movies

Mia Farrow

Bill Thompson

Mia Farrow may have been born to be a star.

Photo: John Mathew Smith

Her parents were both major Hollywood figures, and she grew up amongst big stars. By the time she was a teenager Mia Farrow was a star on the ABC TV primetime soap opera Peyton Place.

Then came movie roles, as well as a brief marriage to Frank Sinatra. In 1968, Farrow starred in “Rosemary’s Baby,” the movie which propelled her to major stardom. And another brief marriage, to Andre Previn.

Then, in 1980, she began a relationship with Woody Allen. It ended in 1992 with a very messy, complicated, and very public court battle over custody of their children. Allegations of sexual abuse were thrown about.

In 1997, Mia Farrow wrote a memoir, and that’s when I met her.

So here now, from 1997, Mia Farrow:

Mia Faarrow turned 76 last month.

Mickey Rooney

Bill Thompson

In nearly thirty years of interviewing celebrities and big names, I didn’t often get very Starstruck, but this day I did.

It’s hard to overstate how big a star Mickey Rooney was. For decades, he was one of the most recognizable names and faces in all of Hollywood. If you’ve ever watched one of his movies on one of the classic movie networks, you know his Andy Hardy series, and all those hey kids, let’s put on a show movies with Judy Garland.

To the general public, Mickey was known primarily for two things: his height, he was only five foot three, and his marriages, of which there were many.

So when he published his Memoirs in 1994, I jumped at the chance to interview him.

But as you’re about to hear, Mickey wanted to talk about not just the book he was there to promote, but all his other books. I think he was a frustrated author at heart.

Anyway, here now, from 1994, the great Mickey Rooney.

Had he lived, Mickey Rooney would ha veeb 100 today. He died in 2014, at the age of 93.

Whoopi Goldberg

Bill Thompson
Photo: Daniel Langer

Whoopi Goldberg has been entertaining us for almost 40 years, in movies like “The Color Purple,” “Ghost,” and “Sister Act” as well as TV’s “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” and of course, on ABC’s “The View.”

I met her in 1997, after she wrote a book called “Book.” It was a kind of stream-of-consciousness effort, with chapters each having a single syllable word as their title.

And our interview was kind of stream-of-consciousness, too.

So here now, from 1997, Whoopi Goldberg.

Whoopi Goldberg will be 65 in November.

She lives in New Jersey.

Tipper Gore

Bill Thompson
Photo: Nancy Rhoda

Years before her husband Al was elected vice president of the United States, Tipper Gore established a reputation of her own, as a social issues advocate. And her issue, in the late 80s, was protecting America’s children from sex and violence in the media.

She was co-founder of the Parents Music Resource Center, which led the effort to require warning labels if on media contained profanity, sexual references, or violence.

I met her in 1987. She had just published a book called Raising PG Kids In An X-Rated Society.

So here now, from 1987, Tipper Gore:

Tipper Gore celebrated her 72nd birthday day-before-yesterday.

She and Al Gore raised four children.

They separated in 2010.

John Waters

Bill Thompson

Hairspray. Cry-Baby. Serial Mom. Pink Flamingos.

Photo: PEN American Center

Filmmaker John Waters has a long, illustrious, and unique body of work.

He started making movies in the early 1960s, but only rose to prominence in the ’70s, and by the ’80s was a cultural icon.

I first met him in the fall of 1986. He had just published a by collection of his writings, a slender little book called “Crackpot.”

So here now, from 1986, John Waters.

That movie he John Waters was talking about, near the end there — yes,. that was Hairspray.

John Waters celebrated his 74th birthday this spring. While he hasn’t made a movie in several years, he was seen earlier this year in an episode of “Law & Order SVU.”