Annie Potts, 73, on 26 Surgeries, Finding Joy and Why She’ll ‘Never’ Retire
The beloved actress reflects on her decades in Hollywood, motherhood, family and what keeps her moving
Key Takeaways
AI-generated summary reviewed by our editorial team.- Annie Potts reflects on more than five decades of acting and the roles she holds closest.
- After 26 surgeries, Potts says her experiences have made her appreciate her life.
- The 'Best Medicine' star shares what brings her happiness, from family to working on set.
Annie Potts’ career has spanned over five decades and she is still as busy as ever. Currently starring in the FOX hit dramedy, Best Medicine, the actress once again reveals her comedic timing.
Previously she starred as Meemaw in Young Sheldon and Georgie and Mandy’s First Marriage, entertaining millions of viewers and earning many Critics Choice nominations for her work. Her iconic voice as Bo Peep in Toy Story movies delighted fans from age five to 95. As Mary Jo Shively in Designing Women, she created an iconic female role. And who can forget Janine, the wise-cracking secretary in the Ghostbusters films.
Raised on a sprawling farm in Kentucky, the young talent aspired for a career in musical theater on Broadway. But her hopes were dashed in a traumatic car accident in 1973 which resulted in “everything broken from the waist” and undergoing 26 surgeries, most recently a third knee replacement.
During all her ups and downs throughout her personal and professional lives, the mother and now grandmother, still finds silver linings. “I am always so grateful,” Annie tells Woman’s World as our cover star this week (get your copy here!). “I was 21 when the accident happened and I made my Broadway debut at 56. If anyone had told me that it would take me over 40 years to get to Broadway, I might have deterred but by the time I did get to Broadway, it was so sweet.” She still sees a silver lining in it all. “Absolutely!”
Here Annie shares her life with its ups and downs.
Woman’s World: Your ‘Best Medicine’ character is a colorful lobster woman. I read your dad was a big fishing guy and you a tomboy. Would you ever consider life as your character?
Annie Potts: It sounds more like a retirement thing than a job. I live on a little lake here in LA. The other day my family came over and we just went down and did what we remembered being a very Southern thing. We just went and sat on the boat. We didn’t take it out—that’s what Southerners do. You wanna come over and sit on the boat? I wouldn’t want to have to rely on lobstering for a job.
WW: How much of your tomboy persona has carried over into your current personality?
AP: All that I can remember. (laughs). I think mostly that fishing thing. When you observe women who are doing the work of men, it’s their physicality and the way they hold themselves and the way they conduct themselves and their relationships with men—I do your same job! So don’t be getting up in my face. I think it’s empowering.
WW: You were raised in Kentucky, what is a vivid memory of your childhood?
AP: We lived on a big farm and it’s wide open. Always things that needed doing. Not that they didn’t love us but they didn’t keep a hawk’s eye on us. Just go out and play in the barn, play in the fields, go fishing, go dig a hole. It was a beautiful way to grow up. It gave me a lot of independence. I’m the youngest of 3 girls so we were given a bit of freedom.
WW: What would you consider the best medicine for a happy and healthy life?
AP: I think it’s something we’re all challenged with right now because the world is on fire. To keep a cheerful demeanor is hard when you’re so worried about the future. I feel like it’s like how much more can the world take? It’s stressful. I have children, grandchildren on the way…I’m in prayer as much of the day is possible just to calm down and the spirits to protect us all. Whatever or whoever that might be. The show is a soothing balm for people I think.
WW: So what’s something that helps put you in your happy place?
AP Besides working and family? People. My beloved friends and family. We’ve been going to this island in the Caribbean for 30 years and I love that time there. If I can get there once a year to just touch the sand and lie there for a minute and look at that blue water that’s a real happy place for me.
WW: What helps you slow down and smell the roses?
AP: (loud laugh) My children when they were little, they’d say “Mom, can you just sit down?” Apparently not. I think I’m starting to feel a little better now about it. I do swim. I have been a swimmer for a long time. That keeps me moving and healthy. I just had a knee replacement so my doctor has me doing some yoga now. There is only so much I can do when I’m working. I have to do a program of my own. If I can’t do it in my trailer, it’s probably not going to happen. My kids still say to me, MOM, you need to swim, you need to slow down.
WW: From ‘Corvette Summer’ to ‘Ghostbusters’ to ‘Designing Women’ just to mention a few of your outstanding roles, but who is the closest to the real Annie Potts?
AP: I did a beautiful show Any Day Now which was about race. It was beautifully written and executed by the writers and creator. Wonderful actors. It was something that was dear to me in that I had Southern relationships to it and to each other. That’s my favorite role.
