Showing results by author "Terry Gross" in All Categories

Susan Orlean is a staff writer at The New Yorker. In 1994 she wrote a profile of David Friedman, one of the Friedman sons. David was known as Silly Billy, a popular clown who was a favorite at children's birthday parties in New York City. David's father and brother were accused of molesting children, and the family's story is told through their own home movies in the documentary film.

Actress Sarah Jessica Parker on this archive edition of Fresh Air. She's been acting for most of her life, including playing Annie on Broadway, the young bimbo in L.A. Story, and a fed-up fiancée in Honeymoon in Vegas. This is her fourth season starring in the HBO hit series Sex and the City, as Carrie, a columnist who writes about the sexual mores of New Yorkers. Terry Gross recorded this interview with Parker live before an audience at Martha's Vineyard in July.

Writer Jon Krakauer talks about his new book about Mormon Fundamentalism, Mormon practitioner Richard Turley and Nigerian-born actor Chiwetel Ejiofor on this edition of Fresh Air. Jon Krakauer is the author of the book Into Thin Air about the disastrous Mt Everest Climb in 1996 in which eight climbers were killed.

Director and producer Nick Park and Peter Lord, chairman and co-founder of the clay animation studios Aardman on this edition of Fresh Air. Park is the academy award-winning creator of the much-loved animated British characters Wallace & Gromit. Park created his short films, A Grand Day Out, The Wrong Trousers , and A Close Shave featuring Wallace and Gromit at Aardman studios.

Professor Charles Kupchan and TV host and writer Ruby Wax on this edition of Fresh Air. Charles Kupchan's new book, "The End of the American Era: U.S. Foreign Policy and the Geopolitics of the Twenty-First Century, Kupchan argues that the era of American dominance may be coming to an end; this demise will not be brought on by the Islamic world or China but from an integrated Europe.

Comedian Marc Maron and gossip columnist Liz Smith on this edition of Fresh Air. Maron's hit one-man show in Manhattan, Jerusalem Syndrome, is described as a "poetically paranoid rant on corporate culture and the quest for spiritual fulfillment." Maron has appeared on David Letterman, Conan O'Brien, and was the host of Comedy Central's Short Attention Span Theater.

Actors Morgan Freeman and Tim Roth on this archive edition of Fresh Air. Morgan Freeman is one of the stage and screen's most acclaimed actors for his ability to immerse himself in different roles. He originated the role of the chauffeur in the Broadway production of Driving Miss Daisy. Later he revived the role in the movie version, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award.

Singer and Songwriter Tom Waits on this edition of Fresh Air. Since the 1973 release of his first album, Closing Time, Waits has won over fans with his original songwriting and distinctive, gravely vocal style. One reviewer calls Waits "the Ultimate hobo boho, a Jack-in-the-box cum storyteller." Musicians including Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen, and Rod Stewart have recorded covers of his songs.

Satirist and host of the public radio program Le Show, Harry Shearer, on how he's been dealing with the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on his show. Will Ferrell is a regular cast member of Saturday Night Live. Last weekend the show began the new season in a somber tone, opening the show with Mayor Guilliani surrounded by a group of New York fire fighters, police and EMT workers. Ferrell has portrayed President George Bush on the show as well as Janet Reno, Alex Trebek and Robert Goulet; his other send-ups include musical middle school teacher Marty Culp, and Spartan...

Father James Martin on this edition of Fresh Air. Father Martin is associate editor of America the national Catholic magazine. He's written a new memoir, Searching for God at Ground Zero, about the days following the September 11th attacks when he abandoned his editing duties to go and be with the rescue workers at the site of the ruined World Trade Center.

Mexican Filmmaker Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu and writer Paul Robeson, Jr., on this edition of Fresh Air. Inarritu's debut film, Amores Perros, has just been released in the US to critical acclaim. The film follows the lives of three groups of people whose human relationships parallel the relationships they have with their dogs. Released in Los Angeles theaters in April, the movie was nominated for an Oscar in the category of Best Foreign Language Film.

Actor Jared Harris and writer James Sallis on this edition of Fresh Air. The son of actor Richard Harris, Jared has acted in theater and on the big screen. He's appeared in movies like I Shot Andy Warhol, Happiness, Sunday, Smoke, and VH1's Two of Us in which he plays Beatle John Lennon. He talks to us today about his newest movie called Shadow Magic, which is set in China. Harris plays the man that brought the motion picture projector to China.

Actors Edward Norton and Sidney Poitier on this edition of Fresh Air as they both discuss their careers. Norton is co-starring in the film The Score along with Robert DeNiro and Marlon Brando.

Economist Paul Krugman on this edition of Fresh Air. He's collected the last three years of his New York Times Op-ed columns in the new book, The Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way in the New Century.

Because Audible was not granted digital audio rights to today's issue of Fresh Air, we have selected a great interview with the late writer Carol Shields from the Fresh Air archive. In this interview, Carol Shields discusses her life, her work, and her diagnosis of stage 4 breast cancer. She won a Pulitzer Prize for her best-selling novel The Stone Diaries. She died on July 16, 2003. Her last novel, Unless was written after her diagnosis.

Crime novelist Dennis Lehane, TV critic Tom Shales and author James Andrew Miller on this edition of Fresh Air. Dennis Lehane's written five novels featuring the working-class Boston private detective team of Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro. They include A Drink Before the War, Darkness Take My Hand, Sacred, Gone, Baby, Gone, and Prayers for Rain.

Actors Peter Falk and J.K. Simmons on this edition of Fresh Air. Falk is best known for his role as a rumpled L.A. detective in the 1970s TV series Columbo, where he garnered three Emmy awards. Simmons is a regular on HBO's OZ the graphic and disturbing drama of life in a maximum security prison. Simmons plays convict and neo-nazi Vernon Schillinger. And he has a recurring role in Law & Order.

Linguist John McWhorter and photographer Joel Meyerowitz on this editin of Fresh Air.

Author Jeffrey Eugenides on this edition of Fresh Air. Eugenides is the author of The Virgin Suicides, a gothic flavored novel about five sisters who kill themselves. The book is set in suburbia in the 1970s and is told in the voice of boys, now men, who were obsessed by them. The book was critically acclaimed when it was first published in 1993. It's now the subject of a movie.

Fresh Air guest host Barbara Bogaev talks with actor Michael C. Hall from HBO's Six Feet Under. He plays David Fisher, the gay brother who co-runs a funeral home on the show. He's currently starring as Billy Flynn, an oily attorney in the Broadway revival of Chicago. James Earl Jones, of the astounding voice, talks about his memoir. And you'll hear a review of the foreign film Mostly Martha.