A Daughter’s Loving Embrace: Rain Pryor’s Book About Richard Pryor

Rain Pryor (center_ with Bill and Hillary Thompson

The late Richard Pryor was a hugely talented comedian and brilliant entertainer — but, by his own admission, a failure as a father.

In 2006 his daughter Rain Pryor wrote a memoir, a sympathetic portrait of the man, failings and all. Her book was called Jokes My Father Never Taught Me.

So here now from November 2006, Rain Pryor.

Richard Pryor died in December 2005, at the age of 65.

Rain Pryor is 54 now, and is active as a comedian, actor, and singer.


You may also like these episodes:


Bill Kinison

Judith Belushi


Buy Books / Media from Amazon

As an Amazon Associate, Now I’ve Heard Everything earns from qualifying purchases.

The Secret Daughter of Elvis Presley

In the early 1980s a young woman named Desiree sat her mother down and asked her to finally tell her about her real father.

The story that Lucy de Barbin told her daughter was the story of how she met Elvis Presley, fell in love with him, and had an affair. Elvis, she explained, was Desiree’s father.

Then, somehow, a journalist caught wind of the story, and persuaded Lucy and Desiree to tell their story in a book. Which they did, in 1987, a book called Are You Lonesome Tonight?

I met them when they were on a national publicity tour for their book.

Now, whether you believe them or not – and there are plenty of people who don’t – theirs is a fascinating story.

So here now from 1987 Lucy de Barbin and Desiree Presley.


You may also like these episodes:


Ann-Margret

Egil Krogh


Buy Books / Media from Amazon

As an Amazon Associate, Now I’ve Heard Everything earns from qualifying purchases.

Amy Tan

Sunday is Mother’s Day. So today, my conversation with an author who called upon her mother’s life experiences to craft one of America’s best loved novels of the late 20th century.

Amy Tan’s parents emigrated to the US from China. And they brought with them not only their own personal histories, of course, but centuries of Chinese history and wisdom.

It was against that backdrop that Tan wrote her 1989 best-selling novel, The Joy Luck Club.

And as you’ll hear in a few minutes, Tan’s writing tapped into a consciousness that even her own mother was startled by.

The first time I interviewed Amy Tan was in 1990, when the paperbackedition of The Joy Luck Club had just been published .

So here now, from 1990, novelist Amy Tan.

Amy Tan is 71 now. She is frequently listed as among the most important and influential American authors of her time.


You may also like these episodes:

Julie Nixon Eisenhower
Betty DeGeneres

Buy Books / Media from Amazon

Dexter Scott King

Dexter Scott King was only 7 years old in 1968 when his father Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated.

But his memories of his late father remain sharp and crisp.

And those deeply personal recollections sometimes contrast with the public views of Martin Luther King Jr.

In 2003 at the age of 42, Dexter Scott King wrote a book called Growing Up King, and that’s when I had a chance to meet him and talk with him.

So here now from 2003 Dexter Scott King


You may also like these episodes:

Andrew Young
Coretta Scott King

Buy Books / Media from Amazon

Rock Brynner

In the 1950s, few actors dominated Broadway the way Yul Brynner did.

Playing the lead in the Rodgers and Hammerstein’s play “The King and I,” Brynner eEstablished himself as a top-tier performer.

He won two Tonys for his portrayal of the King of Siam, as well as an Academy Award when the play was adapted to film.

Photo: CBS Television

Later he was cast in such big budget movies as the Ten Commandments, The Magnificent Seven, and Westworld.

His son Rock was born in 1946, and was as captivated as anyone with his father’s strong a persona.

A few years after his father’s untimely death from lung cancer, Rock Brynner wrote a memoir of life with his famous dad. And tha’s when I met him.

So here now, from 1991, Rock Brynner.

At age 75, Rocj Brynn er has now lived 10 years longer than his father did. He is a professor of history..

You may also like these episodes:

Joan BennyRain PryorChris and Bob Elliott 1989