Estelle Parsons Is Nearly A Centenarian & Her Hollywood Transformation Has Been Stunning

Estelle Parsons has had a glittering career that spans the 1950s and covers almost all corners of the entertainment industry. Though she's best known for her acting roles in the likes of "Roseanne" and "Bonnie and Clyde," she was an aspiring singer and has become a Broadway icon with tens of productions under her belt. Parsons is a straight shooter, too, and has been very open about having no interest in the fame game. "Being a star means absolutely nothing," she bluntly told The New York Times in 1969. But that doesn't mean this Oscar winner isn't grateful for the opportunities that have come her way. "Looking back on my career I feel I am blessed to have appeared on television, film, and stage since the early 1950s," she told Women Talking.

While Parsons, who will celebrate becoming a centenarian in 2027, has turned down some big roles that could have brought her more fame and fortune, she has no regrets over her decades in the spotlight. "I feel I've had a wonderful life. I don't think, 'Oh dear, I haven't done this, I haven't done that. I'll never get to do this.' I don't have any thoughts like that. You know why? Because all my life I've just done what I wanted to do at any given time," she told American Theater. And that inspiring personal mantra has resulted in an enviably successful life and career.

Estelle Parsons was born in Massachusetts in 1927 and was no shrinking violet from a young age. "Oh, I was very much heard! I remember wanting to be quiet, but instead I was rambunctious, impulsive, volatile, and aggressive," she told Oprah.com of her childhood. The star even recalled breaking a chair as a little girl, which had her mother fraught. "My entire life has been about trying to be a good girl," Parsons said.

Aged 7, she began appearing in local theater productions. "Acting certainly excited me and, with my enthusiasm, my career onstage had soon begun!" she told Women Talking. But that didn't mean she had grand ambitions of heading to Hollywood to become a movie star. Parsons told Broadway.com that, even though acting would become her life, she didn't feel fully comfortable with it when she got a little older. Part of that inability to see herself on stage permanently may have come from her father, as Parsons told Playbill he made it clear he didn't agree with her having a career treading the boards.

Though most kids reluctantly head to boarding school at their parents' request, the opposite was true for Estelle Parsons. She told American Theater that going away to learn was her idea, and she loved the experience so much that she thrived and became an A student. When it came time to graduate and head to Connecticut College, Parsons had developed a passion for singing but dropped her theater classes. She majored in political science before heading to Boston University to study law. "I thought I would go into politics before I became an actor. I enjoyed that a lot, but thank heaven I didn't do it," she said. She also pursued her passion for singing by performing in a band. "[It] was an enjoyable introduction to the world of entertainment," she told Women Talking, though her singing career never really took off.

Although law and music weren't Parsons' callings, TV was. She discovered that in 1952, after crossing paths with NBC's then-president, who hired her for a milestone new project, the daily morning show "Today." "I was very happy to do it," Parsons said on "Today" in 2001, when the show celebrated its 49th birthday, sharing that she was part of the original group of eight that brought the series to TV. She started as a production assistant before graduating to staff writer. But as pleased as Parsons was with her life-changing new gig, she soon found it wasn't her bag. The actor told American Theater she didn't like taking part in the show's staple interview segments, which saw her chat with celebrities like Marilyn Monroe.

In 1953, rising star Estelle Parsons married author Richard Gehman. Two years later, the two welcomed twin daughters. Now happily settled down, Parsons wasn't willing to let "Today" disturb her quiet family life. When higher-ups asked her to go to Monaco to report on Grace Kelly's wedding, she declined. Instead, she left the NBC show. With some encouragement from Gehman, Parsons switched career gears and rekindled her early love of musical theater. "Abe Burrows [was a friend of my husband's]. He was doing a new musical with Ethel Merman. I went and sang for him, and he hired me. I've been on the stage ever since," she told Closer (via Yahoo). Parsons made her Broadway debut in 1956 in "Happy Hunting" and continued to take on steady gigs in Broadway and off-Broadway productions.

