David L. Wolper

On his early years and influences; on radio he listened to while growing up; on seeing television at the 1939 World's Fair; on his family's first television set

On moving to Los Angeles and befriending future writer Art Buchwald at USC; on forming a company to sell educational films to television stations; on the experience of traveling the country selling educational and feature films to local television stations

On buying the rights to feature films to syndicate to local television stations; on a typical television station in the late '40s and early '50s, and on how stations operated; on his early competition as "film peddlers": Fredric Ziv

On the business of television syndication early on; on his early syndication company Flamingo Films being merged into Motion Pictures for Television; on working on the syndication and sponsorship of Adventures of Superman starring George Reeves

On how the business of syndication worked in the early days of television; on the syndicated series Divorce Hearing; on the genesis and production of The Race for Space

On producing The Race for Space and on the network news departments refusing to buy it; on selling The Race for Space to independent television stations; on critical reaction to The Race for Space and on the show being a turning point in his career

On the the role of the producer and director in a documentary; on producing a documentary on the history of Hollywood called Hollywood: The Golden Years; on producing Biography

On The Race for Space holding up over time; on his style of making documentaries; on forming his own production company

On Irving "Swifty" Lazar; on The Making of the President: 1964; on getting involved in National Geographic Specials

On producing The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau; on winning an Emmy for The Making of the Presidency ; on making a deal with ABC to air 24 of his series

On his production company in the late '60s; on selling his production company to John Kluge's Metromedia; on producing feature films

On doing convention films in 1964 for Lyndon B. Johnson; on making convention films in 1972 for Richard M. Nixon; on producing Let My People Go and The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich

On making the switch to color for his documentaries; on doing documentaries about Adolf Hitler; on producing a series of specials titled Appointment with Destiny; on the controversial practice of docudramas using newly shot "recreations"

On the declining popularity of the documentary in the early '70s; on producing the film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory; on producing The First Woman President, directed by Delbert Mann

On the importance of casting: on producing Sandburg's Lincoln

On executive producing Chico and the Man and Welcome Back, Kotter; on working with stars Freddie Prinze and John Travolta; on how he first heard about Roots

On acquiring the rights to Roots and on meeting Alex Haley; on why he knew Roots would work; on convincing ABC, headed by Brandon Stoddard, to air the show; on Roots producer Stan Margulies

On the screenplay for Roots being written as the book was being written and on making it a miniseries; on casting Roots including LeVar Burton as "Kunta Kinte"; on the huge success of Roots when it aired in January of 1977

On the economics of producing Roots; on the decision for Roots to have more than one director; on choosing the writers; on creating characters for Roots that were not in Alex Haley's book

On Roots winning Emmys; on executive producing Roots: The Next Generations

On the huge success of Roots; on dealing with network Standards and Practices with Roots; on why Roots came along at the right time; on the impact of Roots

On executive producing Roots: The Next Generations; on Marlon Brando playing "George Lincoln Rockwell" in Roots: The Next Generations; on the public reaction to Roots: The Next Generations

On producing and casting The Thorn Birds; on producing North and South

On executive producing North and South; on producing the 1984 summer Olympics opening ceremonies

On producing The Statue of Liberty Liberty Weekend celebrations; on producing the miniseries Alex Haley's Queen; on being inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame and on then-current projects

On how cable television impacted television documentaries and miniseries; on the then-current state of television; on the then-future of the independent producer on television

On his thoughts on various people he worked with in his career

On his thoughts on various people he worked with in his career