Showing results by author "Terry Gross" in All Categories

Actors Peter Falk and J.K. Simmons on this edition of Fresh Air. Falk is best known for his role as a rumpled L.A. detective in the 1970s TV series Columbo, where he garnered three Emmy awards. Simmons is a regular on HBO's OZ the graphic and disturbing drama of life in a maximum security prison. Simmons plays convict and neo-nazi Vernon Schillinger. And he has a recurring role in Law & Order.

Studio drummer Hal Blaine and an archive interview with journalist James Fallows on this edition of Fresh Air.

Hear Pulitzer-prize-winning journalist David Halberstam and music critic Milo Miles on this edition of Fresh Air. Halberstam died yesterday from injuries received in a car crash. He was 73. We listen to his interviews on Fresh Air, from 1985 and from June 3, 1993, and January 21, 1999. Halberstam was part of the 1964 Pulitzer-prize winning team that covered the emerging war in Vietnam for The New York Times.

Children's TV host Fred Rogers on this edition of Fresh Air. Rogers died of stomach cancer on February 27, 2003, at the age of 74. His popular show, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, was the longest-running program on public television. It ended in 2001 after 33 years on the air. Last year, Rogers was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor the nation can bestow. (Original Broadcast Date: November 13, 2002)

Writer Simon Winchester on this edition of Fresh Air>. He wrote the best seller The Professor and the Madman.

Writer David Sedaris on this edition of Fresh Air. Sedaris is best known for his contributing work with Public Radio's This American Life. He's written three books of essays, Barrel Fever, Naked, and his latest Me Talk Pretty One Day.

Jazz pianist Keith Jarrett on this archival edition of Fresh Air.

Religious scholar Elaine Pagels talks about the Gospel of Thomas and Middle East energy expert Youssef M. Ibrahim on this edition of Fresh Air. Elaine Pagels latest book, Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas, is about a religious text that is little known - the secret Gospel of Thomas, rediscovered in Egypt in 1945. She will explain why it was suppressed by the church and kept out of the cannon.

Soul week continues on Fresh Air. Two former members of the vocal group The Impressions - Jerry Butler and Curtis Mayfield on this edition of Fresh Air. Singer Jerry Butler, aka The Iceman. His 1969 hit, "Only the Strong Survive," is a rhythm and blues classic, and also the title of his autobiography: Only the Strong Survive: Memoirs of a Soul Survivor. Butler founded The Impressions.

Writer/director Paul Schrader and remembering historian Stephen Ambrose on this edition of Fresh Air. Paul Schrader directed the new film Autofocus, about the life of actor Bob Crane. Schrader wrote the screenplays for a number of classic films, including Taxi Driver and Raging Bull. Films he directed include Affliction, The Comfort of Strangers and American Gigolo. Historian Stephen Ambrose died Sunday at the age of 66.

Actor/comedian/screenwriter/playwright and novelist Steve Martin on this edition of Fresh Air. His new novel The Pleasure of My Company follows his best selling novella Shopgirl (which he is making into a new film). He wrote the play Picasso at The Lapin Agile and is the author of a collection of short stories, Cruel Shoes. Martin's screenwriting credits include L.A. Story, and Roxanne.

Hear historian David W. Blight on this edition of Fresh Air. Blight is director of Yale University's Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition, and a professor of American history. His new book A Slave No More: Two Men Who Escaped to Freedom, Including Their Own Narratives of Emancipation is based on the first-hand accounts, recently uncovered, of Wallace Turnage, a teenage field hand on an Alabama plantation and John Washington, an urban slave in Virginia.

Singer and Songwriter Tom Waits on this edition of Fresh Air. Since the 1973 release of his first album, Closing Time, Waits has won over fans with his original songwriting and distinctive, gravely vocal style. One reviewer calls Waits "the Ultimate hobo boho, a Jack-in-the-box cum storyteller." Musicians including Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen, and Rod Stewart have recorded covers of his songs.

A compilation of Fresh Air celebrity interviews with host Terry Gross.

British comedian, stand-up performer, and actor Eddie Izzard on this edition of Fresh Air. Izzard is currently selling out venues in the U.S. and Canada with his new stand-up show Circle. He has won over fans with his quirky comedy and his cross-dressing. The Chicago Tribune says, "Izzard lives up to his billing. He's very bright, very fast, and very hip."

Hear actor and director Denzel Washington and book critic Maureen Corrigan on this edition of Fresh Air. Denzel Washington directs and acts in the new film The Great Debaters, inspired by the true story of Wiley College's winning debate team of the early 1930s.

Musician Ravi Shankar, actors Vince Vaughn and Gene Hackman on this edition of Fresh Air. Today, we learned that former Beatle George Harrison has died.

Hear singer Frankie Valli and comedian and actor Patton Oswalt on this edition of Fresh Air. There's a new four-CD box set of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons called Jersey Boys. Valli helped bridge 50s doo-wop and 60s rock-and-roll with two dozen top 40 hits, including "Big Girls Don't Cry", "Sherry", and "Walk Like a Man". Jersey Boys is also the name of a Tony award winning Broadway musical based on the lives of the Four Seasons.

Because Audible was not granted digital audio rights to today's issue of Fresh Air, we have selected a great interview with British comedian, stand-up performer, and actor Eddie Izzard from the Fresh Air archive.

Hear guitarist, songwriter, and actor Dave Grohl of the band Foo Fighters on this edition of Fresh Air. Previously, Dave Grohl was the drummer for the grunge band Nirvana. He formed Foo Fighters after the death of Kurt Cobain in 1994. The band has a sixth album, Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace. It includes a song he wrote in tribute to two miners trapped in a mine collapse in Australia.