June Squibb on becoming a leading lady at 94

23:24June Squibb: On starring in her first leading film role at 94

At 94, June Squibb finally landed her first lead role in a feature film.

The nonagenarian actor is the titular star of the new movie Thelma. She plays a senior citizen who gets swindled by a telephone "grandparent scam," and then heads out on a mission to get her money back.

In an interview with Q host Talia Schlanger, Squibb says a career in performing goes all the way back to childhood.

"[My grandparents] used to take me around to bars, and set me up on the bar, and I would tap dance and they'd get free beer," she says. "I remember just loving it."

In 1959, Squibb made her Broadway debut in the musical Gypsy, where she played Electra, a burlesque dancer who is covered in lightbulbs during the number You Gotta Get a Gimmick. The audition called for her to do some striptease-type dancing. At the time, she had no idea what that entailed, so she called a dancer friend for advice.

"She said, 'Just dip. Just dip and bump and dip,'" Squibb says. "So that's what I did. And I got the job."

It took many years for her to have her break-out moment. Squibb got her first TV role in the 1980s, and then her first film part in 1990.

But the 2013 comedy-drama Nebraska solidified her as a great comedy actress. She played the foul-mouthed wife of the lead character, played by Bruce Dern, and often stole the spotlight away from the acclaimed actor. Both she and Dern received Academy Award nominations for their performances.

Now, 11 years after that, Squibb's name is finally at the top of the call sheet.

While her career may have been unconventional, she says she feels great about it. Indeed, her advice to younger actors — and artists in general — is to take a moment, every so often, to appreciate your achievements.

"I'm always amazed at the amount of things  I have done," she says. "I look back and I think, 

'Wow… that was neat. That was great.' And I think we should give ourselves credit for the life we've lived. And I don't think we always do."

The full interview with June Squibb is available on our podcast, Q with Tom Power. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Interview with June Squibb is produced by Vanessa Greco.