Defying Age: Stories of Resilience and Creativity

As you get older, you can start to feel like you'll never achieve your dream or receive recognition for your contributions to a field, or that your best work is behind you.

Mo Rocca has compiled stories that demonstrate that you shouldn't give up hope, and that no matter your age, the best may yet be to come.

Mo is a humorist, journalist, and the co-author of Roctogenarians: Late in Life Debuts, Comebacks, and Triumphs. Today on the show, Mo shares the stories and lessons of entrepreneurs, artists, actors, and more who achieved greatness or adulation in their twilight years or had a new spurt of creativity when they thought the well had run dry, including KFC founder Colonel Sanders, the artist Matisse, a couple of guys who didn't receive their first war wounds until they were old enough to qualify for the senior citizen discount at Denny's, and even a virile 90-year-old tortoise.

Resources Related to the Podcast

• AoM Podcast #849: Live Life in Crescendo
• Samuel Whittemore
• John L. Burns
• Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater
• Frank Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim Museum
• Henri Matisse's The Swimming Pool
• Documentary about Tyrus Wong
• Mr. Pickles the Tortoise

Connect With Mo Rocca

• Mo on X