Parsons' dedication to her family unfortunately didn't result in a long-lasting marriage. She and Gehman split in 1958, and Parsons raised their twins as a single mom. "It's been very hard raising them in a city like New York with no father," she told The New York Times, revealing she took the role in the movie "Don't Drink the Water" that year so she could afford to send her kids to private school. The actor was adamant about staying in the Big Apple with her children, which meant not taking acting roles that required a lot of time away. She also began appearing in commercials to pay bills, including promoting Jif peanut butter.

After seeing success in theater, Estelle Parsons took things to the next level in 1967. She appeared in the movie "Bonnie and Clyde" and won an Oscar for it. Not that awards were her motivator. "I didn't care whether I won or not because I didn't care about movies," she bluntly told American Theater, revealing she left L.A. as quickly as she could post-show to return to her family in New York. She also informed Jacksonville.com that she only took the role because she wanted to work with director Arthur Penn. Parsons stuck with the big screen, though, and earned another Oscar nomination for "Rachel, Rachel" the following year.

Though most actors never achieve Parsons' success, she wasn't looking to live the high life as one of America's newest It Girls. "I don't think of myself as a popular actress. Acting is just the thing I do for a living," she told The New York Times the year after her Oscar win, admitting she'd turned down roles in major movies (because sometimes it's okay to say no at work). "I drive agents mad. They keep wanting me to be a movie star, so I keep firing them," she said. Instead of the glitzy roles that could potentially have earned her millions, she appeared in a small play in Central Park. However, she later hinted to In The Spotlight that she wished she hadn't been so staunchly opposed to a major movie career.

Parsons focused her attention on theater. She landed her first Tony Award nomination in 1969 for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role for "Seven Descents of Myrtle." At the time of writing, she's earned four more nominations in the category.

Despite Estelle Parsons' reluctance to become a movie star, she continued to appear in a handful of films in the '70s, including "Watermelon Man" and "I Walk The Line." She told Jacksonville.com she mainly took on her big-screen roles to earn enough money to send her children to college. She also balanced the handful of movie roles with what appeared to be her true passion: theater gigs. That decade, she appeared in "And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little," "The Norman Conquests: Table Manners," and "Ladies at the Alamo."

But while many actors with Parsons' fame were looking for roles to take their celebrity to the next level or garner high ticket sales and critical acclaim, that still wasn't this star's motivator. She told People she was driven by the continuous need to try new things and play characters she found interesting. "A lot of times I've done terrible flop plays but the character has excited me in some way," she said.

Part of always taking on new and exciting gigs involved appearing on the small screen. The star landed roles in TV shows like "Love, American Style" and "Calling Dr. Gannon." She also branched out beyond acting. Late in the decade, Parsons took on a director role for productions of "Voices" and "Antony and Cleopatra," truly cementing her status as a multi-hyphenate of the arts.

Estelle Parsons found her happily ever after later in life when she began dating lawyer Peter Zimroth. The two got married in 1983, though walking down the aisle for a second time was a surprising move for Parsons, who'd vowed she'd never marry again. "Now I find it hard to relate to men. I just don't know what kind of man could marry an actress and still be a man. Most of them want mother figures," she'd told The New York Times in 1969.

Not only did Parsons tie the knot again, but she also became a mom of three. Also in 1983, she and Zimroth adopted their first child together, a son named Abraham, who was just a few months old when he joined the family. "It was a hard decision. But Peter and I had been living together for 10 years and we felt we really wanted a family," Parsons told People of having kids later in life and becoming a mom again at 55. The star explained that she struggled with empty-nest syndrome when her twins went to college, but becoming a mom to Abraham gave her a new lease on life. "I really feel fantastic," she said.

After being in show business for decades, Estelle Parsons' career got a major shot in the arm with mainstream audiences in 1989. She began starring in the sitcom "Roseanne," alongside Roseanne Barr and John Goodman, as the titular character's mom, Beverly Harris. The gig became one of Parsons' most notable roles. She would appear in over 60 episodes of the hugely popular show, even reprising her character for the 2018 reboot and the spin-off "The Conners," which ran from 2018 to 2025. 

