Vintage Interviews With Notable People
When you think of the best of Motown in the late 1950s and early ‘60s, one of the names that has to be near the top of the list it Martha and the
Behind lead singer Martha Reeves, they racked up a series of hit singles.
Finally, 30 years after their heyday, Martha Reeves wrote a memoir. And that’s when I met her.
So here now, from 1994, Martha Reeves:
Martha Reeves celebrated her 80th birthday a couple of weeks ago. And she still tours and performs.
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In the 1960s and into the early 70s, one of the most dominant pitchers in the National League was St. Louis Cardinals right-hander Bob Gibson.
During a 17-year career, Gibson racked up 251 wins, over 3000 strikeouts, won two Cy Young awards and one year was Most Valluable Player.
He was a star of the 1967 World Series in which the Cardinals beat the Boston Red Spx.
Now, like any picture with that kind of record, Gibson was an intimidating presence on the mound.
But in his case, it went beyond intimidating and he acquired a reputation for being mean.
In 1994 Gibson wrote a memoir called Stranger to the Game. And that’s when I met the man who was anything but “mean.”
So here now, from 1994, Bob Gibson.
Bob Gibson died last year at age 84.
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55 years ago African Americans were making historic gains in civil rights. But much work was still to be done.
That year, 1966, Bobby Seale and his longtime friend Huey Newton created a new organization they called the Black Panther Party.
In 1968 Seal made a name for himself during anti-Vietnam War protests outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
It was not his first run-in with the law and it would not be his last.
In the early 1970s Seale wrote a book about the Black Panther Party, called Seize the Time. After going out of print for several years, it was republished in 1991. And that’s what I met him.
So here now, from 1991, Bobby Seale.
Bobby Seale is 84 now. Since 2013, Seale has been seeking to produce a screenplay he wrote based on Seize the Time.
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As a young journalist in the 1950s, Carl T. Rowan covered the emerging civil rights movement, and its leaders, including people like Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks.
The reputation he built came to the attention of President John F. Kennedy, who, in 1961, name Rowan to a high level position in the State Department.
And in 1963, Kennedy appointed Rowan ambassador to Finland.
Row and remain in the government for three years after Kennedy’s assassination, before resuming what would be a long and acclaimed journalism career.
I first met him in 1991, what he wrote a memoir called Breaking Barriers.
In this interview, you’ll also hear a reference to “thje gun incident” — in 1988 Rowan confronted an intruder at his home, and shot and wounded him with what turned out to be an unregistered handgun.
So here now, from 1991, Carl T. Rowan.
Carl T, Rowan died in 2000, at age 75.
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Robert Osbourne Denver graduated from college with a degree in political science, then caoched physical education and even taught math and history at a California elementary school.
But today, this well-educated, smart, soft-spoken man is best remembered for this…
Gilligan’s Island only lasted three seasons in the mid-1960s, but thanks to reruns and syndication the show has effectively never been off the air since.
And, like so many other popular TV actors, Bob Denver found himself typecast.
So, like many of his peers, Denver stopped resisting the Typecast and embraced it, appearing in several made-for-tv Gilligan’s Island movies, as well as other walk-on roles in which he played Gilligan.
In 1993, Denver wrote a book called “Gilligan, Maynard, and Me,” a reference to the other popular TV series he co-starred in, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.
The day I met him, the day before Thanksgiving in 1993, I brought my 13- and 11-year-old daughters to meet the man they knew only as Gilligan.
So here now, from 1993, Bob Denver…
Bob Denver died in 2005 at age 70.
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Memorial Day is an occasion to pause and honor those who have given their lives in military service.
But we can also remember those who went to war to save lives.
In 1963, a 21-year old student nurse named winning Smith joined the Army, and in 1966 was sent to Vietnam, where the war was escalating. She was there until 1967,
But it wasn’t until years later that she realized that she, like many of the servicemen she treated, or suffering from PTSD.
I met her in 1992, to talk about her book called “American Daughter Gone to War.”
So here now, from 1992, Winnie Smith.
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When I was a kid one of the TV shows I most look forward to every week was the Sunday night episode of “Candid Camera.”
With hidden cameras set up to catch their reactions, host Allen Funt played benign but often ingenius practical jokes on ordinary people. “Candid Camera” was a TV hit for years.
After Funt’s death in 1999 at aged 84, his son Peter Funt took over the family business, as it were, and carried on the “Candid Camera” franchise.
In 2013, he published a collection of his essays, and that’s when I had the chance to speak with him — and to get some inside scoop on “Candid Camera.”
So here now, from 2013, Peter Funt
Peter Funt is 74.
He writes a syndicated column and speaks to business organizations, often using clips from “Candid Camera” in his presentations.
In the early 1960s, the San Diego Chargers were a powerhouse in the American Football League.
In 1966, the franchise was purchased by a very successful California businessman named Gene Klein. He paid the them-princely sum of 10 million dollars.
But after running the team for 18 years, Klein solded in 1984.
And a couple of years later he wrote a book about his experience, which he called First Down And a Billion. And that’s when I met him.
I interviewed him just five days before Super Bowl XXI, so be sure and listen to the end to find out what his prediction was. And how accurate he was.
So here now, from January 1987, Gene Klein.
Gene Klein died in 1990, at the age of 69.
Well before her 20th birthday, Patty Duke had already won an Oscar and was star of her own TV series.
Patty Duke won the Oscar for best supporting actress in The 1962 movie The Miracle Worker, which was the captain from the Broadway play in which she also starred.
On the heels of that success came her TV series, the Patty Duke Show, in which she played the dual roles of typical American teemager Patty and her identical cousin from England, Cathy.
Later Patty Duke moved on to more sophisticated, adult roles, including a part in the movie Valley of the Dolls.
But all along the way, she suffered from severe, undiagnosed bipolar disorder, Exacerbated by various forms of abuse.
In the early 1980s Duke finally got the help she needed, And a few years later, she wrote a memoir entitled Call Me Anna. That’s when I met her.
Now it’s important to keep in mind that this interview is 33 years old, and many advances have been made not only in the treatment of the disorder, but how we refer to it.
So here now, from 1988, Patty Duke.
Patty Duke died in 2016. She was 69.
Mia Farrow may have been born to be a star.
Her parents were both major Hollywood figures, and she grew up amongst big stars. By the time she was a teenager Mia Farrow was a star on the ABC TV primetime soap opera Peyton Place.
Then came movie roles, as well as a brief marriage to Frank Sinatra. In 1968, Farrow starred in “Rosemary’s Baby,” the movie which propelled her to major stardom. And another brief marriage, to Andre Previn.
Then, in 1980, she began a relationship with Woody Allen. It ended in 1992 with a very messy, complicated, and very public court battle over custody of their children. Allegations of sexual abuse were thrown about.
In 1997, Mia Farrow wrote a memoir, and that’s when I met her.
So here now, from 1997, Mia Farrow:
Mia Faarrow turned 76 last month.