Filmmakers

Dawn Steel

Bill Thompson

Have you ever seen the movie Flashdance? How about Top Gun, or Fatal Attraction?

Those movies, and many more, were made under the supervision of studio executive Dawn Steel.

Her name was appropriate, too, because a woman in the man’s world of Hollywood filmmaking had to be made of steel.

Dawn Steel’s 1993 memoir was called They Can Kill You But They Can’t Eat You. And that’s when I met her.

So here now, from 1993, Dawn Steel.

Dawn Steel succumbed to brain cancer in 1997 at age 51.

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Robert Evans
Peter Bogdanovich

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Peter Bogdanovich

Bill Thompson

Peter Bogdanovich did a little bit of everything in Hollywood. He was a writer, an actor, a film historian, a director — I think he even got coffee sometimes.

His acclaimed movies include The Last Picture Show, Paper Moon, What’s Up Doc, and a host of others.

And along the way he met a number of Hollywood legends, the people he calls the original movie stars. People like John Wayne, Orson Welles, Cary Grant, and Jimmy Stewart.

In 2004, Bogdanovich published a book of his recollections of dealing with those movie stars, a book he called Who the Hell’s in It: Conversations with Hollywood’s Legendary Actors. And that’s when I met him.

So here now, from 2004, Peter Bogdanovich

Peter Bogdanovich died in 2022 at age 82.

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Robert Evans
Barry Levinson

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Barry Levinson

Bill Thompson

Barry Levinson is an Oscar-winning film director and screenwriter. But it also turns out he’s a pretty good novelist.

The man famous for such films as Diner, Rain Man, and Good Morning, Vietnam wrote a novel in 2003 called Sixty-Six.

Like his Baltimore-based movies, Sixty-Six was the story of young men dealing with momentous changes in their lives and in the society around them.

When his book was published, Levinson went on an author tour, and that’s when I had the chance to meet him.

So here now, from 2003, Barry Levinson.

Barry Levinson will be 80 years old next month. His most recent project: he was co-executive producer of last year’s Hulu mini-series “Dopesick.”

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Robert Evans
David Brown

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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.”