Zack Ward of 'A Christmas Story' Talks About Losing His Father to Alzheimer's and the Powerful Connection Between Generations

Actor Zack Ward is cemented in holiday film history as the yellow-eyed bully Scut Farkus in the 1983 classic holiday comedy "A Christmas Story." We recently caught up with Zack about his Alzheimer's journey with his father, Todd, who passed away with the disease in December 2023, and the inspiration behind his film "The Keepers of the 5 Kingdoms."

Zack, we spoke with you back in December of 2020. Since then, your father passed away with Alzheimer's. It is devastating to lose a loved one to this disease. Can you talk about how you have navigated this difficult time?
Watching your loved one slowly deteriorate with Alzheimer's is brutal. I still saw pieces of my dad but the year and a half leading up to his death, he was gone. He wasn't there anymore.

There was a sense of relief that came over me when he passed away. I'm grateful my dad is out of his pain. If you've gone through this disease with a loved one, you know the feeling of trying to come to terms with slowly losing the person throughout the process. Once they finally pass, you're kind of at peace with it. Don't get me wrong. I'm still mad. I'm still angry that this disease took my father and his life from him. But the fact that he's not in pain — that's the release. I still really miss my dad.

You have been very vocal and vulnerable sharing your Alzheimer's story. Tell us why it is important for you to speak out and spread awareness of this disease.
With Alzheimer's, you're going through a disease that has a club of people — a club nobody wants to be in — who will give you their support and know exactly how you feel. That's the club I feel a part of with the Alzheimer's Association. I've attended events like the California Southland Chapter's Magic of Music Gala, and I felt safe in my pain among a room of people who knew exactly what I'd been through.

If you take anything away from my story — please take away that you're not alone.

Recent research suggests that as we age, it's important to adopt healthy lifestyle habits such as exercise, eating well, and learning new skills. What does a healthy lifestyle mean to you?The past five years have been really hard, between losing my dad, losing time to see him due to the pandemic and losing work to the strikes in Hollywood. But during that time, I took the reins on my life. I quit drinking three and a half years ago and I stopped smoking in November 2023.

In exchange for my vices, I started exercising and eating right. I picked up boxing again. Dad taught me how to box when I was a kid. I made these changes to be more present in the time I had left with my dad. I was unable to deal with the reality of my life at this level of pressure, while I kept adding difficulties to my own process. I had to face the man in the mirror and the pain in my heart instead of trying to drown it.

No matter how hard it is. You have to move forward. I stepped away from my indulgences to be more clear headed. It made sense for me. I don't know if I would've done it if my dad hadn't gone through what he did with Alzheimer's. I owe my sobriety to him.

What lessons have you taken away from your dad's battle with Alzheimer's?
There's a saying, "Anxiety means you're living in the future. Depression means you're living in the past." The biggest lesson I took away from my dad's journey with Alzheimer's is to be present. Nobody can do it perfectly but choose to be in the present as much as you can. Life's a gift, and it goes by really fast.

Tell us a little bit about the movie you wrote and directed "The Keepers of the 5 Kingdoms" and what people can expect?
I grew up watching movies in the 1980s. The common story arc in those movies is a group of kids befriend an old wise man and then go on an adventure to solve a mystery. But the wise old man is never taken on the adventure. There's sort of this ageism in society where you leave the elderly behind when they're deemed not necessarily useful anymore.

In my film, "The Keepers of the 5 Kingdoms," Chuck Lee (played by James Hong), the quintessential "old wise man," goes on the adventure with the kids. That was an exciting challenge for me to make James (95) the leading actor in a feature film alongside actors that are between 16 and 20 years old. Showing that all ages are valuable and can contribute to the adventure of life.

In the movie, the main characters — Chuck Lee (Hong) and Patsy Lee (Michelle Mao) — are navigating a family tragedy putting a stain on their relationship. Dynamics within a family can present challenges when Alzheimer's is involved. How did your family navigate the changes and challenges that the disease presented?
My family lives all over the country so communication has always been very important. Our ability to communicate when it comes down to brass tax and how to deal with an issue is socratic and straightforward. We're all separated by a lot of space but thankfully for the internet and texting, we're able to communicate in real time. If you need to put out a fire, you don't talk about how it makes you feel. You put out the fire first, then you talk about the burns. That's what made sense to my family. We rallied to get done what needed to get done then talked about how it made us feel.

My main takeaway from my experience with Alzheimer's and the main takeaway from the film is: Family is everything.

Your career as an actor and writer often offers the opportunity to bring light to complicated topics like Alzheimer's and other dementia. Why is it important that the entertainment industry tackles these subjects and others?
The beauty of "A Christmas Story" is that you can watch it as a kid, as a young adult, as a parent and as a grandparent. That movie has withstood the test of time. My goal with "The Keepers of the 5 Kingdoms" is for it to carry the same understanding and respect towards all audiences like "A Christmas Story" has done. As you grow with a film, you get a slightly different depth to the conversation than you had when you watched it as a kid.

Film is an art form and it's not always meant to reflect society. It can, but it's supposed to show an idea of what the artist thinks society can be. There is this notion that still exists that when you cross a certain age, society deems you "forgotten." In my film, I show how I think people, particularly the younger generation, can get along with a 95-year-old man and allow him to continue to be a valued part of his family and society. That's what I hope people take away from my film.

About: Zack Ward is a Canadian-born actor who produced, wrote, directed and edited the feature film "The Keeper of the 5 Kingdoms," named Film Threat's Best Fantasy Film of 2024. It is available to watch on Amazon Prime and Tubi. Zack is married and lives in Los Angeles, where he has resided since 1995.