Despite the series already being a big hit when Parsons was offered the role, she was initially reluctant to take it. However, she signed on the dotted line to get steady work in the wake of her son's autism diagnosis. "I couldn't work on stage because that is a full-time commitment of eight shows a week. You sleep all day, work all night, and you can't be a good parent under those conditions," she told Closer (via Yahoo).

But don't think Parsons had changed her stance on fame just because she appeared on a major sitcom. "It's a very strange world that, and I wouldn't want to get mixed up in it," she told FoundationINTERVIEWS of fame, including the notoriety her co-stars enjoyed. "I'm not interested in money and power and fame and once you get out of the theater, it seems to me that's what you're dealing with," she added.

Estelle Parsons had undergone big life changes by 2010. Not only were her children all grown up, but she'd also become a grandmother. And keeping up with a busy career and family life wasn't the easiest task. She'd been spending time in London with her husband while appearing in a West End production of "Deathtrap." She revealed she caught up with her other close family members at least once a month, but told Women Talking, "I carry a certain amount of anxiety around with me, because of the guilt about work." 

When asked by Broadway World the following year about how hard she was still working into her 80s, Parsons had a characteristically direct response: "What am I supposed to do, say, 'I am too old and shouldn't work anymore?'" At the time, the actor was appearing in a Broadway production of "Good People," which marked her 28th career Broadway show.

The following year, Parsons showed no signs of slowing down. She shared the ways she stays physically healthy beyond her 60s, telling HuffPost she does daily gym sessions, swimming, running, and weight training. She also opened up about her balanced diet. "I don't eat much meat at all, mostly chicken and fish and vegetables and salad. If you're not working, [you're] sitting around thinking, 'Oh I guess I'll have a chocolate.' The work is the important thing," she said. Speaking to Women Talking, she also credited yoga for improving her physical and mental health, proving that it's never too late to get into exercising. Her clean lifestyle clearly worked, as she went on to thrive in TV shows such as "The Good Wife" and "Grace and Frankie." 

In 2021, Estelle Parsons experienced a tragic personal loss when her husband, Peter Zimroth, died in 2021 aged 78. The sad news was announced by Richard Jerome, the New York Police Department's top deputy on the monitoring team, who confirmed in a statement (via NBC New York) that Zimroth was "surrounded by the love of his family." Zimroth had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer around two years before his death. Parsons didn't speak publicly about her husband's sad passing, but told American Theater she purposefully took time away from work to spend more time with him, as a way to prepare for the impending loss of a loved one.

Despite the tough time in her personal life, Parsons was still dedicated to her craft. She had become co-associate artistic director of The Actors Studio in New York. "After people work at the studio, if they work consistently there for a while, they begin to really get much better jobs and that's the beauty of it," she told FoundationINTERVIEWS of her important work building up other actors. "It's not interested in commerce, it's interested in acting and theater as an art form," she added. The star was still very much open to other work, too. "If other jobs come along, I take them if they're interesting," the then-95-year-old told American Theater.

In 2024, Estelle Parsons celebrated her 97th birthday — and was still working! In addition to appearing in several episodes of "The Conners," she lent her voice to The Broadway Podcast Network audio drama "Around the Sun." At the time of writing, Parsons hasn't taken on a public project since then, but she has not officially announced her retirement either. She hasn't been totally absent from the spotlight, though. Parsons appeared at the opening night of the Broadway production of "Little Bear Ridge Road" in October 2025 and flashed a smile for the cameras.

It sounds like Parsons may never officially step away from acting. The long-time star has been honest about wanting to work for as long as she can ("I don't know what retirement means," she told Reuters in 2009) and had an interesting plan for her swan song that proved her lifelong dedication to her craft. "I think everybody in theater wants to keep working until they drop dead on stage. That's the ideal. Die with your boots on!" she joked to Closer in 2023 (via Yahoo). With stamina and passion like Parsons', the world could continue to revel in her entertainment for years to come.