STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK

At 87, Hal Linden has one of the longest careers in show business. And this past week he stopped by the Sun Valley Jewish Film Festival to tell a full house in the Community School Theatre about his two latest projects.

The audience had just seen one film—“The Samuel Project”—about a teenager who discovers his grandfather’s role in the Holocaust when he sets about to do an art project featuring his grandfather.

And the star of “Barney Miller” said he will soon have another movie out this year—“Granddaddy Day Care.”

“The Samuel Project,” which will hit the big screen Sept. 28 in New York and in October in Los Angeles,  drew tears from many in the audience, even though it’s an uplifting film.

“I’ve seen it seven or eight times and I still can’t get through it without crying,” Linden said.

The film—shot opposite Disney movie star Ryan Ochoa—was “a labor of love shot for a buck and a half,” Linden said. It started off as a film about the Holocaust but over time became a story about the lack of communication between generations and how art can offer an avenue of communication for people who have difficulty in that arena.

Linden told the audience that he never starts by memorizing his lines.

“I let it happen during rehearsal. Although admittedly later in life it gets a little tougher,” he quipped. “There is an adrenaline factor when you’re on stage and it takes over.”

The 2018 Sun Valley Jewish Film Festival will conclude tonight—Monday, July 16—with “The Last Suit.” The film which is subtitled, follows an 88-year-old tailor who mysteriously disappears the day before his children are to place him in a retirement home to fulfill a promise made years earlier.

The free screening starts at 6 p.m.