Now I've Heard Everything – Page 2 – Vintage Interviews With Notable People

“Taxi” Star Marilu Henner Remembers Everything. And She Wants You To Remember More Too

August 23, 2025Bill Thompson

What did you have for lunch yesterday? Where did you celebrate your birthday in 1981? What was your fourth grade teacher’s name?

Chances are there’s at least one of these things you can’t remember. Maybe you can’t remember any of them.

But what if you can remember all of them, effortlessly?

Probably have a much sharper memory than you think you have, says the popular actress Marilu Henner.

She is one of only about 100 people with an ability known as “hyperthymesia.” That’s a fancy way of saying she can remember just about every detail of her own life going back to childhood.

In 2012 Marilu Henner wrote a book called Total Memory Makeover. And in it she explains how even if you don’t have hyperthymesia you can teach yourself how to remember a lot more than you think you can.

So here now, from 2012. Marilu Henner.

Marilu Henner is 73 now. By the way,DO you remember what you had for lunch yesterday…?

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he Timeless Genius of Stan Freberg

August 23, 2025Bill Thompson

Stan Freberg had so many hyphens after his name it’s kind of hard to sort out everything he was.

He was a writer. He was a comedian. He was a radio actor. He was a voice actor for cartoons. He was an advertising executive. He was a recording artist.. Should we go on?

The kid from Pasadena who displayed a sardonic wit from an early age created a creative life for himself the made him a star in several media.

It seemed like every few years Stan Freberg was back in the public Spotlight, often doing something new and creative and fun.

And much of his work lives on to this day.

Freberg published his autobiography — or at least, Part 1 of it – in 1989. He called the book It Only Hurts When I Laugh. He arrived at our interview a bit bedraggled by an exhausting book tour, but his trademark wit was on full display.

So here now, from 1989 Stan Freberg,

Stan Freberg died in 2015. He was 88.

Smitty and Kareem: A Friendship That Preserved the Story of the 761st Tank Battallion

August 23, 2025Bill Thompson

There was a battalion of soldiers in World War II that had to fight for its chance to fight.

It was the all-black 761st Tank Battalion of the US Army. Those men trained for over two years, but were not permitted into actual combat until the American forces in Europe were being decimated by superior German tanks.

That’s when the 761st Tank Battalion – dubbed the Black Panthers – was deployed under General George Patton.

One member of that heroic outfit was a man named Leonard Smith, known to his friends as Smitty. And Smitty was friends with another GI whose son later became one of the greatest superstars of basketball: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Smitty’s story struck a chord with Abdul-Jabbar, who ultimately met other members of the 761st and gathered their stories for a book he called Brothers in Arms.

The story is one of not just courage and determination but humility and humanity.

I met with the soft-spoken Abdul-Jabbar when his book came out in 2004.

So here now, from 2004, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

The 761st Tank Battalion included one Medal of Honor recipient, 11 Silver Stars, and 300 Purple Hearts.

How World War II Could Have Ended Without Hiroshima

August 23, 2025Bill Thompson

Today, August 6, is the 80th anniversary of the day the United States became the first – and so far, only – nation to use a nuclear weapon in war.

The Enola Gay dropped a bomb codenamed “Little Boy” that destroyed the Japanese city of Hiroshima.

It was soon after the U.S. dropped a second bomb on Nagasaki three days later that Japan surrendered. But could that surrender have happened without those two bombings?

We now know that in the spring of 1945 an American intelligence officer was tasked with getting messages to Tokyo, opening the door to a peaceful surrender.

That officer was then-27-year-old Martin Quigley, who was with the Office of Strategic Services, or OSS — the forerunner of the CIA.

Through complicated diplomatic maneuvers that sound like something out of a spy thriller quickly accomplished his mission.

So what happened?

Quigley explored that question in a 1991 book that he wrote, called Peace Without Hiroshima. He and I talked about it one summer day in 1991 when he was on a book tour.

So here now, from 1991, Martin Quigley.

Martin Quigley died in 2011. He was 93.

Marlo Thomas: Empowering Generations of Women

August 23, 2025Bill Thompson

In her decades-long career as an actress, an entertainer, a writer, and an activist, Marlo Thomas Has been all about empowering – starting with empowering girls and young women when she starred in “That Girl.” That was one of the first TV shows to feature a single woman living and supporting herself.

Of course that was just one of the dozens of professional roles Marlo Thomas has played.

You may have a copy of one of her “Free To Be, You And Me” books.

Thomas has embraced many feminist causes over the years, working alongside figures such as Gloria Steinem.

And in 2014 she wrote a book aimed at the older woman. Especially the older woman reinventing her life after some major life turning point. That book was called It Ain’t Over . . .Till It’s Over.

She and I talked about the book at an event she was holding at a Baltimore Library.

So here now, from 2014, Marlo Thomas.

