1960s

Myrlie Evers Williams

Bill Thompson
Photo by John Mathew Smith

Today, June 12, is a somber anniversary. It was 60 years ago tonight that a white supremacist and Ku Klux Klan leader gun down a civil rights leader named Medgar Evers as he arrived home.

His killer remained at large for years to come. And Evers’s death was just the first of three high profile assassinations that decade, including Malcolm x and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

His widow was Myrlie Evers. Years later she remarried and has been known since as Myrlie Evers Williams.

But she was always a strong woman.

I met her in 1999 when she wrote a book about her lifetime of triumph over tragedy, a book called Watch Me Fly.

So here now, from 1999, Myrlie Evers Williams.

Myrlie Evers Williams is 90 now, and still an active civil rights activist andleader.

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Rafer Johnson

Bill Thompson
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Let’s go back to 1960, and the Olympic games. That was the year a 26-year-old named Rafer Johnson took the gold medal in the decathlon. Four years earlier, Johnson had won the silver.

But his achievements did not end when his athletic career was over. Johnson became a successful actor in the 1960s and ”70s.

Johnson also became politically active in the 1960s, and that’s how he found himself in the kitchen at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles the night. Bobby Kennedy was assassinated, 55 years ago this week.

I met him in 1998, when he wrote his autobiography, called The Best that I Can Be:

So here now, from 1998, Rafer Johnson.z

Rafer Johnson died in 2020. He was 86

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Laura Palmer

Bill Thompson

Memorial Day is the one day each year set aside to remember and commemorate and celebrate the sacrifices of thousands of men and women who have died in war over the years.

But of course, their deaths carry a long and wide ripple effect that can affect family members for years and generations to come.

Since opening more than 40 years ago, the Vietnam Veterans memorial in Washington DC has become an informal but significant collection point for memorabilia. Families of the fallen in Vietnam come to the wall to leave behind everything from letters and poems to medals and teddy bears.

In 1988, former Vietnam war correspondent Laura Palmer wrote a book about those items of memorabilia. She tracked down many of the families and interviewed them to get a broader sense of their loss. She ccalled her book Shrapnel in The Heart.

So here now, from 1988, my interview with Laura Palmer.

Eartha Kitt

Bill Thompson

Orson Welles once called her timeless.

With a sultry and distinctive voice, Eartha Kitt established herself early on as a great singer and actress.

She started performing professionally in the 1940s, and made several hit recordings in the 1950s and ”60s. Her most famous recording is a popular Christmas tune…

Baby Boomers will recall her role as Catwoman on the TV series “Batman.”

Younger audiences will recognize her voice from the voiceover work she did on several Disney productions.

I never got to actually meet Eartha Kitt in person, but we talked on the phone one day in 2001, about her book Rejuvenate! It’s Never Too Llate.

So here now, from 2001, Eartha Kitt.

Eartha Kitt died on Christmas Day 2008, just days before her 82nd birthday.

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Peter Arnett

Bill Thompson
Photo: John Mathew Smith

Today, a conversation with a man who has spent a lifetime plunging himself into war.

Peter Arnett became a major television personality during the Persian Gulf war in 1991, with his reporting from Iraq for CNN.

But that was by no means where his career started.

Arnett won the Pulitzer prize for his reporting from Vietnam for the associated press.

Over a career spanning several decades, if there was a war going on somewhere in the world, Peter Arnett founded. And covered it .

I I met him in 1994, when we talked about his book Live From the Battlefield.

So here now, from 1994, Peter Arnett.

Peter Arnett is 88 now.

In 2007 Arnett was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to journalism.

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Holly Near

Bill Thompson
Photo: Donna A. Korones

Holly Near was just 8 years old when she first performed in public. And in a career that has now spanned over 50 yearse, Near has established herself as a folk music legend.

Actually, she calls herself a troubadour.

And she’s a talented actress, appearing in episodes of The Mod Squad, All in The Family, and The Partridge family, as well as on Broadway in the musical “Hair.”

Near is also a member of the LGBTQ community, at a strong supporter of gay rights for many decades.

I met her in 1990, when she published an autobiography called Fire in The Rain, Singer in The Storm.

So here now, from 1990, Holly Near.

Holly Near will be 74 in June, and still performs regularly.

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Ann-Margret

Bill Thompson

In the early 1960s you would have been hard pressed to find an entertainer who was hotter, more popular, and more in demand than singer and actress and Margaret.

The young star, born in Sweden as Ann Margaret Olsen, captivated everyone’s attention.  With her combination of Scandinavian beauty, a youthful s*******, at a sort of undercurrent of danger, it’s easy to see why Ann-Margret quickly became so popular.

Many said she appeared to be a female Elvis. And, by 1964, she was starring alongside the real Elvis Presley in the movie Viva Las vegas- and famously having an affair with the king.

But her star didn’t fade. Well into the 60s, ’70s, ’80s, and beyond, and Margaret has remained a popular favorite.

In 1994 she was prompted to write her autobiography. And that’s what I had a chance to meet her.

So here now, a candid and emotional interview with Ann-Margret, from 1994:

And Margaret will be 82 next month. Her most recent screen appearance was in 2017.

Her husband, Roger Smith, died in 2017 after 50 years of marriage.

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Peter Yarrow

Bill Thompson

Perhaps no one personified the folk music trend of the 1960s like Peter, Paul and Mary.

With a repertoire that included not only their own songs but covers of songs by Pete Seeger and Bob Dylan, Peter Paul and Mary became superstars.

One of their most enduring hits was the wildly popular, to this day, Puff the Magic Dragon.

But it wasn’t until 2007 that the story of Puff the Magic Dragon was turned into an illustrated children’s book. That was the effort of Peter Yarrow, the co-writer of the song. And the book turned into a huge, huge commercial success.

That year is when I first met Peter yarrow, and we talked about his book about puff. A couple of years later we had another interview when he came out with another similar book based on their song. Day is Done.

And that interview, the one you’re about to hear, happened just a few weeks after the untimely deaf of Mary Travers.

So here now, from 2009, Peter Yarrow.

Peter Yarrow turned 84 in M ay. He lives in New York.

Mary Travers died in september 2009 at age 72

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Eric Burdon

Bill Thompson

Who knew that a little boy born to a lower middle-class family in England, who grew up with asthma and put up with teasing from his classmates, and like to smoke by the time he was aged 10, would grow up to become one of the world’s greatest rock singers?

That’s kind of the short version of the life of Eric Burdon, who in 1962 joined a quartet that soon became known as the animals. Burdon was their lead singer.

As a leading member of the British invasion, the animals produced a number of hits.

In 2002, Eric Burdon wrote an autobiography, a book called. Please Don’t let me be misunderstood. And that’s when I have a chance to talk with him by phone. So here now, from 2002, Eric burdon.

Eric Burdon is 81 mpw/ Amd still making muisc.

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Otis Williams

Bill Thompson

It was around this time in 1961 that a group of five young men formed a singing group called The Elgins. They were good, so good that Berry Gordy signed them to a contract at Motown. Trouble was, there was already a group called The Elgins, so Gordy asked them to find a new name.

That’s when they became The Temptations. Their leader and founder was baritone Otis Williams.

And over the next five decades, the temptations establish themselves as one of the most popular and most enduring soul music acts.

Otis Williams in upper right

In 1988, Williams wrote a book that was part memoir, part story of The Temptations. And that’s when I had the chance to meet him .

So here now, from 1988, Otis Williams.

Otis Williams is 80 now. He still performs occasionally with the Temptations.

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