You don’t have to have watched Three Men and a Baby as many times as I have to appreciate the earnest optimism of Steve Guttenberg’s Instagram.
The actor — also known for the Police Academy franchise and a string of ’80s film hits — posts bite-size reflections, often filmed midwalk or from the back of a cab, carving out a surprisingly sincere corner of the internet at a time when my FYP feels like anything but.
“When my father needed dialysis, my sisters and I would take turns sleeping in the hospital,” he tells me for Yahoo’s Off the Cuff series. “Sometimes at 3 a.m., I’d be woken up — the machines making noise — and there’s nobody to talk to. A friend suggested, ‘Maybe if you make little messages on the internet, people will write back.’ And they did: ‘I’m up with my kid who’s sick,’ or ‘I’m taking care of my dad.’”
Guttenberg’s father died in 2022 — “I weep every day,” he says — but he’s kept posting.
“A friend said it’s a little goody-goody — and I’m like, ‘Yeah, it is.’ And I’m not a goody-goody. I’ve got my dark sides and bad habits, but I’m trying,” says the 67-year-old, who helped first responders and strangers during the Palisades Fire in 2025.
He sees his social media presence as counterprogramming.
“Everybody’s posting ‘#SoBlessed,’” alongside boastful photos of homes, cars, trips and toned bodies, “or ‘#BeKind’ — and then yelling at someone in the street,” Guttenberg says. “We’ve got enough of that crap.”
Speaking from — fittingly — a diner, the Diner star talks about creating a positive space online, not learning a damn thing from grief and picking up a wellness tip from Raquel Welch.
What did ’80s stardom feel like? Hollywood is so different today.
It’s my 50th year in show business. I started working at 17 and haven’t been a waiter since I was 19. My life, depending on the year, is like a salesman’s: You have some really good years and some really bad ones. But whether you’re [Robert] De Niro, Harrison Ford, Jack Nicholson or somebody on a hit TV series, we’re all just actors wanting to work.
My dad used to say, “Steven, I’m an extraordinary guy in an ordinary life, and you’re an ordinary guy in an extraordinary life.” I’m a working-class guy who happened to hit, and I’m grateful for it. But my life has always been the same. I want to serve my family and friends. I care about them.
Guttenberg starred in hit after hit in the ’80s, including the Police Academy movies, and has maintained a successful career since.
(Warner Bros. via Getty Images)
The great thing about being superhot is you can get everybody on the studio jet and fly to Monte Carlo. When you’re not, you buy your own ticket. I’ve understood the game.
Can you watch your old films?
It’s not in me to sit and watch one, but if I’m flipping around and see it, I will now. I used to just pass by.
I don’t think about my personal identity. It’s about the work, the people on the project and how lucky I am. So much of celebrity is taken for granted, or we’re always chasing our careers. We want more. Sometimes you have to appreciate it: Hey, I played in a few World Series. I got a few rings.
A personal favorite: Guttenberg with Tom Selleck and Ted Danson in Three Men and a Baby.
(Courtesy Everett Collection)
You’re in a business built on comparison. What’s that been like over the course of your career?
The craft of acting … is beautiful — true emotions in imaginary circumstances. But the other part of it is show business. There are certain rules.
We all have different “equipment.” Some people just look like a mob boss. They might be able to play King Lear onstage, but [onscreen], they’re the mob boss. [You] want to play a farmer? No, you look like a mob boss. That’s what actors are always fighting: getting pigeonholed and trying to break out of it.
You recently played a serial killer, which showed a different side.
It’s just another part of my tool chest that people don’t always know I can do. I was trained as a serious actor, but because of my equipment and the films that I’ve done that have been extremely successful, they put you in [a lane].
Years ago, I was sitting next to Bill Shatner on a plane, and he said, “We’re lucky if we get to be Rocky, Captain Kirk, Indiana Jones, James Bond or Carey Mahoney.” We are in show business. We still have to pay the dentist.
Guttenberg, with Sophia Bush and Lauren Holly in Broad Trip, out May 8 on Roku, says actors are always trying to show their range.
(Steve Wilkie / © Roku /Courtesy Everett Collection)
Since your dad died, what’s helped you get through? Have you learned anything about grief that you can share?
I didn’t learn anything. I didn’t expect to. You get through it any way you can — through faith, I had a great grief counselor, leaning on my friends. I talked to my dad a lot. I weep. A certain song comes on now and I get emotional about him. It’s like getting punched in the face. It hurts. I don’t have a magic pill. You keep circling a day two weeks from now [when] you’ll feel a little better.
What lesson from your father do you still use every day?
Dozens. “Don’t walk a mile for someone who won’t cross the street for you.” I was always going the extra mile for people, but there were times it wasn’t reciprocated. He told me to conserve my energy.
Guttenberg wrote about his relationship with his father in Time to Thank: Caregiving for My Hero.
(Post Hill Press)
Your videos started during that time with your dad. What inspires them now?
They’re for everyone, but I’m a guy, so I tend to think about guy things: competition, being loved. How do I make my life better? How do I make other people’s lives better? Selfishly, I do it for me. It makes me feel good. If people like them, great. If they don’t, it doesn’t matter.
We humans are so screwed up. Look at the news. Somebody’s cow has a calf, nobody cares. If a bank gets robbed and they beat the hell out of the clerk, it’s “Turn it up. Let’s see a picture. Whoa — he got his face beat in.”
What has surprised you most about your 60s?
What’s surprised me about 60? Nothing. I’m enjoying life, working out. I have a great family and friends. I have a great career.
What do you do for wellness?
Most of the time, I eat sensibly — fish and vegetables. Protein. I just had chicken and broccoli for breakfast. I drink a ton of water. Sometimes I [stray] — ice cream sundaes and hamburgers.
I go to the gym every day. I just started running again. I really believe in red light therapy. I get a massage once a week. I try to take care of my feet — put cream on them each night and get a pedicure every few months — a thank-you for walking me around, giving me those 15,000 steps [a day].
Lastly, why do you think your positivity resonates right now?
I find it so interesting that when we see kindness in the world, we’re surprised — “Is he really that nice? What does he want?” or “Is she trying to use me?” — but when someone’s a jerk, we expect it. It’s bizarre.
I think that’s one of the greatest theories of light and darkness from the Bible. There are more dark forces than good, but one good force — one white light — can beat millions of dark ones.
So yeah, we need it. It’s not corny, it’s very human. Well, maybe it is a little corny, but we need a little of that in between the “I’m tougher than you” stuff.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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