Authors

Alex Haley

Bill Thompson

It’s a rare privilege for an author to see, in their lifetime, the broad and deep social and cultural impact that one of their books has.

One of those who were so privileged was author Alex Haley. His meticulously researched 1976 book Roots, which traced his own family’s ancestry from Africa, became not just a best seller, but a cultural milepost.

It awakened a new pride of family and ancestry among millions of African-Americans, and it shone a harsh spotlight on the horrors of slavery, four black and white alike.

ABC TV recognized the power of Roots, and turned it into television’s first major miniseries. It was, and remains to this day, a landmark television achievement.

I met him almost 33 years ago, after he had just finished a novel based, in part, on the kind of characters he popularized in Roots.

So here now, from 1988, Alex Haley.

Today, August 11th 2021, would have been Alex Haley’s 100th birthday. He died in 1992 at the age of 70.

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Caroline Kennedy

Bill Thompson

From a very early age, Caroline Kennedy was taught to appreciate the beauty and power of poetry.

No surprise, really. Her parents were both very well red. Her father was a famous author, her mother was an author handbook editor.

Of they were better known, perhaps, as President John F Kennedy and first lady Jacqueline Kennedy.

One of their enduring legacies to their children was a love of literature. So, no surprise, in 2011, Caroline Kennedy published a poetry anthology.

It was not the first time I had met and interviewed Caroline Kennedy, but it was the first time that we talked about something as personal and meaningful as poetry. Especially since both of us had recently passed the half-century mark.

So here now, from 2011, Caroline Kennedy.

Caroline Kennedy is 63 now.

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Dave Barry

Bill Thompson

If he had wanted to, Dave Berry probably could have been a successful stand-up comedian.

Instead, he wrote a humor column. And wrote books. Lots and lots of books.

Over about a 20-year period, I think I interviewed Dave almost 20 times.

Two of those interviews stand out, including the one you’re about to hear. It was for his book Dave Barry Turns 40. I thought it was an appropriate interview to run, because tomorrow, July 3rd, is David’s birthday.

So here now, from 1990, Dave Barry.

Dave Barry is a little older than 40 now in fact tomorrow and will be his 74th birthday. His last book was published in 2019.

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PD James

Bill Thompson

For decades, going back to the 1970s, one of the most popular contemporary British mystery writers was PD James.

In a style sometimes reminiscent of Agatha Christie, James wrote about cases solved by her fictional detective she named Adam Dalgliesh.

He was a character she named after a teacher at Cambridge High School.

Book after book, a reputation and popularity grew, until in 1991 James was named a Life Peer in Britain’s House of Lords. She was Baroness James of Holland Park.

I interviewed her several times over the years, about her various Dalgleish nysteries. And then, in 2000, we talked about her autobiographical book “A Time To Be In Earnest.”

So here now, from 2000, P.D. James.

P.D. James wrote four more books in the years after this intervoew, the last of them in 2008.

The Baroness James of Holland Park died in 2014 at the age of 94.

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Frank McCourt

Bill Thompson

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!

As I was mulling over all of the Irish or Irish-American people I’ve interviewed through the years, one name kept coming to the forefront: Frank McCourt.

McCourt burst onto the literary scene in 1996, with his memoir of his early childhood, a powerful book called Angela’s Ashes. It also became an award-winning movie.

He followed that up with volume two of his memoirs, a book called ‘Tts/. Then, in 2005, the third volume, a book called Teacher Man. And that’s when I met him.

So here now, from 2005, Frank McCourt:

died in 2009. He was 78.

Ivana Trump

Bill Thompson

She was Donald Trump’s first wife, from 1977 to 1992. Ivana Trump is the mother of Don Jr, Ivanka, and Eric Trump.

Ivana Trump has also been a professional athlete, a designer, and a novelist. And that’s how I met her in 1993, the year after she and The Donald divorced. She had just published the second in what was to be a series of novels, about a beautiful Czech immigrant named Katrinka.

While we do not even mention the name Donald Trump in this interview, if you know their backstory, you can kind of read between the lines.

So here now, from 1993, talking about her new novel, Ivana Trump:

Ivana Trump is 72 now.

Erich Segal

Bill Thompson

Happy Valentine’s Day weekend! I thought this would be an appropriate time to bring back an interview with the author of one of the great love stories of our time — Love Story, by Erich Segal.

His book became a huge bestseller in 1970, and even bigger box office movie smash in 1971, starring Ali MacGraw and Ryan O’Neal as the star-crossed lovers.

I met him in 1988, when he published his latest novel, called Doctors. But as you are about to hear, Segal was still both honored and haunted by the success of Love Story.

So here now, from 1988, Erich Segal.

Erich Segal died at age 72, in 2010.

Kitty Kelley

Bill Thompson

Journalist and celebrity biographer Kitty Kelley first rose to prominence in 1978, with her biography of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, a book called Jackie Oh!

Photo: RaymondBoyd51

But it was her 1986 biography of the legendary Frank Sinatra that make kitty Kelley a household name.

Kelley is a meticulous and very thorough biographer, and in researching Sinatra’s life, she uncovered a lot of things he didn’t want uncovered.

Her book was an instant best-seller, but it also got her sued by Sinatra, and it got her attacked by his powerful friends, including talk show host Larry King, who fancied himself a clothes Sinatra friend, and when Kitty Kelley appeared on King’s late night radio show the night before my interview with her, King rake her over the coals.

When I interviewed her the next day, she seemed largely unscathed by the king interview.

So here now, from 1986, Kitty Kelley.

Kitty Kelley is 78 now. Her last book was published in 2012.

Reeve Lindbergh

Bill Thompson

What is it like, growing up in what some say was the most famous family of the twentieth century?

Photo: Artaxerxes

Reeve Lindbergh knows. She was born in 1945 to Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh. Her father was “Lucky Lindy” the aviator who made history in 1927 as the first pilot to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a solo flight.

But the famikly knew tragedy, too. Reeve’s older brother, Charles Jr., was just 20 months old when he was kidnapped from the family home and murdered in 1932. It was one of the most famous crimes of the century.

And still more notoriety came just before the U.S. entered World War II — Lindbergh was against getting into war, and some even accused him of being a Nazi sympathizer.

This was the environment Reeve Linbergh was born into.

I met her in 1998, when she wrote a memoir called “Under A Wing.”

So here now, from 1998, Reeve Lindbergh.

Reeve Lindbergh will be 75 in October. She lives in rural Vermont.

Stan Lee

Bill Thompson

By 1991 when i met and interviewed him, Stan Lee — the genius behind Marvel Comics — was a legend. Almost royalty.

And as he told me then, the Stan Lee – Marvel Comics story actually went back decades.

Together they transformed a medium that was at one time the exclusive domain of children into a much richer art form.

So here now, from 1991, Stan Lee.

Stan Lee died in 2018. He was 95.