Latest News from The Interviews

Mike Wallace is 90 Today!

 Fri, 05/09/2008 The Archive of American Television wishes Mike Wallace a happy birthday as the veteran newsman turns 90. Wallace spent his early years as an announcer and actor in radio and television. In the early 1950s he often appeared as an actor in the dramatic anthologies of the day including Suspense and Studio One . When he began to do the nightly news for the Du Mont network and then his subsequent Night Beat interview program, he solidified his reputation as a probing journalist that he brought most...

Public Television Legend James Day Has Died - Interviewed in 1998

 Thu, 05/01/2008 Host of such public television series as Kaleidoscope in the late '50s and early '60s and Day at Night in the 1970s, James Day left his mark on public television as the president of National Educational Television (NET) starting in 1969, and president of Channel 13. James Day's four-and-a-half hour Archive of American Television interview will be online shortly, and can be viewed in its entirety at Television Academy Headquarters. Interview description: James Day described his early career...

Rod Serling's "A Town Has Turned To Dust" Presented at Ithaca College

 Fri, 04/25/2008 Before Rod Serling was immortalized as the creator, main writer, and host of The Twilight Zone , he contributed teleplays to several of the "live" and filmed anthologies of the 1950s that defined the "Golden Age of Television." Among his most significant teleplays were ones he wrote for Playhouse 90 , a ninety-minute anthology series that is often considered the best of its kind. Serling wrote ten Playhouse 90 scripts, including "Requiem for a Heavyweight," "The Comedian," and "The Velvet Alley...

Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame Honorees 2008 Are Announced

 Fri, 04/18/2008 The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Hall of Fame Committee has selected Beatrice Arthur, Dan Burke, Larry Gelbart, Merv Griffin, Thomas Murphy and Sherwood Schwartz to be inducted into the Television Academy’s Hall of Fame, it was announced yesterday by John Shaffner, Chairman/CEO of the Television Academy. Link to press release. The Archive of American Television has conducted interviews with Beatrice Arthur, Larry Gelbart, Thomas Murphy, and Sherwood Schwartz. Click on the links...

Emmy magazine features interviewee Robert Johnson

 Mon, 04/14/2008 Pick up the latest copy of emmy magazine to read an excerpt from our interview with network executive and BET founder Robert Johnson, where he discusses his early years in Washington, DC as vice president of Government Relations for the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA), during the rise of the cable industry following government deregulation. He explains his concept for a cable network targeted at African-American viewers and his efforts to secure funding for the...

TV Comedy Writer Seaman Jacobs Dies at 96 - Archive Interview Online

 Sun, 04/13/2008 Sad to report that noted comedy writer Seaman Jacobs passed away in Los Angeles on April 8th. He was interviewed by the Archive of American Television in March of 1999 and his full 7-part interview is available online here . Click here for an obituary press release from the Writers Guild of America, West. Interview description: Full 7-part oral history interview with comedy writer Seaman Jacobs (1912-2008). He talks about starting as a writer for the Brazilian Pavilion at the 1939 Worlds Fair...

40th Anniversary of Petula Clark-Harry Belafonte "Touch" Controversy

 Wed, 04/09/2008 The television special Petula , aired in April 1968. A vehicle for popular singer Petula Clark ("Downtown"), the show featured Harry Belafonte as her guest. During one song, Petula touched Belafonte's arm and this "interracial contact" was considered taboo enough to cause a national controversy to surround the special. Several takes of the song existed on tape in which Clark didn't touch Belafonte, but the special was delivered to NBC with the controversial take intact. The moment is very tame...

Emmy® and Oscar®-winner Abby Mann Dies at the Age of 84-- Archive Interview Online

 Thu, 03/27/2008 Writer Abby Mann who won an Academy Award for the screenplay of Judgment at Nuremberg and won three Emmys for writing ( The Marcus-Nelson Murders , Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesnthal Story , and Indictment: The McMartin Trial ) was interviewed by the Archive in August of 2004. Click here to access his entire six-part Archive Interview. Interview Description : Abby Mann was interviewed for nearly three hours in Los Angeles, CA. Mann talked about his early teleplays, written during the...

"The Thorn Birds" Celebrates 25th Anniversary

 Thu, 03/27/2008 "The Thorn Birds", which celebrates its 25th anniversary this week, debuted on March 27, 1983 and ran four nights. The miniseries was based on the Colleen McCullough novel that followed several decades in the lives of the Austrailian Cleary family and starred Richard Chamberlain and Rachel Ward. Variety called the miniseries a "fast-paced grabber" and in addition to its high ratings, it scored several Emmy nominations, with wins for actors Barbara Stanwyck, Richard Kiley, and Jean Simmons as...