Samuel L. Jackson has a new limited series out on Apple TV+ called The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey. Samuel plays the titular role, a man struggling with dementia caused by Alzheimer’s. It looks great and Samuel looks like he turned in an incredible performance. Almost too good, he broke my heart just in the clips, I don’t know how I’m going to make it through the series. The show is based off the book by Walter Mosley. Samuel and his wife LaTanya Richardson Jackson produced the series. He said his motivation for making the project was in part due to his love for the book but also because the subject hit so close to home. Both his grandfather and his mother had Alzheimer’s. In the clip of their interview with People, it sounds like both his uncle and his aunt did as well.
Samuel L. Jackson has starred in Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters from Star Wars to Avengers but his latest project holds a special place in his heart because of the personal connection he has to the subject matter.
Samuel and wife LaTanya Richardson Jackson are producing partners on the Apple TV+ limited series The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey, a drama starring Samuel as a man with dementia caused by Alzheimer’s. The actor has first-hand experience with the disease because his grandfather and mother had Alzheimer’s.
“It’s such an insidious disease. It’s a horror to watch. And we watched his mother go through it,” says LaTanya.
Samuel says that because of his family’s experience, “I was creatively interested in telling the story of someone with Alzheimer’s that was able to make the choice to take a ‘fantasy’ drug that would give them their memories back, no matter the cost. It’s chance that people don’t have in real life and I thought it was a powerful vehicle to share Ptolemy’s story.”
“It shows that in spite of their disease, these people still have value and meaning, and they are people that still deserve to be cared for,” he says. “It also shows that even though they can’t communicate well with the outside world, their minds are still active and they are in a different mental space. Hopefully, people will see how important it is to still actively love and care for people with Alzheimer’s.”
“These people still have value and meaning, and they are people that still deserve to be cared for.” Samuel is absolutely right that often patients who can’t advocate for themselves do get ignored. Of course they have value and meaning. I was hesitant about this series because I was leery of the whole fantasy drug element. However, it sounds like they’re using that device to prove a point to the audience. That casts the story in a different light for me.
As the article mentioned, Samuel and LaTanya are producing this together. You can tell by LaTanya’s comments that she was equally affected by what Samuel’s mom went through. And LaTanya not only had to watch Mrs. Jackson suffer but Samuel’s heartbreak over it as well. As you can read on the People cover, Samuel and LaTanya, who is a Tony-nominated actress in her own right, have been married for 41 years and they been through heaven and hell together. Making this series together must have been a real labor of love. Also, I didn’t know their daughter Zoe was a TV producer. They’ve got their own entertainment dynasty going on.
Photo credit: Matt Sayles/People, InStar Images and Getty mages
I work at a SNF and sometimes we get patients with Alzheimer’s Disease. It is so very sad to watch them decline. This disease kills the victim twice, first the mind and then the body.
This is my biggest fear. Having this disease and not remembering my kids and them having to deal with it. I have a terrible memory now and this runs in my family so it makes me worry. Every time I forget someone significant I worry.
Will defo check this out my mother seems already gone yet still alive, in some strange vortex of anger and anguish. Hard to know how to support someone with the disease when they can’t describe how they feel.
“ Will defo check this out my mother seems already gone yet still alive, in some strange vortex of anger and anguish.”
I have never seen a more perfect description. I am so sorry. We are going through this now too.
She’s already lost four siblings to this disease. I thought I was ready and knew what was coming but you can never be ready.
I can’t watch this movie. But I am grateful that it exists and this is starting to be dealt with in a real way instead of just a punch line in movies and tv.
My mom spent the last four years of her life in a memory care unit. It’s… a lot. It left me with a lot less patience in every other area of my life and I spent two years being really angry on my way to the place where I eventually landed, which was “She’s warm and I can hug her.” It also got to a place where, in non-crisis times, I would call on the regular to check up on her and visit twice a week, once at night because she was more likely to be communicative because it was so hard and she was at a place where time was something she and I were experiencing in different ways. I’d lie in bed next to her and we’d chat. More than once I scared the bejesus out of a staffer who wasn’t expecting to crash a slumber party! Because she’d enrolled in a study when she was first diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, she donated her brain (getting it from where she died -the Midwest- back to Boston – was its own adventure; she wanted to be next time my dad in Central New York; it all happened). That’s how know that along with the Parkinson’s, she had Alzheimer’s and Lewy body dementia. My heart broke all over again when the researcher shared the information. I also have a dear friend with early onset Alzheimer’s.
These are ugly diseases. Grateful to Jackson and Richardson for making this series.
My aunt is in a memory care unit. I thought I was prepared to see her, but I had to duck into her bathroom to cry. She didn’t know who we were. She knew she was married (but not that she was a recent widow) and believed the life sized baby dolls were her children. It was heartbreaking. I can’t even imagine how my cousins and her granddaughter are dealing with her condition.
My dad suffers memory loss now from long Covid and I’m terrified this is his fate as well. Alzheimer’s is a horrible disease that effects entire families.
To be honest: I am in moderate decline. I cannot fake it (being a cognizant person) and have lost all of my friends. I wrote to some and they did not write back; I called a couple and they did not call back. It’s still early times. I am agoraphobic. I am afraid if I leave the house I might get disoriented. I would never dream of driving. I take time to proofread everything I write and a bunch of errors get through.
I am being “de-personized” by my own brain’s quirks. My personhood was always I thought in my curiosity about others, in a certain wit, in a lot of passions for things. But now I am not a person, except to my husband who has to do more and more things for me. Can I make toast? I am not sure!
So I wonder if I am the only person who spends time on this most excellent site knowing that I can stay au courant of the world plus get a lot of anger and a lot of wit in the way of the world. I like the fact that the site has much more swank than tesosterone. When I do post here, it makes me feel as if I am part of a group. It is such a privilege. Maybe soon I will be too stupid to post, but right now you and a tiny bit of facebook and a small slice of reddit are my community.
The ridiculous thing is that my writing is better than my thinking! I can take my time over it. If you were to suddenly encounter me in the flesh I would be saying: “um, uh, i, ah, um, let me think about it, um, I used to know that….”
Thank you to Samuel and LaTonya.
My mother is in the exact same position and it’s killing me. Yesterday she said “there’s just so little of ME left” I watch her try and have friends and it’s heartbreaking on how people shy away from her and treat her oddly. I wish you the very very best and thank you so much for sharing your story. It really meant alot.
Thank you for sharing and being a part of this community. This is the only place online where I read comments and post, I don’t know exactly what makes it so special but I feel lucky to have found this community. We seem to be a very varied group with everyone bringing their perspectives and experiences. I hope you are able to continue sharing your thoughts and words with us for a long time.
Your post is one of the most eloquent, candid, and powerful I’ve seen over 10+ years of reading this site on a daily basis. Thank you for sharing your story. I’m profoundly sorry for what you are going through and hope you continue to feel connected with your online communities. May you flourish. ❤️
You made my eyes water @ Gubbinal. My Dad passed away years ago. Alzheimer’s is what deteriorated a very intellectual, funny and physically active man. Genetically predisposed. He was very aware he had it. He was very aware before he was diagnosed he probably had it. It didn’t make the bad moments better. It did make the funny moments more funny. Out of habit some of us would say before telling a story, “I can’t remember if I told you this…”. His response was usually, “If you can’t remember how in the h$ll do you expect me to remember.” or “If you told me, I probably forgot.”. Best to you.
For those of you dealing with this the Purple Sherpa is a great non-profit (NGO) with lots of resources for caregivers and those facing an Alzheimer’s diagnosis.