. How much more can I grow? How much better can I be? Figuring out how to get to that ‘much more’ keeps you alive.”
Friends are key
Doing a show on Broadway or the West End can be grueling, Peters says: “Eight shows a week. You get into a role. You don’t do anything else.”
How does she relax. “I pick the one night where I don’t have a matinee the next day and go out with friends,” she explains.
“I can’t go to loud places. But I do love a quiet dinner with friends. I spent so much investing in a show that it’s wonderful to get out of that bubble and just be with people you love and who love you back.”
Write it down
Even when life gets her down, Peters always reaches for the positive. And she documents it. “I find something to be grateful for every single day,” she says. “I make a written list of all the things I’m grateful for in life — and I read it back, knowing that I truly am grateful.”
Talk to the animals
Peters isn’t shy about her love for animals, especially rescue dogs, including her Charlie and Rosalie. “I have two dogs — one for each hand — is how I describe it,” she says.
What does she love so much about her canine companions? “They’re just these beautiful creatures who connect with you without words.”