WW: What’s the best compliment you’ve ever received?
AP: I didn’t know that was you! Several times when people recognize me in a role, it makes me feel good because I know I did my job then.
WW: With all these varied roles, ever leave with a memento from the set as a reminder?
AP: We were allowed to take something from Young Sheldon and I took a little prop award that was made up for Sheldon winning a science award. It looks like a little rocket ship. It’s small but means a lot to me because of the show.
WW: What’s your take on women, self confidence and your own self esteem?
AP: I heard that somebody asked the great actress Jean Stapleton on how she planned her career. And she said “Planned my career?? I read it and if it didn’t make me vomit, I did it.” Although my career hasn’t been quite so drastic, I felt my job was to keep a roof over my children’s head and to give them the best education I could afford. So if I felt the role wasn’t going to hurt me, I did it. That was my job to keep them going in the right direction. Maybe I could have been pickier with some things but I feel like my number one job was to be the best mother I could be and everything else would fall into place. So that’s what I set my sights on and I feel like I did pretty good.
WW: Did you ever suffer from self-esteem issues?
AP: (laughs) Of course. I’m a 70-something year old woman. I’ve had many decades to have doubts. I have worked a lot and I’m grateful for it but there were valleys to my peaks and every actor in the world thinks I’m never going to work again. And there would be my children with a can of peas because of their unemployed mama.
WW: Peaks and valleys—do you think these made you appreciate successes more?
AP: Yes. Some were more painful than others because I heard from fellow actors older than me saying OK, after you’re 60, hmmmm. Let your hair grow white, cut your fee in half – things like that. Just when I thought I would really have to do that, I didn’t. Of course, I did let my hair go white but that wasn’t the reason. Sometimes it’s been hard. Besides wanting to work, needing to work, I love to work. I still after 50 years of doing it, I love every day on the set – it’s fun, people are interesting and kind to each other. If it were a college course it’d be the one I’d rush to and look what teacher I got! Someone said to me long ago – when are you going to retire. Never! How bout NEVER! I am not ready to pull up my ticket to go sit in God’s waiting room. Not yet…not yet.
WW: In ‘Ghostbusters’ and in other projects, you’ve shown an eclectic sense of style. What is your current personal style?
AP: It’s a mixed bag. I’m around a lot of costumers who put me together for years. I don’t think about it much in person. I don’t have a lot of interest in fashion. Basically I’ll just put some clothes on, usually all black. There are other things to be thinking about. Just like art, I admire it, I do admire ways people put themselves together and evolving fashion.
WW: I was surprised to read you had so many surgeries. Like you said you’ve been trying to put yourself back together for 50 years. You’re kind of like a human Humpty Dumpty. What helps you keep a positive outlook?
AP: Oh wow! (pause) I’ve done a lot of thinking about this and it’s just the way things played out for me. Sometimes it’s too hard. But I do believe that it certainly makes me appreciate my life. After the 1st car accident happened… I thought I was going to be musical theater but after I broke both of my legs, it wasn’t like I just broke them…I destroyed them. Everything from my waist down, I broke. There was a lot of repair in the beginning. I’m up to about 26 surgeries. I am like Humpty Dumpty (laughs). All the kings horses and all the kings men have continued to put me back together again. I just had my 3rd knee replacement on the same knee.
WW: Sounds like you have a lot of courage and resilience inside of you.
AP: Well I was given that kind of nature by my dad. I also think the event itself really created the opportunity to explore that so it’s like what are you going to do? You going to be a big crybaby or are you going to get up and show people what you’re made of. I chose that path. Or it chose me, actually.
WW: How would you describe yourself today in 3 words?
AP: Always so grateful.
WW: What are you grateful for today?
AP: Right now I’m out on my back porch and it’s a gorgeous day in California.
WW: If you had one more hour in the day, what would use it?
AP: I find more and more if I have a few minutes I love to sit down and look at pictures of my family and my grandchildren. You look and have a backstory. We have another baby coming in September and the first time it’s a girl! We’re finally getting a girl. So I’m really excited about this baby girl.
Ready for more? Subscribe to our YouTube channel for video podcasts, health tips and uplifting stories designed for women 40, 50, 60 and beyond.
Conversation
All comments are subject to our Community Guidelines. Woman's World does not endorse the opinions and views shared by our readers in our comment sections. Our comments section is a place where readers can engage in healthy, productive, lively, and respectful discussions. Offensive language, hate speech, personal attacks, and/or defamatory statements are not permitted. Advertising or spam is also prohibited.
