Senior Planet Talks to…Corbin Bernsen

L.A. Law and Psych star Corbin Bernsen, 71, is as busy today as he was in his heyday.  And while sometimes dipping his toes back into daytime soaps General Hospital or The Young and the Restless, he has developed a passion for independent film-making and the horror genre. Here he tells Senior Planet about his new monster movie The Yeti.

Q: What drew you to play explorer Merriell Sunday Sr. in The Yeti?

CORBIN: I’m very blessed to be doing what I call my day job like Your Friends & Neighbors [Apple TV]. And I just started doing The Lincoln Lawyer. But I also love exploring this whole world of independent film. I debate with myself: Is it because you didn’t become an A-List actor doing the big $100 million movies? But, actually, my passion has always in the independent world and I grew up with Roger Corman’s movies. But it was a wonderful script for The Yeti – a very small movie but with big ideas and concepts. I also got up to shoot it near my home in upstate New York.

Q: And working with the massive Yeti?!

CORBIN: That was interesting. The Yeti was a towering beast and all hand built – no CGI.

Q: Have you ever trekked in the wilderness like Merriell in remote northern Alaska?

CORBIN: I’ve ran a couple marathons. It’s a different kind of exploration – an exploration of your body and your willpower. But I used to go camping all the time. Growing up [in Los Angeles] I had a very good friend and we went up to Yosemite a lot, climbing up the side of Half Dome to the top. It’s an extraordinary two day hike.

Here’s a sneak peek at The Yeti:

Q: Ever come face to face with a large wild animal?

CORBIN: Yes, with bears, for sure. But bears are a little different and you kind of know what you’re doing – and in Yosemite, it’s not that dangerous because they’re black bears, not grizzly bears. But recently, my wife and I were in Kenya, Africa, and we got in this Jeep with a guide – and one of the most dangerous animals is the buffalo – and they have big horns, so you want to stay clear of them because they can move fast. But we came face to face with this buffalo, about 10 meters away, dead set in the middle of the road,. He wasn’t going anywhere. The young tribesman who was driving the car was just laughing but my wife was saying: Back up! And he was just kind of staring it down. And I’m thinking: Okay, this guy lives here. He knows what he’s doing. But the buffalo gets a little closer and starts stomping its feet on the ground – so then we start backing up and took a different road. Afterwards he told us he’d never been confronted before like that. He was scared shitless. So that was as close as I’ve come to anything wild.

Q: You’ve been married four decades to British actress Amanda Pays and together have four adult sons. What’s your recipe for a successful marriage?

CORBIN: I don’t take anything for granted with her. I still think there’s any given day she could leave me. And I don’t mean that in a bad way, but I don’t take for granted that she’ll be there. She’s going to California to do some stuff. And I keep going: Gosh, I hope she comes back. I mean, I know she will. We have no problems. I just don’t take any of it for granted. We’re different people and operate very differently but we have so much in common that creates a friendship and that’s so important.

Q: What do you do for fitness and nutrition?

CORBIN: We walk every day for two or three hours if the weather’s right, or we swim. I used to be a runner, but after many years in marathons, I’m happy to walk now rather than keeping doing damage to my knees – and I still get the same thing out of it. Keeping your body moving is the most important thing.

I’m addicted to sugar so I’ve been trying to cut sugar out of my life, and the more I cut it out, the more my joints feel better. Recently, my wife got me off gluten – not that I had problems with it – but now everything just seems to work a little bit better. I don’t really understand it, but it works.

Q: What is your secret to aging with attitude?

CORBIN: Stay curious. That’s really what it is for me. I think it came from my mother, who was a wonderful actor, and also she always was curious. So I’m fascinated with our planet and how we got here. I’m fascinated by the aging too. My wife is beautiful and she just takes care of herself, appreciates the aging, and it seems to be that the people who appreciate the human process of aging, they seem to do okay. It’s when you fight it. You know, look at Jane Goodall. Look at her, at the end of her being. I mean, what a glowing, beautiful woman who stayed curious the whole time. Life is about, birth, live, die, so you’ve got to lean into it all – the good, bad and the ugly. We’re just all trying to figure it out. We can say we think we know where we go when we die. We can say we think this or that – but I can’t explain love. I know what it is. I’d rather just experience it. You just sort of lean into it. And you lean into sadness. You lean into grief. And the more you lean into life, I think the more you get out of it.

 

NB: The Yeti is available On Digital

(Top) Photo Credit: Well Go USA Entertainment

Gill Pringle began her career as a rock columnist for popular British newspapers, traveling the world with Madonna, U2 and Michael Jackson. Moving to Los Angeles 27 years ago, she interviews film and TV personalities for prestigious UK outlets, The Independent, The i-paper and The Sunday Times – and, of course, Senior Planet. A member of Critics Choice Association, BAFTA and AWFJ, she wrote the screenplay for 2016 Netflix family film, The 3 Tails Movie: A Mermaid Adventure. An award-winning writer, in 2021 she was honored by the Los Angeles Press Club with 1st prize at the NAEJ Awards.