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Earlier this year, the actress Mary Steenburgen began filming the second season of a popular Netflix show. The role, a love interest for the protagonist, promised fantastic outfits, a brief nude scene, a show stopping musical number, a tuba. At 72, having survived the loss of parents and friends, Steenburgen has learned to treasure opportunities like these.
“I don’t see life as endless anymore,” she said, her eyes wet. “So these lovely things that come to you, you have such intense gratitude. That’s the big thing about this moment in time: It’s insane gratitude.”
Her husband and co-star, the actor Ted Danson, 77, turned to her with love and sympathy and murmured, “This is when you say, ‘Top that.’”
Steenburgen obliged him. “Top that, sucker,” she said.
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This was over lunch on a chilly afternoon in Manhattan, the week before Thanksgiving. Steenburgen and Danson, who live in Los Angeles, had flown east to promote “A Man on the Inside,” the Netflix comedy. Danson (“Cheers,” “The Good Place”) stars as Charles Nieuwendyk, a retired professor of engineering who pursues a second career as an investigator.
Season 2, now streaming, finds him undercover at a Bay Area liberal arts college. He quickly falls for a sultry music professor named Mona Margadoff, played by Steenburgen (“Justified,” the “Book Club” films).
