Recent Interviews

We have over 900 interviews in our collection, most of which are available for viewing online. See the most recently uploaded interviews below.

Ira Skutch

Wed, 04/01/2020

In his nearly three-hour Archive interview, Ira Skutch (1921-2010) talks about his early years as a page and later as a manager of guided tours at NBC in the mid-1940s. He describes the layout of the NBC building, listing the various studios and the radio series that were produced in each, as well as which studios were modified for television production. Skutch talks about his work as a stage manger on some of NBC's earliest television series, including NBC Television Theatre, You Are an...

James Lipton

Fri, 03/06/2020

In his hour-and-a-half interview, James Lipton (1926-2020) talks about his early years, and his very first acting role on the radio version of “The Lone Ranger.” He describes moving to New York City, and studying acting under Stella Adler, while appearing on the daytime drama Guiding Light, and making guest appearances on shows such as You Are There.  He recounts Irna Phillips making him head writer of Another World, and writing the Broadway musicals “Nowhere to Go...

Sally Jessy Raphael

Mon, 01/27/2020

In her two-and-a-half-hour interview, Sally Jessy Raphael talks about her childhood, including an appearance on the show Quiz Kids as a girl and taking acting classes as a child. She discusses attending Carnegie Mellon University (then Carnegie Tech) before transferring to Barnard College, and moving to Puerto Rico when she married after college. She details her first on-air radio and television jobs, both in Puerto Rico, and subsequent jobs on-air in Miami. Raphael discusses moving...

Ann Curry

Fri, 12/20/2019

In her three-hour interview, Ann Curry talks about her childhood, and the impact her parents had on her worldview and her eventual career path, in particular her father’s advice to pick a career that would allow her to “be of service” to others. She discusses studying journalism at the University of Oregon and how a post-college internship at KTVL in Medford, Oregon led to her being hired as that station’s first female reporter. She talks about other local news positions she held and what...

Ron Cowen

Thu, 11/21/2019

In the fifty-minute solo portion of his interview, Ron Cowen talks about his childhood and early interest in theater, as well as his undergraduate and graduate education. He discusses how his UCLA professor Jerome Lawrence inspired him to begin writing plays and how, when he wrote his first play “Summertree”, Lawrence sent it to the Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference. He shares the significance of the O’Neill in his career, where he met writing partner Daniel Lipman, and how “...

Daniel Lipman

Thu, 11/21/2019

In the twenty-five minute solo portion of his interview, Daniel Lipman talks about his childhood and education at Boston University, where he studied directing and acting. He talks about his brief acting career, including a role in the touring production of “Godspell”, and how he began writing plays. Lipman then discusses being accepted into the Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference early in his career, where he met writing partner Ron Cowen. He concludes by sharing what he enjoys...

Billy Crystal

Tue, 10/08/2019

In his three-hour interview, Billy Crystal talks about his early life, and becoming interested in comedy at a young age. He describes attending NYU to study film, where he learned from Martin Scorsese, and met Christopher Guest. He recounts getting Buddy Morra to manage him, and his appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and All in the Family. He recalls his disappointment at being bumped off the first broadcast of Saturday Night Live, only to be picked...

Rebecca Eaton

Mon, 09/09/2019

In her three-and-a-half-hour interview, Rebecca Eaton talks about growing up in Pasadena, CA and attending Vassar College. She discusses her first job after graduation, at BBC Radio in London, and on returning to the United States to work first for Boston’s WGBH radio and then for WGBH television. She talks about the atmosphere at PBS in the early 1970s, and outlines her transition to producing Masterpiece Theatre (later renamed Masterpiece). Eaton goes into...