Alan Alda is leaning on humor, acceptance, and a stubborn sense of control as he lives with Parkinson’s disease. The 90-year-old actor describes the condition as something to work around, not something that gets to define him, and that outlook gives the story its spark.
Alda, forever tied to his role as Captain Benjamin Franklin “Hawkeye” Pierce on “M*A*S*H,” first learned he had the degenerative motor disease in 2015 and shared the diagnosis publicly in 2018. The warning sign that helped point him toward answers was unusual: he had been acting out his dreams, a symptom he later learned could be connected to Parkinson’s.
“I had a symptom, which at the time was not that well-known: Acting out your dreams,” he said in an Oct. 4 interview with CBS News. “I had a dream that somebody was attacking me. And I picked up a sack of potatoes and threw it at ’em. What I was really doing was throwing a pillow at Arlene, my wife.”
That kind of moment could easily turn gloomy, but Alda takes a different route. He says humor helps him handle the daily grind, especially when Parkinson’s starts making ordinary tasks feel irritating, awkward, or downright impossible.
“the best way to deal with anything that’s a little bit of a problem is to find out what’s funny about it and laugh at it.”
He even gives the condition a character, calling it “Dr. Parkinson” when his hand won’t cooperate and the computer mouse starts acting up while he is trying to write an email. That small act of joking around gives the frustration a different shape, turning a sour moment into something he can face without getting swallowed by it.
“I don’t let Parkinson’s define me,” Alda said, joking that he sees the disease as “just a hobby.”
Acceptance is part of the same attitude. Alda has been clear that he does not waste energy wishing the disease away, because the reality of it is already here, and pretending otherwise does not help much.
“I really think reality is my friend,” he said. “I don’t want to wish it away. I can’t wish it away. I can’t hope for a better future. I gotta accept what is.”
Even the smaller battles matter to him, from buttoning a shirt to pulling on socks. Instead of treating those moments as defeats, he approaches them like little problems waiting for a clever fix, which keeps the mood practical rather than bitter.
“I do hate it, but the only thing that’s helpful is: What haven’t I tried? And pretty soon, you get the feeling, ‘If I keep looking for new ways to try this, I’ll get a solution.’ It’s a puzzle. Will I be able eventually to put my socks on? The last time I put my socks on was a tremendous moment to celebrate!”
That mix of wit and resilience also lines up with what specialists see in patients who are trying to cope with Parkinson’s. Dr. Chadrick Lane, a neuropsychiatrist and director of the geriatric and neuropsychiatry clinic at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, said humor can soften the emotional edge of a diagnosis without changing the diagnosis itself.
“Humor involves cognitive reframing, this idea of looking at a circumstance through different angles — not necessarily changing the reality that one is in, but shifting the meaning and the emotional weight of the situation,” Lane, who has not treated Alda, told Fox News Digital.
Lane said that when a diagnosis feels overwhelming, a little distance can make a big difference. Humor can create that breathing room, especially when fear and stress threaten to take over the whole picture.
Connection matters too, he added, because laughter is rarely a solo act. “Humor is often shared. It brings us together,” he said. “We are meant to share our lives with others. The importance of having a sense of belonging and humor can be a glue in that way, bringing us closer with others so that one does not go on the journey alone.”
Lane said that in his own work, he has seen how a joke can instantly change the energy in the room. “One of the wonderful things that I’ve seen in those settings is that, just like Mr. Alda, people crack a joke, [it] brings them a smile.”
He also pointed to Alda’s refusal to let the disease steal his sense of agency. “It’s the idea of saying to oneself, what are the choices that I can make in the moment?” Lane told Fox News Digital. “Rarely do we ever have control over our entire day and certainly not our entire life, but we often do have control over what we choose in the moment.”
“Our sense of agency is an important part of our emotional well-being.”
