Though she traveled to the south of France earlier this year for the premiere of her latest film at the Cannes Film Festival, June Squibb has still never been to Paris. “I’ve flown into Paris, and been in the airport, but I’ve never spent time in Paris, nor London,” says the 95-year-old Academy Award nominee. “I know they’re beautiful cities and I would like to see one, or both.” Once Squibb was done promoting Eleanor the Great, of which she is the star, Squibb was invited to tack on a few days in the city of light with the movie’s director, Scarlett Johansson. “Scarlett was flying there afterwards to take some time off, and she said, ‘Come to Paris!’ But I had a cat back in LA I had to get home to,” says Squibb.
When she’s not turning down opportunities to hobnob with wildly cool people in wildly cool places, Squibb loves to hit the hotel pool, order room service, and settle in with some Sudoku, as she explains ahead to Condé Nast Traveler.
What’s in her carry-on bag:
My carry-on bag has at least one book, a book of Sudoku, and Kleenex. And then a charger for my phone, extra glasses, and pens for my puzzling—I do crosswords, and a lot of the puzzles, but Sudoku is my favorite.
The best vacation of her life:
Going to Greece. My husband was Greek, and he was the first generation American-born. We were in Greece for three or four weeks—Athens and Crete, which is where his family was from, and it was just wonderful. It was so funny because my husband spoke very fluent Greek, and he was always translating for me. Whatever they said, he was translating. At one point, he started translating to me and I said, “Charlie, they’re speaking English. I can understand!”
What it was like filming in Coney Island for Eleanor the Great:
Oh, that was great fun. I’m in LA now, but I lived in New York for 65 years. Coney Island was our first day of shooting and it was so perfect for the first day. [Co-star] Erin [Kellyman] and I got to spend time together and everything. It was a really good choice to go there first. There were paparazzi because it was Scarlett Johansson, and we did have a crowd watching. Wherever we would stop to shoot, we would end up with quite a few people standing there.
The place she could travel to a million times and not tire of it:
Hawaii, on the Big Island. I love the Big Island. I’ve been four times now, and relax more there than I do anywhere in the whole world. I travel with a couple that I know and love, so we’re very comfortable together. They have a share with the big Hilton there, [Waikoloa Village] in the middle of the island, but we always get different apartments.
