Acting the Part

Four years ago Mae Laborde decided to pursue the Los Angeles dream, an acting career. Nothing unusual there, perhaps, except her age: Laborde was 93. The Santa Monica resident's first casting call led to a Sears commercial, and she's appeared on Mad TV and in ads for Lexus and Chase Bank. Now 97, Laborde is filming a small role in a still-untitled Ben Stiller movie. "To me, it was a happy surprise the way it worked," she says. The onetime department store clerk and bookeeper adds that other older peopole contemplating reinvention should "get off your rocker and get out there and see what's going on!" She links longevity to healthy eating -- but holiday cookies are an exception. "I don't want to be more than 100 (pounds)," the four-foot-ten Laborde laments. "Now I'm 102."