Actors

Goldie Hawn

Bill Thompson
Photo: Erik Charlton

One of the most bankable female movie stars of the last 50 years is also one of the most influential figures in Hollywood.

And she got her big break when she was barely old enough to have a legal drink, 1 quickly becoming one of the most popular stars of the Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In show.

It seems like everything she has touched has turned to Gold – or, should we say, Goldie. By age 25 she already had an Academy Award, for her role in “Cactus Flower.”

Then came a long and reliable series of hit movies.

In 2005, Goldie Hawn took some time out from her acting to right a book about her life, although she’s careful not to call it an autobiography.

Unfortunately, the day I was to interview were in studio, traffic in our area was horrible. She and her media escort realize she was not going to make it to my studio in time, so we found it in.

So here now, from 2005, Goldie Hawn.

Goldie Hawn will be 76 in November.

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Ginger Rogers

Bill Thompson

Ginger Rogers is one of those Hollywood figures who transcended mere stardom, and became a cultural icon.

In the 1930s she and her dance partner Fred Astaire dominated American film.

Her talent was apparent early on. At age 14, she wanted Charleston dance contest.

And before long she was in vaudeville, then Broadway, and finally the movies.

And then RKO Pictures paired her with Fred Astaire, and the rest, as they say, is history.

And it was famously said of her that she could do everything Fred Astaire could do, but backwards and in high heels. You’ll hear more about that in this interview…

Finally, in 1991 at age 80 Ginger Rogers wrote her autobiography. And that’s when I met her.

Wheelchair-bound, and looking a bit frail, Rogers nevertheless melted my heart.

So here now, from 1991, Ginger Rogers.

Ginger Rogers died in 1995, at the age of 84. But had she lived, she would have marked her 110th birthday today, July 16th.

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R. Lee Ermey

Bill Thompson

It takes a certain kind of man to be a successful u.s. Marine drill instructor. It seems to come naturally to some men.

And one of them turned it into a successful acting career.

R. Lee Ermey was nominated for a Golden Globe for his work in the 1987 film “Full Metal Jacket.”

He went on to play tough, rugged authority figures in a number of other movies — even “Toy Story.”

In 2002 the History Channel came calling, and made Ermey the star of the show “Mail Call, which quickly became the network’s most popular show.”

It was in the middle of that show’s seven-year run that I met R. Lee Ermey, when he came out with a book based on the series.

And no need to cover your ears. This interview is G-rated.

So here now, from 2005, R. Lee Ermey.

R. Lee Ermey died in 2018. He was 74.

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Charles Grodin

Bill Thompson
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His first big break in the movies came with a film called The Heartbreak Kid.

But that was just the beginning for Charles Grodin.

Then came Midnight Run. Seems Like Old Times. The Lonely Guy. And, finally, a new generation discovered him in the Beethoven movies.

It looks like the classic success story. But in his 1989 book called It Would Be So Nice if You Weren’t Here, Grodin wanted to reveal how about 1% success overshadowed the 99% rejection actors suffer.

This interview was actually the first of several I had over the years with Charles Grodin, before he went on to become a successful late night TV talk show host.

So here now, from 1989, Charles Grogan.

Charles Grodin died in May. He was 85.

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Tab Hunter

Bill Thompson

He was one of the hottest young movie stars in the 1950s…

Tab Hunter — who grew up as Artt Gelien — was a figure skater as a teenager. As a young man, a friend introduced him to a Hollywood agent who specialized in beefcake actors like Rock Hudson and Rober/ Wagner. That agent dubbed Art Gelien “Tab Hunter” and by 1950 he was in the movies.

And by the mid 1950s was major star, the strapping blond hunk of a man every girl wanted. Hunter made over 40 movies, and even recorded a hit song.

Hunger was also a witness to, and a participant in, the end of the Hollywood studio contract era. His movie and TV roles were fewer, until his last film role in 1992.

Then, in 2005, Tab Hunter wrote a memoir called Tab Hunter Confidential. In that book, he acknowledged publicly, for the first time, that he was gay. Turns out those gossip rags back in the day that had him romantically linked with various starlets were all fiction.

So here now, from 2005, Tab Hunter…

Tab Hunter died in 2018, just three days befopre his 87th birthdayl.

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Bob Denver

Bill Thompson

Robert Osbourne Denver graduated from college with a degree in political science, then caoched physical education and even taught math and history at a California elementary school.

But today, this well-educated, smart, soft-spoken man is best remembered for this…

Gilligan’s Island only lasted three seasons in the mid-1960s, but thanks to reruns and syndication the show has effectively never been off the air since.

And, like so many other popular TV actors, Bob Denver found himself typecast.

So, like many of his peers, Denver stopped resisting the Typecast and embraced it, appearing in several made-for-tv Gilligan’s Island movies, as well as other walk-on roles in which he played Gilligan.

In 1993, Denver wrote a book called “Gilligan, Maynard, and Me,” a reference to the other popular TV series he co-starred in, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.

The day I met him, the day before Thanksgiving in 1993, I brought my 13- and 11-year-old daughters to meet the man they knew only as Gilligan.

So here now, from 1993, Bob Denver…

Bob Denver died in 2005 at age 70.

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Lewis Black

Bill Thompson
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Lewis Black makes us laugh by being the angry man.

The perpetually irritated Lewis Black wrote a book in 2005, a semi-autobiographical account but he called Nothing’s Sacred.

And that;s when I met him.

But instead of an “angry ma,” I found a gentle, warm, and very likeable man, who was eager to talk about seriouos things as well as comedy shtick.

So here now, from 2005, Lewis Black.

Lewis Black will be 73 this summer. He lives in New York and North Carolina.

Patty Duke

Bill Thompson

Well before her 20th birthday, Patty Duke had already won an Oscar and was star of her own TV series.

Patty Duke won the Oscar for best supporting actress in The 1962 movie The Miracle Worker, which was the captain from the Broadway play in which she also starred.

On the heels of that success came her TV series, the Patty Duke Show, in which she played the dual roles of typical American teemager Patty and her identical cousin from England, Cathy.

Later Patty Duke moved on to more sophisticated, adult roles, including a part in the movie Valley of the Dolls.

But all along the way, she suffered from severe, undiagnosed bipolar disorder, Exacerbated by various forms of abuse.

In the early 1980s Duke finally got the help she needed, And a few years later, she wrote a memoir entitled Call Me Anna. That’s when I met her.

Now it’s important to keep in mind that this interview is 33 years old, and many advances have been made not only in the treatment of the disorder, but how we refer to it.

So here now, from 1988, Patty Duke.

Patty Duke died in 2016. She was 69.

Cheech Marin

Bill Thompson

if you were in high school or college in the 1970’s, as I was, you undoubtedly are familiar with the comedy of Cheech and Chong.

Cheech Marin went on to act in dozens and dozens of TV shows and movies, as well as doing voices for several animated films.

But what you may not know is that Marilyn is also an astute art collector.

That’s how I met him, in 2002, when he published a book of his collection of Chicano art.

So here now, from 2002, Cheech Marin:

Cheech Marin is 74 now. He lives in Malibu.

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.