Authors

Ally Sheedy

Bill Thompson
Photo: Bridget Laudien

In the 1980s movies like The Breakfast Club, St. Elmo’s Fire, WarGames, and Short Circuit made Ally Sheedy a star. She was a prominent member of the so-called Brat Pack.

I met her in 1991 when, at age 28, she had just published a collection of her poetry. Many of the poems in her book dated back to her teenage years. But as she remionded me, it’s not like she was new to writing, or publishing.

So here now, from 1991, Ally Sheedy.

Ally Sheedy is 58 now. She was most recently seen in 2016’s X Men: Apocalypse. But her 1991 book Yesterday I Saw the Sun was the last book she’s published.

Jackie Collins

Bill Thompson

Glamour, glitz, sex, power, drugs, and money. All were staples of novels by Jackie Collins.

At the same time her sister Joan was making her name as an actress, Jackie Collins honed her craft as the author of novels in the tradition of Jacqueline Susann or Mickey Spillane.

And she was really, really good at it. She wrote 32 novels, all of which became New York Times Best Sellers. Her books have sold over 500 million copies worldwide. And many have been made into movies or TV series.

I interviewed Jackie Collins several times over the years. The interview you’re about to hear was my first with her.

So here now, from 1985, Jackie Collins.

Jackie Collins died of breast cancer in 2015, just two weeks before her 78th birthday.

Daniel Handler as Lemony Snicket

Bill Thompson

Baby Boomers had The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books. Millennials had Harry Potter. And Generation Z grew up with Lemony Snicket.

From 1999 to 2006, author Daniel Handler — writing under the pseudonym Lemony Snicket — wrote a series of books called “A Series of Unfortunate Events.”

That’s why his book was called “The Penultimate Peril.|

So here now, from 2005, Daniel Handler, otherwise known as Lemony Snicket.

Daniel Handler turned 50 earlier this year. And although Lemony is in retirement, Daniel Handler is still writing books and poetry.

Maya Angelou

Bill Thompson

Few poets ever rise to the kind of prominence enjoyed by Maya Angelou. But of course, she was much more than a poet — essayist, memoirist, and civil rights activist. And not a bad singer, as you’ll hear in a few minutes.

Maya Angelou with Bill Thompson 1993

She worked with both Martin Luther King and Malcolm X.

In 1993, Angelou recited her poem “On the Pulse of Morning” at the first inauguration of President Bill Clinton. I met her a few months later.

Here now, from October 1993, Maya Angelou.

In 2013, Maya Angelou published the seventh volume of her autobiography.

She died in 2014, at age 86.

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.”

Stephenie Meyer

Bill Thompson

When I was a kid, all my friends and I were into The Twilight Zone, the Rod Serling TV series.

Photo: Gage Skidmore

But in the later 2000s, another “twilight” captured the world’s imagination: the “Twilight” series of novels by Stephenie Meyer.

Four, in all, chronicling the stories of teenager Bella, vampire Edward. and werewolf Jacob.

The third book in the series, “Eclipse,” was published in 2007. And that’s when I met the author — who, as you’ll hear, was still getting accustomed to the fact she had become more popular, book-sales-wise, than J.K. Rowling.

Here now, from 2007, Stephenie Meyer.

Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilight” books have been turned into popular movies. And her books continue to sell tens of millions of copies worldwide.

Christina Crawford

Bill Thompson

All this week on Now I’ve Heard Everything, as we look ahead to Morthers Day next Sunday, we\re featuring interviews with or about mothers.

Today my 1988 interview with a wopman whose book about her adoptive mother became a cultural nilepost.

Christina Crawford;s mother was Hollywood legend Joan Crawford. But as she revealed in her 1978 bestseller, life with the fanous actress was not a fairy tale existence.

I first met Chrsitina Crawford ten years after “Mommie Dearest,” when she came out with a book called “Survivor.”

So here now, from 1988, Christina Crawford:\

Christina Crawford is now 80 years old. She is still primarily known for “Mommie Deares.”

John Updike

Bill Thompson

People often ask me if I ever got starstruck when I was interviewing famous people — and yes, it happened sometimes.

One of those times in early 1994, when I had the opportunity to interview a true literary lioin: novelist, short-story writer, poet, and critic John Updike.

How big a literary figure is he?

Well, John Updike is one of only three writers who have ever won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once.

And both prizes were for books in Updike’s “Rabbit” series of novels featuring Harry “Rabbit” Angstrom.

I met John Updike after he’d written an unusual novel called “Brazil.”

So here now, from 1994, John Updike:

John Updike died in 2009 just weeks before his 77th birthday.

Gregory Maguire

Bill Thompson

Everyone knows the story of young Dorothy Gale of Kansas, and her epic journey to meet the great and powerful Wizard of Oz.

And we know that along the way she “liquidates” the Wicked Witch of the West.

Back in 1995, Gregory Maguire built on L. Frank Baum’s work to create “Wicked,” the backstory of the Wicked Witch of the West. “Wicked” became a moden day cultural phenomenon.

One of the several times I’ve interviewed Gregory Maguire over the years was in 2005, for his book “Son of a Witch.”

And in this interview, you’ll also hear how, in a strange turn of events, the Iraq war and the fall of Saddam Hussein helped inspire this book.

Here now, from 2005, Gregory Maguire:

The Broadway musicl inspired by Gregory Maguie’s “Wicked” recently became Broadway’s fifth-longest running show.

Robert B. Parker

Bill Thompson

There have been many authors I’ve interviewed year after year, and one of my favorites — a guy I always looked forward to talking to — was this guy, Robert B. Parker.

A gruff-sounding, but actually very charming and likeable man, Robert B. Parker was best known for his series of books featuring a sardonic private eye named Spenser.

There were 40 Spenser novels — ABC-TV based the series “Spenser: For Hire” on Paker’s books.

The first time I met him was in 1989. So here now, from 1989, Robert B. Parker.

Robert B. Parker died in 2010. He was 77.