Latest News from The Interviews

Archive Interviewee Ruby Dee Gets Her Due

 Fri, 02/01/2008 Actress Ruby Dee won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role for American Gangster and has received her very first Oscar nomination for the role as well. Dee's acting career spans over sixty years. The Archive interviewed both Dee and her late husband (and frequent) co-star Ossie Davis . Click here to access Ruby Dee's entire four-part interview. Interview description: Ruby Dee talked about her start as an actress in feature films and on...

Director/Producer Dwight Hemion has Died -- Archive Interview Online

 Thu, 01/31/2008 We've just learned that legendary director/producer Dwight Hemion passed away on Monday, January 28th. In his prolific career, he garnered 47 Emmy nominations in his career and won 18. He is best-known for producing specials with such legends as Julie Andrews, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Frank Sinatra, and Barbra Streisand. Click here to access Dwight Hemion's 5-part oral history interview. Interview description: In his 5-part oral history interview conducted in July of 2001, director Dwight Hemion...

Shirley Jones joins "Days of Our Lives" -- Archive Interview is Now Online

 Mon, 01/28/2008 Iconic actress Shirley Jones has joined the cast of daytime soap Days of our Lives . She's playing Colleen Brady (complete with Irish brogue), the "supposedly dead" great-aunt of Sami Brady. According to published reports, she'll be on the the show throughout February. Ms. Jones was interviewed by the Archive of American Television on December 7, 2005. Click here to access Ms. Jones' 5-part interview. Shirley Jones Interview Description: Actress Shirley Jones speaks about her early career, her...

It's a known fact that Lincoln loved mayonnaise! -- "The Odd Couple" Season 3 is on DVD

 Fri, 01/25/2008 Season Three of The Odd Couple is now available on DVD and includes a number of the series' most well-remembered episodes including "Let's Make A Deal," "The Odd Monks" (Felix and Oscar go to a retreat at an upstate Mission), and, possibly the most famous (but you knew that from this post's title quotation): "Password." The Archive of American Television interviewed several of the cast and crew behind the series; Tony Randall discusses the genesis of the "Password" episode in part four of his...

Look that up in your Funk and Wagnalls -- "Laugh-In" is forty!

 Tue, 01/22/2008 A "verrry eenteresting" TV anniversary.... 40 years ago, on January 22nd, 1968, Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In premiered on NBC. The colorful show, hosted by Dan Rowan and Dick Martin (and featuring Ruth Buzzi, Judy Carne, Henry Gibson, Goldie Hawn, Arte Johnson, announcer Gary Owens and Jo Anne Worley), was lauded for its fast-paced, sometimes-irreverent vignette comedy sketches and quick gags -- edited in a seemingly random format. The show, produced by Ed Friendly and George Schlatter,...

Actress Suzanne Pleshette has died - Archive Interview Online

 Sun, 01/20/2008 We're sad to report that Archive interviewee Suzanne Pleshette, the actress best known for her role as Emily Hartley on The Bob Newhart Show , died last night (Saturday, January 19th) at the age of 70. She was interviewed in February, 2006 and the interview is now available online. Click here for her full San Jose Mercury News obituary. Click here to view a special TV Land Online video featuring Archive interviews with Suzanne Pleshette & Bob Newhart talking about The Bob Newhart Show ...

55 years ago: "Little Ricky" was born to Lucy & Ricky Ricardo

 Sat, 01/19/2008 55 years ago, on January 19, 1953, the I Love Lucy episode "Lucy Goes to the Hospital" first aired. In this classic episode, Lucy gives birth to "Little Ricky." The airdate was chosen to coincide with Lucille Ball's real-life scheduled Caesarean delivery of her own child, Desi Arnaz, Jr. Not surprisingly, the episode was viewed by more people than any other television program up to that date -- 68% (some sources say it was as high as 75%) of all American TV sets were tuned to CBS. A few months...

The Original "American Idol"— "The Original Amateur Hour" Debuted 60 Years Ago on Television

 Thu, 01/17/2008 Following WWII, as American television began to take off, many of the popular shows on radio began to be adapted to the new medium. Major Bowes' Original Amateur Hour was one of radios old stalwarts, having debuted in 1934, and it was one of the first shows to make the leap. The American Idol of its day in terms of its allure to the fame-seeking hopeful, amateur acts (musical and otherwise) traveled from all over the country to be on the radio show. The show ended in 1945, when it had run its...

Legacy of the Watts Writers Workshop Continues

 Sun, 01/13/2008 Archive interviewee Marla Gibbs (co-star of The Jeffersons and star of 227 ) will be one of the honorees at the Watts Writers Workshop Gala Banquet on February 9th. Other honorees include actor Ted Lange (co-star of The Love Boat ), actor Roger E. Mosley (co-star of Magnum, P.I. ), and Professor Johnnie Scott, the Emmy award winning writer of the acclaimed NBC documentary, The Angry Voices of Watts . Selections of a recent interview with Budd Schulberg will also be screened. In September of...

Producer David Wolper Turns 80 Today

 Fri, 01/11/2008 Legendary producer (and Archive of American Television co-founder) David L. Wolper is 80 years old today. Wolper's name is most associated with documentaries, such as Race for Space and The Making of a President as well as miniseries such as Roots . He also produced such feature films as Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory ; sitcoms Welcome Back, Kotter and Chico and the Man ; and special events such as the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympic Games. Wolper...