Showing results by narrator "Terry Gross" in All Categories

We kick off Word for Word Week at Fresh Air, featuring our favorite authors from the past year First up: lesbian pulp fiction. Writer Ann Bannon (her pseudonym) has written a number of books of lesbian pulp fiction, including Odd Girl Out, I Am a Woman, and Journey to a Woman.

Professor of Islamic law Khaled Abou El Fadl and English professor Leo Litwak on this edition of Fresh Air. Khaled Abou El Fadl is the professor of Islamic law at the University of Southern California at Los Angeles. He's also the author of a number of books including, Conference of the Books: The Search for Beauty in Islam a collection of essays about the problems and challenges that confront Muslims in the contemporary world.

Filmmaker Jim Jarmusch and author John Irving on this archival edition of Fresh Air. Jarmusch often acts as writer, director, and producer of his films.

Comic Bob Newhart on this archive edition of Fresh Air. He's been a part of the American comedy landscape since 1961 when his debut comedy album The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart became a surprise hit. Since then he's starred in three TV shows, including the Peabody award winning original The Bob Newhart Show, and appeared in numerous films. There's a new Rhino anthology of his classic routines, Something Like This...The Bob Newhart Anthology.

Syndicated cartoonist Aaron McGruder, Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page and remembering Dr. Shirley Glass on this edition of Fresh Air. Aaron McGruder's strip The Boondocks follows the escapades of Huey and Riley two brothers from the inner city sent to live with their grandfather in a Chicago surburb, where most of their neighbors are white.

Former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and actor Peter Gallagher on this archival edition of Fresh Air. McNamara is the author of In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam which contains the long awaited admission that McNamara felt the U.S. policy in Vietnam was wrong and the war was unwinnable.

Veteran actress Angela Lansbury on this archive edition of Fresh Air. She's spent over 50 years in the business on stage, and in film and television. When she was 17 she debuted in Gaslight, and was nominated for an Oscar for her portrayal of Ingrid Bergman's Cockney maid.

Hear neurologist Oliver Sacks and rock critic Ken Tucker on this edition of Fresh Air. Oliver Sacks' new book is Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain. It's a series of case histories that examine the relationship of music and the mind. Sacks has written eleven books; the most famous are Awakenings, which was made into a film starring Robert DeNiro and Robin Williams, and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat.

Record producer and musician Don Was on this archive edition of Fresh Air. Was co-founded the funk rock group, "Was (Not) Was." In 1995, he won a Grammy for Producer of the Year. In addition, he's produced a number of albums for Bonnie Raitt, including her Nick of Time album which revived her career, Rolling Stones, Lyle Lovett, Al Green, Iggy Pop, and the B-52's.

On this edition of Fresh Air, we remember stage actress and acting teacher Uta Hagen. She died on Wednesday at the age of 84. She taught acting for more than 40 years, teaching such actors as Jack Lemmon, Sigourney Weaver, Matthew Broderick, and the late Geraldine Page.

Author Martin Amis is considered one of the leading British writers of the late 20th century and one of the most controversial.

Composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim and actor Greg Kinnear on this edition of Fresh Air. Sondheim was mentored by Oscar Hammerstein, and went on to revolutionize musical theatre. His first major success was writing lyrics for West Side Story. He also composed the music and wrote the lyrics for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Follies, and A Little Night Music to name a few.

Hear German filmmaker Werner Herzog and critic Milo Miles on this edition of Fresh Air. Werner Herzog's new film is Rescue Dawn, based on his 1997 documentary Little Dieter Needs to Fly. It's the true story of Dieter Dengler, the only U.S. pilot to have sucessfully escaped from a North Vietnamese-controlled prison.

Hear the late writer and editor William Maxwell, classical-music critic Lloyd Schwartz, and film critic David Edelstein on this edition of Fresh Air. In honor of the centennial of William Maxwell's birth, and his contribution to American writing, the Library of America is publishing a two-volume collection of his novels and short stories. The first, which collects his early work, is out now.

Hear Stephen Colbert, host of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, on this edition of Fresh Air. His show parodies, and is modeled after, The O'Reilly Factor. In fact, in a New Yorker review, Nancy Franklin writes, "Colbert resembles nobody more than he does Bill O'Reilly, and like O'Reilly, he conveys fake humility and easy rage toward inappropriate targets."

Singer Emmylou Harris and horror writer Peter Straub on this archive edition of Fresh Air.

Actress Cherry Jones and hip hop forefather Grand Master Flash on this edition of Fresh Air. Cherry Jones is currently appearing in Lysistrata at the Prince Music Theater in Philadelphia. Jones is a founding member of the American Repertory Theatre and has appeared in 23 A.R.T. productions. She's won Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Drama League awards. Jones has starred or appeared in many Broadway and Off-Broadway productions.

Political satirist Bill Maher on this edition of Fresh Air. He's just published When you ride ALONE you ride with bin Laden: What the Government Should Be Telling Us to Help Fight the War on Terrorism.

Actor, comedian, and musician Michael McKean on this edition of Fresh Air. He's best known for co-starring in the spoofs This is Spinal Tap, Best in Show, and A Mighty Wind. He got his start playing Lenny in the 1970s sitcom Laverne and Shirley. He's currently co-starring in the Broadway revival of The Pajama Game.

Hear film director David Cronenberg and actor Viggo Mortensen, music critic Milo Miles, and linguist Geoff Nunberg on this edition of Fresh Air.