Marlo Thomas is 88 now. She is National Outreach Director for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Inside the Mind of Bestselling Author Vince Flynn

August 23, 2025Bill Thompson

Back in the mid ’90s a bartender in Minnesota, with a degree in economics and business, came up with an idea for a political thriller. That idea turned into Vince Flynn’s first book, Term Limits, published in 1998.

It became a bestseller and launched a career that saw Vince Flynn write over two dozen more books

The hero of most of those books is a professional assassin, a character that Flynn named Mitch Rapp.

I interviewed Vince for that first book, and many more afterwards, including his 2009 book Pursuit of Honor. It was a fast-paced book that picked up where his previous book Extreme Measures left off.

Vince and I talked about Pursuit of Honor one fall day in Washington, DC when he was on the book tour. And as you’re about to hear the conversation sometimes turned to topics more than just writing books.

So here now, from 2009, Vince Flynn.

This interview was the last of nearly a dozen interviews I did with Vince Flynn. He died in 2013 from prostate cancer. He was 47.

Hulk Hogan: Behind the Persona in His Own Words

August 23, 2025Bill Thompson

Many people would say that when Hulk Hogan died last week he took a big piece of American culture with him.

Widely regarded as the world’s most recognized wrestling star, Hogan’s interest in wrestling blossomed when he was a teenager.

He first wrestled professionally in 1977 at age 24. But it was when he joined the World Wrestling Federation, then known as the WWF, that he became a star.

And it wasn’t just his proficiency as a wrestler that made him a star, it was his showmanship. Soon entire shows were built around Hulk.

And wouldn’t you know it, his showmanship also became a profession – Hulk Hogan became an actor.

But to those closest to him, Hulk Hogan was also Terry Bollea, the husband and family man.

In 2002 Hogan published his autobiography, a book called Hollywood Hulk Hogan. His publisher told me he was too busy for a traditional book tour, so I got a phone interview instead.

So here now, from 2002, Hulk Hogan.

Hulk Hogan passed away just days before his 72nd birthday.

A Lifetime of Becoming Someone Else: Actress Ellen Burstyn

August 23, 2025Bill Thompson

Detroit-born Ellen Burstyn Was president of her high school’s drama club. But she was not a very good student, and dropped out in her senior year.

She became a model and a dancer – even got a job dancing on the Jackie Gleason Show – before making her professional acting debut almost 70 years ago.

And since then, Ellen Burstyn has amassed a house full of awards, including acting’s Triple Crown: an Oscar, a Tony, and two Emmys.

She starred in movies ranging from “The Last Picture Show” to “The Exorcist” to “Requiem For a Dream.” She’s been in soap operas, mini-series, and “Law & Order SVU.”

In 2006 Burstyn wrote her autobiography, which she called Lessons in Becoming Myself. That’s when I had a few minutes with this extraordinary performer.

So here now, from 2006, Ellen Burstyn.

Ellen Burstyn is 92 now. She is co-president of The Actors Studio.

Behind the Lens of Laughter: Peter Funt on “Candid Camera” and His Father’s Enduring Legacy

July 24, 2025Bill Thompson

Long before “Punk’d” or “America’s Funniest Home Videos” there was “Candid Camera.” The premise was simple and popular: catch ordinary folks in funny and unusual situations, benign practical jokes as it were.

The show’s creator was a genial, soft-spoken man named Allen Funt.

His son Peter began visiting the set of the show at a very early age. And when his father suffered a major stroke in the early 1990s, Peter Funt stepped in and assumed the leadership role, hosting “Candid Camera” for several more years.

Peter Funt is also a thoughtful and respected essayist and columnist. And in 2013 he published a collection of his essays, a book he called Cautiously Optimistic. He and I talked one day that spring about his essays, and about” “Candid Camera.”

So here now, from 2013, Peter Funt.

Peter Funt is 78 now. He lives in California, and still writes a weekly newspaper column and is a popular public speaker.

Love Beyond Borders: How a Norwegian Makeup Artist & Italian-American Actor Built Forever

July 24, 2025Bill Thompson

Ernest Borgnine was a renowned and very popular Oscar and Emmy-winning actor who enjoyed decades of success in Show Business.

His success in marriage, however, was very rocky. Ernie was married four times before he met a Norwegian-born makeup artist named Tova. She was married once before.

They went into their marriage — his fifth, her second – with a new attitude. And it worked. The Norwegian immigrant and the son of Italian immigrants forged a solid partnership.

Their marriage was so successful, in fact, that in 1997 Tova Borgnine – the founder of Beauty by Tova – wrote a book that she called Being Married Happily Forever.

It was filled with what she called her secrets and strategies, and compromises. I met her when she was on a book tour.

So here now, from 1997, Tova Borgnine.

Ernest and Tova Borgnine were married for 39 years until his death in 2012. Tova died in 2022 at age 80.