Christopher Walken Danced With Judy Garland at Liza Minnelli’s Sweet 16

Christopher Walken has fond memories of dancing with both Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli.

Walked, 81, appeared on SiriusXM’s “Town Hall,” hosted by Andy Cohen, on Thursday, January 16, where Cohen, 56, asked, “I read you danced with a young Liza Minnelli. Do you remember that?”

Walken replied, “We did an Off-Broadway musical called Best Foot Forward. 1962. Well, she was 16 years old, I remember.” At the time, Walken would have been about 19 years old. Cohen followed up by asking the Dune: Part Two star, “Could you see it then that she had it?”

Walken said, “Oh, absolutely.” He shared that he had even been invited to Minnelli’s 16th birthday party, where he had a special moment with Garland, his costar’s mother. “Her mom gave a sweet 16 birthday party for her,” he added.

“I remember I danced with Judy Garland,” he continued, adding that the Wizard of Oz actress was not only a good dancer, but “very good looking.”

Walken’s acting career is diverse, spanning both the stage and screen. He is currently starring in the AppleTV+ series Severance, which premiered its second season on Friday, January 17. In a 2014 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Minnelli praised her Best Foot Forward costar as a true musical actor.

“I can see the glint in his eye every time he has the opportunity to dance on screen,” she said at the time. Walken seemingly agreed with Minnelli, telling the outlet, “I’m kind of an actor by way of musical comedy. That’s really my education, musicals.”

With a career spanning almost seven decades, Walken is an old school kind of guy, even when it comes to watching his own projects. Currently starring on Severance, Walken shared on Thursday’s “Town Hall” that he hasn’t seen every episode because he does not stream the series. Instead, he receives DVDs of each new episode.

“I don’t have the equipment,” he explained. “So they’re good enough to send me DVDs.” When Cohen further pressed Walken by asking if the actor had a subscription to the AppleTV+ streaming platform, he said, “I don’t have anything.”

Walken currently stars in season 2 of Severance alongside Adam Scott, Britt Lower and Patricia Arquette. Series creator Dan Erickson previously opened up about his plans for the show’s second installment when it was renewed in April 2022.

“In season 2, we’re going to be showing all of these people on the outside,” Erickson told Entertainment Weekly at the time. “Similar to Mark (Scott), they each had their own reason for getting this procedure, and they’re all at some stage of a healing process for one thing or another.”

New episodes of Severance drop Fridays on AppleTV+.