Vintage Interviews With Notable People
For nearly two decades, Chris Jericho was a fixture of the WWE. In fact, he was widely considered one of pro wrestling’s best.
But since the end of the 1990s, he has also been a rock star.
I met him in 2011, when he wrote the second volume of a memoir.
So here now, from 2011, Chris Jericho.
Next Monday, November 9th, is Chris Jericho’s birthday — he’ll be turning 50.
Sixty-five years ago this week, a new children’s television show was launched on the CBS networok. Its creator was a man who had actually been part of the supporting cast of The Howdy Doody Show. His name was Bob keeshan. But the world knew him for decades to come as Captain Kangaroo.
I actually interviewed Bob keeshan twice. This interview was the second time, in early 1995. He had written a book for a book filled with ideas for activities they can do with their kids.
That as you’re about to hear, the captain had plenty of practical advice for happy parenting and happy kids.
So here now, from 1995, Bob keeshan.
Captain Kangaroo was seen every weekday morning on CBS for 29 years, then on PBS for five more years.
Bob Keeshan died
Julie Andrews made her debut as an actress and singer in London in 1948.
She first appeared on Broadway in 1954.
But to audiences of all ages around the world, she may be best known as Mary Poppins, or as Maria von Trapp in The Sound of Music.
I met her in 2009, aftershe and her daughter Emma Walton Hamilton, had collaborated
poems, solngs a,d lullabies
Tomorrow, October 1st, is Julie Andrews’s 85th birthday.
Fifty years ago today, a TV show premiered on ABC, about a family that had formed a rock band. It was called “The Partridge Family,: and its star was a young actor-singer named David Cassidy.
In very short order, Cassidy became a full-fledged teen idol. Girls went crazy for him. He sold out concert Halls.
But as he revealed in a 1994 memoir, life was not exactly what it looked like on the outside.
You know, people often ask me which of my tem tjpisamd-plus interviews with my favorite. It’s hard to pin down one favorite, but the interview you’re about to hear is certainly in my top five. I found David Cassidy, who was it then 44 years old, to be one of the most thoughtful, introspective, smartest, and most likeable people I’ve ever interviewed.
David Cassidy died in 2017. He was 67.
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.
Today’s episode is for my baby boomers. Because we all remember June Lockhart, whether it’s from Lassie, Lost in Space, or even Petticoat Junction.
June Lockhart, child of Hollywood parents, has been a fixture classic TV for decades.
She typically played a firm but loving mom, someone we can all relate to.
I met her in 2001, after she’d written a memoir.
So here now, from 2001, June Lockhart.
June Loclhart is 95 now, and makes occasional appearances at classic TV fan showes.
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.
It was 46 years ago this week that NBC TV viewers first heard that theme music introducing a series called “Littel House on the Prairie.”
For the next eight years, it was a perennial viewer favorite.
One of the stars of the series was Melissa Anderson — known in those years as “Melissa Sue Anderson”; she’ll explain why, in this interview. Anderson played “Mary,” one member of the Ingalls family.
I met her in 2010, when she wrote a memoir about her years on “Little House.”
So here now, from 2010, Melissa Anderson:
Melissa Anderson will be 58 later this month. She became a naturalized citizen oif Canada in 2007.
And reruns of “Little House on the Prairie” can still be found on TV almost every day.
Irish-born redhead Maureen O’Hara knew from an early age she wanted to act. After years of training, she was finally “discovered,” if you will, as ayoung woman by Charles Laughton, considered one of thye world’s finest actors.
Her first movie came in 1938, and it launched an award-winning career that spanned decades.
I met her in 2004. She had just written a memoir that included her recollections of working with some of the greatest names in movie history: director John Ford. Her longtime friend and co-star John Wayne. Even John Candy.
And, as you’re about to hear, she was eyewitness to the start of one of Hollywood’s romances.
So here now, from 2004, Maureen O’Hara.
Maureen O’Hara died in 2015. Next Monday, August 17th, would have been her 100th birthday.
She burst onto the American television scene in the late 1980s, when she hosted her own show on the fledgling Fox network.
And Tracey Ullman has been a favorite in this country ever since.
Her Fox show ended in 1990, and she next appeared on American television in 1996, on the HBO series Tracey Takes On.
I met her in early 1998, when she published a book that was companion to the HBO series.
So here now, from 1998, Tracey Ullman.
Tracey Ullman is 60 now. According to Wikipedia, she is the richest British actress and female comedian and the third richest British comedian overall.