Why “Paradise” Actor Gerald McRaney Still Won't Retire at 77 — Unlike His Wife Delta Burke: 'Just Can’t Do It' (Exclusive)

Most men in their late 70s are pretty well into retirement, but Paradise actor Gerald McRaney, 77, has no interest.

"People tell me I'm supposed to retire, and I just can't do it," McRaney tells PEOPLE. "Somehow I have to stay active. When you have a feeble mind like I do, you have to keep it in shape!"

He's joking of course, but the longtime actor, who rose to fame in the '80s, starring on shows like Simon and Simon and Major Dad, is somehow busier than ever.

He credits being cast in Deadwood in 2005 with his career resurgence, and in the last 20 years has starred on This is Us, House of Cards, NCIS: Los Angeles, and Longmire, among others.

Related: Sterling K. Brown on the Shocking Twist in Paradise's Premiere Episode: 'I Forgot Who I Was Dealing with' (Exclusive)

After Deadwood, he says, "People began to think, 'Oh, he can actually act!' It took things in another direction, which I'm grateful for."

Now he's in the Hulu hit Paradise, in which he plays Kane Bradford, James Marsden's dementia-afflicted father. The show just got renewed for season 2.

"Even though my character is not the funnest guy in the world. I'm having fun doing it," says McRaney. "Anytime you get to work with people like Sterling K. Brown, you jump on it.”

When he's not on set, McRaney says he's happy to live a quiet life in Florida with Delta Burke, his wife of 36 years. While the two worked together on Burke's show Designing Women, where McRaney had a guest arc, he says their love story actually began before that.

"The first time we met was at the publicist's guild luncheon where we were both presenting awards, and I was sort of fascinated by her from the beginning, but we didn't exchange phone numbers," McRaney says of their first meeting.

"A few months later, the casting director for Designing Women called my agent and asked if I'd be interested in a role. I was about to start another season of Simon and Simon, so I originally turned it down, but out of curiosity, I asked what the show was. When he said Designing Women, I very quickly said, 'I'll do it!'"

McRaney recalls that they went on just two dates before he asked her to marry him.

Related: Delta Burke Says Dark Period of Drug Use Was 'Worth' It Because She Met Husband Gerald McRaney: 'I Love Him Desperately'

"Originally it was sort of an infatuation, but it turned into something else pretty quickly."

He says life has been an absolute joy since. "You've got to marry the right person," he says of his relationship with Burke, who stopped acting in the early aughts and has mostly stayed out of the spotlight since.

“She loved the process of acting but not the other stuff that went along with it,” he says of Burke disliking tabloid scrutiny. “But I just can’t manage retirement. My philosophy is, if you stop moving, you truly stop moving.”

Last year, Burke, 68, gave a rare interview on the Glamorous Trash podcast with host Chelsea Devantez.

“Hollywood will mess your head up," she said on the podcast. "I had always thought, ‘I want to be a famous actress.’ I thought that meant that you would be a famous and well-respected actress, but that’s not what it meant. And the moment I became famous, it was like, ‘Oh no, no, no. This is not what I had in mind at all.”

McRaney says that despite his constant flow of work, they both love being able to live their lives, without being hounded by fans. "Our neighbors in Florida don't care about celebrity," he says, noting he spends his downtime hunting, fishing, hiking and exploring.

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“Plus, my level of fame has always been ‘Aren’t you that guy in that show . . . ?’" He adds, "Everybody knows my wife’s name. Now people are finally beginning to know mine — after 50-odd years in the business!"

Paradise's season finale airs Tuesday, March 4, at 12:00 a.m. ET on Hulu.

Read the original article on People