The Secret World of Showbiz Seniors

About This Contributor

Lee Gale Gruen

Lee Gale Gruen ("Lee Gale" is her first name) is an actress, author, public speaker, and blogger. After retiring from her 37-year career as a probation officer, she and her newly widowed, 85-year old father attended an acting class for seniors whereupon she went on to a second career as a professional actress. Lee Gale has appeared in television, videos, commercials, theater, and print.  She performed for 12 years portraying patients at UCLA Medical School as part of student training, and she was a supporting exercise/dancer in the 2011 "Jane Fonda Prime Time Firm & Burn" workout DVD. Her transition to becoming an actress in her senior years has been written about in Time Magazine, the Los Angeles Times newspaper, AARP "Life Reimagined," and in Marlo Thomas’ 2014 book: It Ain’t Over…Till It’s Over which profiles different women who have reinvented themselves. Lee Gale's public lecture on senior reinvention, her blog, and her self-help book for retirees are all titled, "Reinventing Yourself in Your Retirement Years." Her website is: LeeGaleGruen.com. Her blog is at: LeeGaleGruen.wordpress.com. Her books (available at Amazon.com) are:

(Self-Help) Reinventing Yourself in Your Retirement Years: Find Joy, Excitement, and Purpose After You Retire (at Amazon.com here): This book offers a detailed guide for retirees, those soon to retire, baby boomers, and seniors to reinvent themselves in this new stage of their lives called retirement. Not a one-size-fits-all approach, it highlights how each individual can identify and locate gratifying activities and pursuits based on their own interests and comfort level. It also lists numerous suggestions for such activities and pursuits, and how to find them. The author learned the hard way, transitioning from retired probation officer to actress, author, public speaker, blogger, and podcaster. Audience members at her lectures on senior reinvention began requesting a book on the subject. This is the result, and it contains the content of those talks as well as six years of posts from her blog. 

(Memoir) Adventures with Dad: A Father and Daughter's Journey Through a Senior Acting Class (at Amazon.com here): After retiring from her 37-year career as a probation officer, Lee Gale Gruen and her 85-year-old father attended an acting class for seniors for three years. They bonded more than ever as they performed the comedy scenes she wrote for them in the class showcases twice a year, onstage in front of live audiences. Finally, she transitioned into the world of professional acting. As her fledgling, second career started going uphill, her dad's health started going downhill. She would recount to him each of her new experiences while she sat beside his bed at the nursing home where he resided in his final years.