He’s US TV royalty, Barbra Streisand’s other half, and has some seriously impressive hobbies – but even at 81, the Lightyear star still suffers from ‘collywobbles’
James Brolin and I meet in a restaurant in Malibu, just down the road from his home, to share a loaf of delicious courgette bread and talk about his role in Lightyear, the latest Toy Story offshoot – except, it turns out, Brolin isn’t allowed to discuss the movie yet. To have the ostensible object of conversation taken off the table would be, in most interviews, something of a disadvantage. But with Brolin, 81, it is a most fortuitous development because there is so much else to discuss.
“This one time, Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman and my dentist – who had a great Ferrari – and I drove race cars on the track. Gene was the fastest, but he drove the most cars off the road,” is one typical snatch of conversation from Brolin. “The only airplane I own right now is the one I finished building during the pandemic,” is another. Who wouldn’t want to spend a day chewing the fat and courgette bread with him?
