Vaccaro plays Marilyn, a recent widow who bonds with a new circle of friends when she joins a bereavement club. Filming in a real-life retirement community with residents volunteering as extras helped Vaccaro keep Marilyn real.

“It was great that everybody had some piece of advice for me,” she says. “They’d tell me why they came to this community to live or how they felt enveloped with love and friendship and how they had more friends here than they ever did anywhere else.”

Once the film was made, the actors did their best to get the word out about this undiscovered gem. Says Vaccaro, “Each one of us went to a theater in our neighborhood. I’d introduce myself and say, ‘Hi, I’m Brenda Vaccaro and I’m  your neighbor. I hope you enjoy this movie. I want you to spread the word because we need it.’ All the actors tried to make an effort because there wasn’t going to be a lot of powerful publicity.”

Sally Kellerman
Best known for her Academy Award nominated role as Major Margaret “Hot Lips” O’Houlihan in the film version of M*A*S*H, Sally Kellerman’s acting  resume begins with a small part in1957’s Reform School Girl and continues today with major television and film projects set to be released in 2007.

In the Boynton Beach Club, Kellerman’s character Sandy meets a recent  widower (played by Len Cariou) at the bereavement club and the two embark on a romance.

“In general there are so few films that you can relate to and that hold your interest these days,” Kellerman says.

Beyond the Boynton Beach Club
At a screening in Palm Springs recently, she was standing in the theater lobby when a man came out of the theater, approached her, and exclaimed, “I feel  rejuvenated!” “That’s one of the things about this film,” she says, “you do come out of it feeling hopeful.”

Will the Boynton Beach Club be the first of many films for and about older adults? Says Vaccaro, “I do not think Hollywood will ever say, ‘Yes, we should start making pictures for older people.’ Age in this town is like having cancer. There’s ageism in this country like you wouldn’t believe.” Kellerman has a different outlook. She says, “I can hardly wait to go around announcing my age because everything is about aging and about how great it can be in your 70s. I’m leaving my 60s very shortly and I have never felt better and never been more active.

“Compared to how I felt when I was in my 20s and 30s, I feel so confident now. I’m living in the perfect time for getting older because it’s being celebrated now.

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