Showing results by narrator "Terry Gross" in All Categories

Writer Alec Wilkinson and an archive interview with William Maxwell on this edition of Fresh Air. Alec Wilkinson remembers his friend and mentor William Maxwell, who died Monday at the age of 91. Wilkinson is a staff writer for The New Yorker, and has been there since 1980.

Hear Washington Post reporters Kevin Merida and Michael Fletcher, and psychologist Philip Zimbardo on this edition of Fresh Air. Kevin Merida and Michael Fletcher's new book is Supreme Discomfort: The Divided Soul of Clarence Thomas. The book grew out of their article for the Post, "The Lonely Stand of Clarence Thomas".

Fresh Air guest host Barbara Bogaev talks with actor Michael C. Hall from HBO's Six Feet Under. He plays David Fisher, the gay brother who co-runs a funeral home on the show. He's currently starring as Billy Flynn, an oily attorney in the Broadway revival of Chicago. James Earl Jones, of the astounding voice, talks about his memoir. And you'll hear a review of the foreign film Mostly Martha.

Hear comedian and actor Garry Shandling, rock critic Ken Tucker, and book critic Maureen Corrigan on this edition of Fresh Air. Garry Shandling's 1992-1998 HBO series, The Larry Sanders Show, a parody of talk shows, is now out in a four-DVD box set.

Author Edna Gurewitsch and singer Eric Burdon on this edition of Fresh Air. Edna Gurewitsch is the wife of the late Dr. David Gurewitsch, who was Eleanor Roosevelt's personal physician from 1945 to her death in 1962. Gurewitsch has written a new book about the close personal relationship that developed between her husband and the former first lady, Kindred Souls: Eleanor Roosevelt and David Gurewitsch, 1945-1962.

Rhythm and blues singer Bobby Womack and Ray Charles on this soul music edition of Fresh Air. Bobby Womack's R&B and pop hits include "It's All Over Now," "Lookin' For A Love," and "That's The Way I Feel About Cha."

Hear baseball enthusiast Zack Hample and journalist Malcolm MacPherson on this edition of Fresh Air. Zack Hample's new book is entitled Watching Baseball Smarter: A Professional Fan's Guide for Beginners, Semi-Experts, and Deeply Serious Geeks. Hample is an obsessive baseball fan who has turned his devotion into a career, giving tours of stadiums, appearing on TV and radio, and writing books.

Playwright and actor Wallace Shawn and actor Andre Gregory on this archival edition of Fresh Air. Shawn and Gregory star in the film Vanya on 42nd St, directed by Louis Malle, screenplay adapted by David Mamet from Chekhov's Uncle Vanya. The two also co-wrote and co-starred in the 1981 film, My Dinner with Andre. They have since both worked on many other projects individually in television, theater, and film. Shawn was an obscure playwright until 1981, when his movie, My Dinner With Andre appeared.

Our series on hard rock and heavy metal continues with Robert Plant, the former lead singer of the band Led Zeppelin on this edition of Fresh Air. Robert Plant is an influential pioneer of heavy metal music. Plant co-wrote (with Jimmy Page) one of the most popular and parodied hard rock ballads, "Stairway to Heaven". Led Zeppelin formed in 1968 and broke up in 1980.

Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid and actor Mark Ruffalo on this edition of Fresh Air. Rashid will comment on today's assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. The attack occurred at a political rally near the capital of Islamabad. News reports indicate that the attacker used a combination of gunfire and a suicide bombing. At least 14 people have died in the assault. Bhutto was pronounced dead at a hospital in Rawalpindi at 6:16 pm. Rashid has published several bestselling novels and also writes for the Washington Post, the International Herald Tribune, the Daily Telegraph (London), and other publications. He was born in Lahore and is based in Pakistan.

Editorial columnist for The New York Times, Nicholas Kirstof. In his recent columns he's been writing about the intelligence officers who disclosed to him that the Bush administration before the war exaggerated the claims of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Hear actor John C. Reilly, director Jake Kasdan, and film critic Ed Ward, on this edition of Fresh Air. John C. Reilly and Jake Kasdan talk about their new film Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. Jake Kasdan woke up in the middle of the night a couple years ago and had an idea that his next film would be a fake music biopic called Walk Hard.

Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Norman Mailer and the stars of the Emmy Award-winning T.V. series Cagney and Lacey, Sharon Gless and Tyne Daly on this edition of Fresh Air. Mailer talks about his 1995 book Oswald's Tale: An American Mystery. The book profiles Lee Harvey Oswald's life. Mailer says we must ask "Who was Oswald?" as a prelude to asking "Who killed JFK?". This is Mailer's 28th book. Gless and Daly played New York City Police detectives in their series which aired on CBS from 1982 to 1988.

Hear actor Christopher Plummer and journalist Thomas Ricks on this edition of Fresh Air. Thomas Ricks is the Washington Post's military correspondent. He'll talk about his latest trip to Iraq. Ricks has worked for the Washington Post since 2000, and prior to that, he wrote for the Wall Street Journal.

Hear journalist Laura Rozen, food and wine columnist Russ Parsons, and jazz critic Kevin Whitehead on this edition of Fresh Air. Laura Rozen reports on national security and foreign policy from Washington, D.C., as a senior correspondent for The American Prospect and a contributor to the Washington Monthly, the Boston Globe, The Economist, the Forward, USA Today, Wired, and other publications.

Triumph the Insult Comic Dog and Photographer Robert Freeman on this edition of Fresh Air. Triumph appears regularly on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. He's a puppet and the creation of Robert Smigel, who also created the animated short "TV Funhouse" on Saturday Night Live.

Near Easter Studies professor Bernard Lewis and Robert Jay Lifton on this edition of Fresh Air. Bernard Lewis, Ph.D is a Professor Emeritus of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University.

Novelist Philip Roth on this archive edition of Fresh Air. His book The Human Stain is about a classics professor accused of racism who has a secret about his own ethnic identity. It's just been adapted into a new film starring Anthony Hopkins and Nichole Kidman. The Human Stain won the PENN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.

Cartoonist Daniel Clowes, director Terry Zwigoff, and remembering country music star Waylon Jennings on this edition of Fresh Air.

Hear writer Alice Sebold and rock critic Ken Tucker on this edition of Fresh Air. Alice Sebold's new book is called The Almost Moon. It's about a middle aged woman who murders her ailing, elderly mother. Sebold is also the author of Lucky, an account of her own rape, and The Lovely Bones, about a 14-year-old girl looking down from heaven after her own rape and murder. The Lovely Bones is about to be made into a film directed by Peter Jackson.