Still in His Prime

Nearing 80, actor Christopher Walken continues to rack up career firsts including a new series on Amazon

- JAMIE BURTON

STILL GOING STRONG Walken, who is 79, has been acting for over seven decades, from his start in TV to his latest forays on streaming platforms.

EVEN AT 79 YEARS OLD, Christopher Walken is still able to do things in his career that he has never done before. His latest first? The movie icon makes his debut as a main cast member in episodic TV in a series called The Outlaws, out on Prime Video this month.

Walken sat down with Newsweek recently to reflect on his career, and his recent move from the big to the small screen.

'Going where the Work Is'

"I've done the occasional TV thing but this, one episode after another, it's the first time," Walken says, “I'm just going where the work is." Born Ronnie Walken in New York City on March 31, 1943, it wasn't long after that he worked as an actor for the first time, in an amateur production of Madame Butterfly. “I have two brothers and my mother put the three of us in show business when we were very young. At the time there were 90 live shows from New York every week, all very family-oriented. They used children more or less as set dressing. You'd sing a little, dance a little, maybe say a line,” Walken says.

Fast-forward a decade or so and Walken continued to work on stage, with small parts on television, earning enough money to treat himself. “My first car? A brand new Volkswagen, which I bought for $1,650,” Walken recalls. “Isn't that amazing? A brand new Volkswagen with a sunroof, for under $2,000."

By the 1960s, Walken started to transition into movies where he'd spend the majority of his career. During that decade, he received his first award, which he still has today, for his work on the stage, winning “Most Promising Newcomer.”

He Enjoys Christopher Walken Impressions