Dennis Quaid, Al Roker Reflect on a ‘Strange’ Milestone
By Movieguide® Contributor
Fellow 70-year-olds Dennis Quaid and Al Roker are reflecting on what it’s like to outlive their fathers — a sad and “strange” sensation.
“My dad died at 63, so I didn’t have an example of turning [70],” Quaid told Roker. “I turned 63, and I woke up in the middle of the night about six months after, and it just hit me, in that night I was older than my dad had been. I still feel like he’s here in my heart and stuff like that.”
“My dad passed when he was 69, and I always felt bad that he didn’t make it to 70,” Roker shared on a recent episode of the TODAY show. “And here I am. It’s a very strange feeling, living past the age that your father did.”
Roker just celebrated his 70th birthday on Aug. 20.
To honor him on his birthday, the mayor of New York gave him a huge key on a plaque — the key to the City of New York.
“You have opened the key to our hearts for 40 years, 27 on this amazing show, you have done so much,” the mayor complimented him. “Congratulations to you.”
“It means a lot,” the mayor said of giving Roker the key. “It represents the city on the whole.”
Quaid had his 70th birthday on April 9 this year. He opened up with PEOPLE about his birthday celebrations — “Like being at your own funeral,” but in a good way.
“So my wife, I told her I did not want a party. She gave me a great party a couple of years ago in Nashville. So I told her I didn’t want a party,” the Movieguide® Teddy Bear Award® winner said.
She didn’t throw him a party, but she asked many of his friends to record a video message for him.
“And it was really wonderful. You know that scene in Huckleberry Finn, where they go back and they’re at their own funeral? That’s what it was like, and it was really kind of nice and sweet,” Quaid said.
“You really get to feel my life and my friends,” he said. “And that’s really how rich, I mean, you feel really rich with, it’s about the relationships and the memories you have in your life.”
Movieguide® recently reported on how Quaid came to Christ after rehab:
This time, instead of turning to substances, though, Quaid turned to the Bible.
“I went back, and I read the Bible again. And this time it was the red words of Jesus in the New Testament that really hit me. And that was the beginning of my personal relationship with Jesus Christ,” he revealed. “You know, I had never really gotten that before. And that continues to grow, but it’s about finding purpose in life and what is God’s purpose for us.”
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