Artists – Now I've Heard Everything

Ultra Violet: Her Life With Andy Warhol

October 9, 2024October 6, 2024Bill Thompson

Pop art icon Andy Warhol once said, “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.” Don’t know about you but I can think of lots of people on social media who have proven that to be true.

Famous For 15 Minutes is also the title of a 1988 book by French-American artist and actress Isabelle Dufresne,one of Andy Warhol’s “superstars” who went by the name Ultra Violet.

Dufresne was introduced to Warhol in 1963 by Salvador Dali. She spent the next several years at Warhol’s Factory before they went their separate ways in the 1970s.

I met Ultra Violet when she was on her book tour about a year and a half after Warhol’s death.

So here now, from 1988, Ultra Violet.

Isabelle Dufresne, Ultra Violet, died in 2014 at the age of 78.

Mariette Harley’s Story: Turning Personal Tragedy into a Message of Hope

September 9, 2024September 7, 2024Bill Thompson

September 10 is World Suicide Prevention Day, as designated by the World Health Organization.

Each year hundreds of thousands of people take their own lives, leaving behind family and friends who may feel the impact for the rest of their lives.

It was in the summer of 1963 that young actress Mariette Harley lost her father to suicide, a tragedy that has colored her life ever since.

Get your copy of Mariette Hartley’s book

But even she wasn’t fully aware of just how deeply it had affected her until the 1980s. And it inspired her to write a book that became a bestseller, called Breaking The Silence.

I met her in the fall of 1991 to talk about her book.

So here now, from 1991, Mariette Harley.

Mariette Harley.is now 84. She is currently spokesperson for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, which she founded.

Frank Warren

March 28, 2022March 27, 2022Bill Thompson

I’m not sure Frank Warren understood what he was unleashing in January, 2005, when he initiated his PostSecret project .

What started as something of a social experiment, encouraging people to send him their innermost secrets on a postcard, turned into something way beyond that.

It wasn’t long before Frank, a mild-mannered man from suburban Washington, DC started receiving thousands of postcards, from all over the world .

In 2005 he published the first book. A collection of those postcards, called simply PostSecret. That’s when I first met him.

By 2007, Warren was on his fourth best-selling book, and that’s when we did the interview you’re about to hear. His latest book was called A Lifetime of Secrets .

So here now, from 2007, Frank Warren.

Franmk Warren’s POstSecret.com still collects and curates postcards.