Showing results by narrator "Terry Gross" in All Categories

The host of NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday, Scott Simon and remembering dancer Gwen Verdon on this edition of Fresh Air. Simon's written a memoir, Home & Away: Memoir of a Fan. Fresh Air remembers dancer Gwen Verdon. She died today at the age of 75. She became an overnight Broadway sensation in 1953 as a dancer in Can Can, for which she won her first Tony Award.

Kent State shooting survivor Dean Kahler and founder of National Empowerment Television Paul Weyrich on this archive edition of Fresh Air. Dean Kahler was wounded in the Kent State University shootings. 25 years before this broadcast (May 4th, 1970), the Ohio National Guard fired into a crowd of students at Kent State University demonstrating against raids into Cambodia.

Author Jim DeRogatis on this edition of Fresh Air. DeRogatis is the author of Let It Blurt: The Life & Times of Lester Bangs, America's Greatest Rock Critic. Recently portrayed by Philip Seymour Hoffman in Cameron Crowe's movie Almost Famous, Bangs wrote about rock 'n' roll for Rolling Stone, Creem, and The Village Voice.

AIDS researcher Timothy Wright, his brother, criminologist Richard Wright, and reporters Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl Wudunn on this edition of Fresh Air. In 1995, Timothy Wright was in Bolivia conducting AIDS-related research. During Mardi Gras festivities, Wright was assaulted and robbed, and suffered a severe brain injury.

Journalist George Packer and television producer John Sacret Young on this edition of Fresh Air. George Packer grew up in a family with a very strong liberal tradition; his grandfather was a populist congressman from Alabama in the early part of the century; his father was a Jewish Kennedy-era liberal who was a professor at Stanford.

Film director Joel Schumacher on this edition of Fresh Air. Joel Schumacher's films include St. Elmo's Fire, The Client, A Time to Kill, and Batman Forever. Schumacher's new film, Tigerland, focuses on a group of army recruits in training who are about to be shipped off to Vietnam.

Political Analyst Alan Schroeder on this edition of Fresh Air. Alan Schroeder's new book Presidential Debates: Forty Years of High-Risk TV, examines the history of the televised presidential debate. Drawing from his experience as a print journalist and TV producer, he details the decisions that influence every aspect of the event: the color of the backdrop curtain to the camera angles chosen.

Actresses Jane Kaczmarek and Edie Falco on this archive edition of Fresh Air. Jane Kaczmarek's been nominated for an Emmy (Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series) for her role on FOX's Malcolm in the Middle. She plays the harried mother of four boys. Kaczmarek was a series regular on Equal Justice and has had recurring roles on Frasier, The Practice, and Cybill.

Actor Michael C. Hall and director and screenwriter Hal Hartley on this edition of Fresh Air. Michael C. Hall plays David Fisher, the gay brother who co-runs a funeral home on the HBO hit Six Feet Under. The American Film Institute has nominated Hall for Best Male TV Actor-Drama for his role in the series. Hall comes to TV from the stage. Most recently, he was on Broadway as the emcee in Cabaret. Prior to that role, he was in a number of off-Broadway productions.

Washington Post reporter Peter Baker on this edition of Fresh Air. Baker is the journalist who co-wrote the story breaking the news about Monica Lewinsky, and he's just written a book about that episode of the Clinton presidency, called The Breach: Inside the Impeachment and Trial of William Jefferson Clinton.

Serbian student activist Srdja Popovic and writer and retired New York City firefighter Dennis Smith on this edition of Fresh Air. Srdja Popovic is one of the founders of the student nonviolent group which helped bring down Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic. The group known as Otpor (the Serbian word for "resistance") had a clenched fist as their symbol, but they used humor and theatre to ridicule Milosevic and other government officials.

Director of the United Hospital Fund's Project on Family Caregiving in an Age of Change, Carole Levine on this rebroadcast edition of Fresh Air. Levine brings her professional and personal life to bear on her work with the project. Since 1990, when her husband was critically injured in an automobile accident, she has been his caregiver.

Journalist James Bennet on this edition of Fresh Air. Bennett has been in the Middle East covering how the crisis there is affecting Israelis and Palestinians. He's been reporting on both sides of the conflict for The New York Times. (Broadcast Date: March 19, 2002)

Comedian and actor Tim Meadows and singer Keely Smith on this archive edition of Fresh Air. Meadows was a regular on TV's Saturday Night Live for some nine years. Leon the Ladies Man, a swingin' politically incorrect radio love doctor that he played on the show, is featured in the film The Ladies Man, now available on video. Keely Smith has been called "The Queen of Swing" and "The First Lady of Las Vegas." Smith is perhaps best known as the duet partner and wife of Louis Prima.

Film composer Howard Shore on this edition of Fresh Air. Howard Shore has over sixty film scores to his credit including the recent The Lord of the Rings, also The Fly, Dead Ringers, Naked Lunch, The Silence of the Lambs, Ed Wood, and Philadelphia. Shore was also one of the original creators of Saturday Night Live, serving as Musical Director from 1975 to 1980.

Former presidential speechwriter Michael Waldman and publisher Andre Schiffrin on this edition of Fresh Air. Waldman's new book is called POTUS Speaks: Finding the Words that Defined the Clinton Presidency. From 1993 to 1999, Waldman was a special assistant and chief speechwriter to Bill Clinton.

Composer Charles Strouse on this edition of Fresh Air. His Broadway musicals include Bye Bye Birdie, Annie, Applause, It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman, and Golden Boy, which originally opened on Broadway in 1964 and starred Sammy Davis, Jr. The show will be revived later this month by City Center Encores in New York. Strouse also composed music for film and TV, including "Those Were the Days," the theme song for TV's All in the Family.

Filmmaker Peter Jackson and photographer Doug Niven on this edition of Fresh Air. Peter Jackson directed Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring. The film has been nominated for 13 Academy Awards, including Best Director, Best Picture and Screenplay. His other films include Heavenly Creatures and The Frighteners. The New Zealander is also slated to direct the other two upcoming films of the Hobbit trilogy, Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

Paralympic gold medallist Chris Waddell and actor Guy Pearce on this edition of Fresh Air. Chris Waddell has won metals in both the winter and summer Paralympic Games, competing as both an alpine mono-skier and a wheelchair racer. Waddell is currently competing in the Paralympics in Salt Lake City. He has already won a silver medal this week. Guy Pearce is currently starring in the films The Time Machine and The Count of Monte Cristo.

Editor in chief of Gourmet magazine Ruth Reichl and former deputy commissioner of baseball Stephen Greenberg on this archive edition of Fresh Air. Ruth Reichl's is a former restaurant critic for The New York Times and the author of Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table, a memoir of her lifelong passion for food, which was a best seller. She continues her story with the new book Comfort Me with Apples: More Adventures at the Table.