By Ali Ikram
Local short film Dotty was shown to the public for the first time a couple of weeks ago.
When we first met the star she was trying to get to see it on the big screen.
Joyce Irving is the living embodiment of the adage ‘it's never too late’. While she had been acting for decades there was still one thing she'd never done.
"This is the first time I’ve hit the big screen. I did audition for a part in Yogi Bear, I took my grandchildren to see it and we watched and watched for granny to come down the path and they'd cut out my bit.”
Good things as they say are worth waiting for and at 91 got to see her first starring role premiere on the big screen in Montreal.
"This script is exactly a piece of my life I can't send a text to my daughter even after the film."
Dotty is a charming short film about an old lady living in a rest home struggling to send a text.
Mick Andrews didn't know Ms Irving when he wrote it, but reckons after all this time it was a part she was born to play.
“She has embodied this role, put everything she has into it and now has such a deep sense of pride for this film that it is as much hers as it is ours.”
And for a few days in Montreal Ms Irving was a star, giving interviews, getting her face on, wearing dresses loaned to her by designers and even plugged the Auckland dentist who whitened her teeth for free.
When we first met the great grandmother she was selling preserves, knitting and even CDs of her reading the bible so she could get to Canada without selling her jewellery.
But it was only with the help of Nightline's viewers who reached into their pockets to ensure Ms Irving got there without pawning her prized possessions.
"Hi Joyce I was greatly touched by the story you know this is the thing that makes life worth living."
So thanks Nightliners for bringing Ms Irving to the world
“[It’s a] dream come true,” she says.
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