If you’re like us, you’ve probably wondered what everyday stuff famous people add to their carts — like hair spray or an electric toothbrush. We asked June Squibb about the calming candy, red lipstick, and laundry basket she can’t live without.
Now that I’m older, I hate thick base makeup. Also, I have to be made up so much of the time for different events, so I don’t want that much makeup on for my day to day. My assistant actually found this for me. I told her I wanted a lightweight foundation, and she brought this back. It’s just a little thicker than a toner, so I get nice coverage, but it’s lightweight. It’s perfect. This is what I use for myself if I’m going out to dinner or if I don’t want to go out without makeup.
I love this lipstick because they have the most wonderful reds. They have all the red shades from the ’40s and ’30s that you can’t find anywhere else. They categorize them by years and are very retro. They’re also non-drying, which helps. I used to only buy them in their stores, but since their brick-and-mortar shut down, I repurchase them online.
I always get mine at Macy’s. I suppose I found them just by trial and error over the years, but I won’t wear anything else anymore. They’re wonderful and comfortable. I could have the most gorgeous event clothes on and underneath is a pair of Cotton Jockey underpants.
I can’t wear thin socks. I have a narrow heel, so I need a sock that has some heft to it. These are perfect. I wear them with sneakers and everything. Again, like the Jockey underwear, they’re the only socks I wear now. I found them at the Vermont Country Store many years ago when I was shopping their catalogue. I don’t know anywhere else that has them. I get mine in black beige, and white, and I think they even have a pink and a blue that you could get.
This is so wonderful. Before I had this, I was just using a cloth bag for my laundry. As I’ve gotten older, that was impossible for me to use. My assistant gave it to me as a gift, and I thought, Oh, a hamper. That’s not great. But I love it. It’s one of my favorite things in the whole world. I can roll it from room to room full of dirty clothes, all the way to the laundry room. It holds a lot of clothes, too. It’s not a small thing.
I’m terrible in the kitchen. Period. I don’t cook, so I’ll buy anything that makes kitchen tasks easy for me. I love the Keurig coffee maker. It is so simple. I understand it. I have a cup of decaf coffee every morning because of this. If mine starts to go, I will buy a new one. I cannot be without it.
I have always written lists to myself through the years. I can’t remember a time I haven’t done that. I start my days writing down everything I have to do. Now I have a very fancy leather Filofax that I love. It’s a purple leather and very good looking. I’ve had it for two or three years now, and I just buy new pages to fill up the book every year.
Even when I was a kid, I read constantly, and I’m still an avid reader. For the last few years, I’ve been really into Scandinavian mysteries. I won’t pretend I’ve read most of them, but I’ve read an awful lot of them. Jo Nesbø and Henning Mankel are the ones everybody knows, but there are some new ones like Åsa Larsson. I just found out about her actually, and I’m reading all of her books now. I know there are other people who love them too, and we all say we don’t know what it is about them, but we love them. While I was on set shooting Eleanor, I was talking to the first AD and brought up Scandinavian mysteries. Turns out, we both live on these books. But it felt like uncovering a dirty secret. I have no idea what it is about them.
I love caramel candy, but specifically Werther’s. My assistant has them on set for me all the time. If I get a little panicky on set or something, she’ll come up with one of these. It helps tremendously. It’s awful because now, everybody on set knows, oh, just give June her candy and she’ll calm down.
I still remember my first martini in Cleveland, Ohio. I left Illinois and went to the Cleveland Playhouse. That was the first time I had ever ordered a martini and loved it. I still do. One of my favorite things to do is go to a restaurant and have a martini with a wonderful dinner. In L.A., Musso & Frank’s is really the best. In New York, I think it’s Joe Allen’s. They both do it right. They don’t play around with it, but make it just like the originals with plenty of gin.
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