Joanna Cassidy, 80, an Emmy-winning actress, first met Alan Hamel, 89, in 1978, when she was a guest on “The Alan Hamel Show,” his Canadian talk show, which was on the air from 1976 to 1980. At the time, Hamel, who later became a television producer, was married to the actress Suzanne Somers. When Somers died in 2023, he had to decide whether to follow the advice she had given him.
“She said, ‘I don’t want you moping around,’” he recalled. Finding love again would be important, Somers told him. It happened in November 2024, when Hamel’s son, Stephen Hamel, a movie producer, saw Cassidy at a screening in Hollywood and told her he thought she and his father should meet.
“I hadn’t dated in years,” said Cassidy, who is divorced. “It wasn’t a goal in my life.” But weeks later, they were a couple. Both have thoughts on why finding romance at their age can be so gratifying.
“One of the most important things that happens when people get together later in life is they speak the truth, even if it hurts,” Cassidy said. For example, she sometimes needs days of alone time, which she spends at her home in Hollywood, away from Hamel’s place in Palm Springs, Calif.
“Alan is a very positive man,” Cassidy said. “He’s got a healthy attitude toward life.” Part of how he demonstrates it is through supporting what she said was her No. 1 priority, her career.
“When we started dating, I told Joanna, I don’t want you to compromise anything you do for me,” he said.